Help These NYIT Students Build a Recycling Center in Costa Rica

Some of the talented architecture students at the <a href="http://www.nyit.edu/" target="_blank">New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)</a> have been working overtime this past year by volunteering to design a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyit-students-redesign-a-failing-waste-management-unit-for-a-costa-rican-community/" target="_blank">recycling center for the community of Nosara</a> in Costa Rica. The service project is aimed to help alleviate a failing waste management problem in the area. Students of the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NosaraDesignBuildStudioNYIT" target="_blank">sLAB (student led architecture build) initiative</a> hosted a design competition and have selected their winning design, which will be built this summer. The project is now seeking support through a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472474365/slab-costa-rica-building-a-recycling-center-for-no" target="_blank">Kickstarter campaign</a> to ensure the success of the student design-build project.

Although Costa Rica is known for its efforts towards sustainability, there is a mounting problem of waste management.

Poor infrastructure and a lack of education and policies is leading to overflowing dumps and trash flowing into critical habitats and waterways.

Architecture students from NYIT through the sLAB initiative and led by their teacher Tobias Holler of <a href="http://www.hollerarchitecture.com/" target="_blank">Holler Architecture</a> are working on a project that can help the waste management problem for the community of Nosara on the northwestern coast of Costa Rica.

The building itself takes inspiration from local passive tropical design strategies and is a long narrow open-air volume to encourage natural ventilation.

The center has three zones (a sorting facility, an open lobby, and support spaces) under a common roof and will be made from locally sourced timbers and recycled materials.

High ceilings and a reflective roofing materials will minimize heat build up inside.

Members of the local community support the project and the city has already donated the land for the building while a local architecture firm, <a href="http://web.me.com/salagnacarquitectos/Site/Home.html" target="_blank">Salagnac Architectos</a>, is aiding the students' efforts.

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/NosaraDesignBuildStudioNYIT" target="_blank">sLAB</a> recently began a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/472474365/slab-costa-rica-building-a-recycling-center-for-no" target="_blank">Kickstarter campaign</a> to fund the project, help pay for the students travel to Costa Rica and document the project during construction.