The Spring Break Team would like to wish everyone a happy holiday season! We are looking foward to our upcoming trip in March. Prof. Michael Abrams will be joining the trip as a faculty advisor.

-Global Architecture Brigades at CUA

Trip Moved!

Our first trip has been moved to Spring Break. This is to save money on air fare. We are still working hard to fundraise and excited about the trip! Keep visiting the blog for updates!

The members of GAB attended the 20th Anniversy of CUA's School of Architecture moving into the Crough Center (pictured on the right). Students, faculty and alumni gathered to honor the people who have contributed to the expansion and development of our school.

Here's the group going to Panama this December! Most of us.... From left, Teresa Taylor, Alicia Decatur, Lauren Sobecki, Laura Keating, Katrina Ellis, Fajer Alqattan. Not pictured Alecia Wilson, Erik Herman, Johanna Belanger, and Janell Eckrich are joining the brigade.

This is us in the back of our architecture building. We are under the "can"opy. One of Teresa's senior project made from crushed cans.

Hey Everyone!

We have received our project. We will be working in Granjo el Salto, which is near a chain of 22 natural waterfalls. The site for our project is owned by 12 socios (partners), and they produce sustenance from the land. Because the farm is remote, they have a problem transporting crops and generating revenue. Likewise, the remoteness of the site limits people who come to see the waterfalls to day trips. The socios give tours, and see a opportunity in building cabins for visitors to stay. We will be working on a first "test cabin" with the socios.

The socios have been preparing for this project for a while. Wood has already been collected, but they lack funding for cement and roofing materials. This is where we come in. We will be designing the cabins with the materials already gathered and other materials local to the site. The socios are skilled builders, and our first trip will be spent working with them to design our project. This is good considering too often architects like design things that are difficult to build.

We are excited to learn from this trip both about architecture and the Panamian culture! Thanks for your interest!

The trip will cost about $1200-1500 per student. This includes plane ticket and food and lodging in Panama. The construction cost will be from $5,000-6,000. If you can help us out visit the Global Brigades Donation site.

Hi!

We wanted to let everyone know a little more about ourselves. I am Laura, a Junior architecture major at Catholic University. I am from Texas, so how did I end up in D.C. ? I wanted to live in a new place and I thought D.C. would be a great place to study architecture. So far, it has been a great experience and even though I lose a lot of sleep I can't imagine being in any other major. I have wanted to be an architect since elementary school, but now that I am actually studying architecture, I know it is really what I want to be doing.

When we got together last year to start our GAB chapter, I knew it would be a lot to take on, but also totally worth it. There are many ways to be involved in service at Catholic, and my goal for this project is to make us better architects through the process of serving. We are finalizing our project and will have details soon!

Thank you for listening!
Laura Keating

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to introduce myself so everyone knows a little bit more about me. My name is Sean, I'm in my third year here in the CUArch program and loving every minute of it, including the 70 hours of work on minimal amounts of sleep. Ever since I was little I always wanted to study architecture. I think it was all the times my dad used to help me out with school projects and such. He has his degree in architecture from Catholic University, coincidence? i think not, and working with him was always just so cool to me.

I'm from a small town in northern New Jersey just west of Newark, and lived there my entire life. The jump to DC was a big one but it was just what I needed. And now this opportunity to go to Panama?? How can I resist? Especially when I get the chance to help people, which I can never pass up. I am really looking forward to this and can NOT wait!

Sean Scofield