91视频

In architect Pedro Pacheco’s perfect world, everyone would have a home and every building resource would be sustainable.

Such dreams come from Pacheco’s childhood in a low-income family in Oaxaca, Mexico. As the son of an artisan in the pre-Columbian tradition, he can empathize with the plight of people in poverty.

鈥淚 had to live through all these things I’m now studying,鈥� he said.

Pacheco has a background in teaching university architecture students to design homes made of recycled materials for low-income families in Monterrey, Mexico. He has relocated with his family to Portland to perform similar work here while on sabbatical from professorship at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.

New lessons in recycling

Pacheco will be here through next June, working with people at 鈥� at the invitation of CPID Director Sergio Palleroni. Pacheco will run design studios for architecture students to use recycled materials to create housing for homeless individuals. As co-founder of Urban Impulse, an educational and research program to help low-income families build housing and community, he has 15 years of experience with such work.

Using recycled materials for construction isn’t a new idea in Portland, Palleroni said, but Pacheco has taken it to a level not seen here by applying it to low-income housing.

鈥淗e’s doing what we’re doing but doing it better,鈥� Palleroni said.

Metro officials and others are already devising ways to reuse more building materials in Portland, so Pacheco has arrived at the right time, Palleroni said.

鈥淭his is a very important moment in political will,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e need housing and we’ll make good on our promise to recycle goods.鈥�

Pacheco will also work with PSU graduate students to research reusable building materials. And by the end of the year they plan to build 鈥� for public display 鈥� a couple of sleeping pods or 鈥渕icro-houses鈥� for people without homes. Later they plan to design and build accessory housing units using recycled materials to add to the low-income housing stock.

That ties in with Palleroni’s overall goal for the CPID: re-engage people in architecture and engineering with social problems. Students want to help solve problems they read about in newspapers, he said, but they need to first hone skills tied to not only design but also social engagement and interaction with vulnerable groups.

鈥淧edro and I are on a mission to give young graduates those skills,鈥� Palleroni said.

Making personal connections

Although Monterrey is more than twice the size of Portland, the former has a much larger gap between rich and poor, Pacheco said. One-third of the population is 鈥渓iving under precarious conditions,鈥� he said.

Although Pacheco grew up with modest means, he didn’t see abject poverty until he went to work in mountain towns of Oaxaca as part of his community service requirement in college. There he saw unemployed, starving people living in terrible conditions.

The towns were a 1陆-day trek up the mountain on foot, with no other transportation available. Local residents accepted the situation because they had no help from the government or anyone else.

鈥淚t was very dramatic, a big turning point for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so that’s why the civic engagement theme in my education is very important.鈥�

That quest for civic engagement carries over to his students, Pacheco said, as he encourages them to consider the common good and not just people who can afford to pay.

鈥淗ow do you go about designing processes so that the concentration is on not only designing pretty things but making them accessible to people?鈥� he said.

That notion can stretch the definition of design so that it accounts for collaboration, funding and distribution of products to the community, he said.

鈥淚t is more than design; it is trying to bring as many issues as possible to the (forefront) so that the student has this broad understanding of the problem,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s not just a material, or a family or a site. It’s understanding the problem from a very integrated way.鈥�

Learning in Portland and beyond

A lot of Monterrey’s recyclable building materials wind up in the landfill, Pacheco said. However, wood pallets in particular have become an important component in low-income housing. Fabric and paper are also abundant.

鈥淚 don’t have the numbers in Portland yet, but I would like to make a comparison to see how much of those materials are being reused,鈥� he said.

What he’ll learn, according to Palleroni, is that much of Portland’s recycling 鈥� particularly glass, metal and paper 鈥� are sent to China or India for recycling. Palleroni said he plans to try to convince local leaders to consider recycling more here.

鈥淚t’s an opportunity for creating jobs in our city from our waste,鈥� he said.

Portland is just a starting point, Pacheco noted, in an effort to expand his knowledge of civic engagement and shares what he’s learned about sustainable building. He hopes to study and visit other cities around the world.

鈥淲hat somebody’s doing in the same bioregion will be helpful to all of us,鈥� he said.

Pacheco also plans to share his knowledge and his experiences in Portland through blogs and articles, and eventually write a book about his experiences.

When Pacheco returns to Monterrey, he plans to expand the Urban Impulse program to involve more groups in 鈥渁 very integrated way.鈥� Chemistry students, for example, could study water quality in poor areas and medical students could look at family health, he said.

鈥淲e will go into low-income communities to try and understand their problems from the bottom up,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd based on that diagnosis we will start making different types of proposals.鈥�