Students at the OU College of Architecture are raising awareness of the importance of design and recycling during Design Week 2006.

The theme of Design Week, which started Monday, is "Rethink: Taking Reuse, Reduce, Recycle an Idea Further." It was organized by OU's chapters of the American Institute of Architecture Students and the American Society of Interior Designers and features nightly lectures from professors on topics of their choice, said Sandy Troung, president of AIAS. Students have also assembled projects that integrate, reuse and design that will be featured in the Gould Hall Gallery all week.

Architecture students are supposed to be creative, so the idea is to transform what people would normally throw away into something new and creative, said Troung. She said members of AIAS collected trash materials for two weeks with the idea of transforming the gallery with items that people normally wouldn't think twice about, such as plastic wrapping from mattresses, boxes of various sizes and bubble wrap. The exhibits will be displayed through Friday.

"The possibilities of what you can do with the waste all lies in your head." she said, "Rethink about what you can create with the items before you toss them away."

Members of ASID reupholstered an old table and set of chairs in newspapers and fabric samples to show how left-over studio materials could be reused, said Kelly Thompson, president of ASID.

"It's a good idea because it is making people see things differently," Thompson said. "You can reuse stuff and make it look totally different than it used to be."

Eleanor Weinel, associate professor of architecture, said she was intrigued by the students' idea of reusing and recycling.

"It's about what the culture of architecture can be doing in the world and what we can do to help out," she said, "and that's in small ways not just in big ways."

An example is Hurricane Katrina, Troung said. The city can't be rebuilt until all the waste and debris is cleared away. So if people can find a way to reuse it they will be killing two birds with one stone, she said.

Courtney Richardson, vice president of AIAS, said students have responded positively to the environmental theme so far.

"We're getting a lot of positive feedback," she said.

Design week will continue through Friday.
hello there & you too