While most ASU students spend the summer lounging by the pool, some will use their time building a house for a couple in need.
Three students from the ASU Stardust Center are traveling in June to the Navajo reservation, in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, to build a house for a family.
The Stardust Center is part of ASU's downtown Phoenix campus and is meant to design and research efficient means of architecture.
The center has never built a house before, and its goal is to build one every year.
Program coordinator Chris Billey chose Mary and Kee Augustine to receive the house because the couple's current home still uses a wood stove for heating and has no telephones.
The house will be built during the first summer session, and students will receive three credit hours for participating.
Billey, an architecture sophomore, came to the center with the idea for the project. He said he grew up on the reservation and sees the project as a personal mission.
"My life was substandard," he said. "I literally want to make a change on the reservation."
Billey renovated two other homes on the reservation prior to working at the center. He said he did basic repairs on walls and windows.
This new project is the first time he will build a home from the ground up and that's only possible because of the center, he added.
"They were instrumental in getting this project off the ground," Billey said.
The Stardust's Associate Director for Design Services Daniel Glenn said it is wonderful the project is moving forward.
"It's exciting to see the passion from students," he said.
Glenn said he hopes more students will get involved before they begin in June.
"They don't have to be from architecture, they just need an interest in building and community service," he said.
Alisa Lertique, an architecture freshman, said she joined the project because she is often involved with community service.
"These people are living below the poverty level," she said. "I wanted to do something about it."
Along with helping the people on the reservation, the center is also looking to find new and efficient ways to build houses.
"The house is an opportunity to explore and experiment with alternative materials," Glenn said.
The house will be built out of fillcrete, a waste material from burned coal, to keep the costs low, he added.
"We're designing it to reduce the price of heating and cooling," Glenn said.
Reach the reporter at michael.famiglietti@asu.edu.
