Student Council Mission Statement: The Gerald D Hines College of Architecture Student Council is comprised of student representatives committed to the achievement, promotion, and facilitation of a collaborative design community.

Student Council Recycling Receptacle Background

To Whom this May Concern,

The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture is known for its initiatives in sustainability

and green design practices. The building currently accommodates 800 students. The

curriculums at the College of Architecture allow the students, future designers, to express their

ideas and concepts on paper; however, they do not always have the resources to make the

student’s ideas reality.

The problem that currently exists within the College of Architecture is there is only one

designated area for recycling on each floor but numerous trash bins scattered over the entire

building. The College of Architecture is also one of the few buildings on campus that is open

24/7 for their students. Therefore, many students consider the building as a home away from

home and many times spend more time in the building than they do in their actual homes.

Since the students spend the majority of their time in the building, many students tend to eat

and have many different events in the building. This creates a large amount of trash, and much

of it could be recycled. Currently, the college has made an attempt to recycle by placing trash

cans on each of the four floors of the building that are labeled, “Plastic”, “Paper”, and

“Aluminum”. The limited number of recycling receptacles does not make it convenient for the

majority of the students to recycle their goods. Therefore, the students end up going to the

closely located trash bins rather than recycling.

Last year Student Council placed three labeled paper bags in each of the studios to allow

the students to recycle more frequently. This was a success in that the bags were closer for all

the students, but unsuccessful because when the bags were filled no one bothered or knew it

was their duty to take the recycling to the side of the building with all of the recycling bins. This

caused many eye sores around the building for many reasons. First, everywhere a person

walked in the building they would find overflowing bags of recyclables that needed to emptied.

Secondly, these paper bags were easily damaged and soaked, and therefore required frequent

change-out. If they weren’t replaced quickly, they too, became trash. Eventually the bags were

perceived more as being clutter, impediments and unsightly. As a result, the 2010 – 2011

Student Council decided to take a different direction in order to promote recycling in the

College of Architecture.

To this end, the College of Architecture 2010 – 2011 Student Council proposes to have a

sponsored studio for the Industrial Design students in our college. The project for the

receptacles will take place in the fall 2011 semester for either a junior or sophomore design

studio taught by Adam Wells, and will last six weeks. The Student Council will play the role as

Student Council Mission Statement: The Gerald D Hines College of Architecture Student Council is comprised of student representatives committed to the achievement, promotion, and facilitation of a collaborative design community.

the clients and the Industrial Design Studio will be the designers to create the design solution

for the current problem. This project will help encourage the student to learn about material

properties, as well as manufacturing processes. This will benefit the Industrial Design students

by allowing them to design a simple solution for an actual problem. The students will be

broken into teams to research and be able to design something that will actually be produced in

the school. The solution will alleviate the ongoing problem with excess aluminum cans, plastic

bottles, and paper in the school.

Partnering with the Student Council by provided money donations are Emily Messa and

Dean Patricia Oliver at the University Of Houston College Of Architect. The money will support

the price of materials and the manufacturing of the prototype receptacles. Emily Messa will

provide the project with a $1500 donation for the final prototypes that will be placed

throughout the College of Architecture, and Dean Oliver made a match donation of $1500 for

the supplies for the design process.

Sincerely,

2010-2011 College of Architecture Student Council

Adam Cook

Lauren Roberts

Chris Pine

Frank Martin

Jamie Tirpak