Architecture students build portable showers for individuals who are unhoused
Over the past few weeks, several Citrus College students have found a new way to use their skills and give back to the community.
In collaboration with Hillside LA, a church in Los Angeles, Citrus College Architecture Club students are in the midst of converting a trailer originally meant for hauling off-road vehicles into a small building that provides showers to people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
The students became involved after Tommy Reyes, an architecture instructor at Citrus College, learned about the project through a friend and mentor at California State University, Los Angeles.
"I saw immediately that this project had a host of layers that would benefit our students here at Citrus," Reyes said. "I realized this was my chance to show students how to design and build a project that also gives back to an underserved community."
Citrus College students have finished the design phase and are now starting to build the trailer. When it's finished, Hillside LA will primarily use it to help unhoused communities in Orange County.
A key highlight of the project is that it will also be sustainable. The water will be stored in a tank that will be heated by the sun as much as possible, Reyes said. To heat the water further, the shower will use an electric water heater powered by solar panels and batteries. When not in use, the solar panels will recharge the batteries.
The experience of working on the project has shown what architecture and engineering can achieve.
"I want [these students] to know that they can help solve a lot of our current problems when it comes to climate change, homelessness and other problems we have in Southern California," Reyes said. "We can be the change we would like to see, and we can be the change we need as a society and give back."
Reyes said the group is looking to work on more projects that will benefit the community. In the meantime, students are currently collecting donations for the showers, including towels, soap, shampoo, deodorant, dental hygiene products and more.
To learn more, contact Reyes at treyes@citruscollege.edu.
This article originally appeared in the June 2023 edition of the Citrus View.