Div III Spotlight: Isabella Aguirre 17F

Isabella is the recipient of an R.W. Kern Center Student Grant, which funds research or projects relating to an aspect of the RWKC’s systems, mission, or to the Living Building Challenge.

Sustainable Communal Indigenous Modern Design and Development (SCIMDD): Green Spaces focuses on how to turn public green space into truly shared space—created for all, owned by all, and used by all.

First, I will explore how to best utilize green spaces in the built environment for all community members, informed by case studies of Poughkeepsie City’s Smith School Early Learning Center and LEED projects including rust2green—a branch of Cornell University’s greening program. Then I will create a toolkit on how to best use both public and educational green spaces to support community equality, improved health, increased human-nature relations, and sustainable practices. This work will inform the design and (hopefully!) implementation of a new use for the Smith School’s green space.

My project relates to the mission of the R.W. Kern Center as it combines both education and sustainability. This work both builds on knowledge gathered from the RWKC’s current indoor and outdoor green space, and has potential to inform future green space projects at Hampshire and in the surrounding Amherst and Hadley communities.