Utah architecture students help LA fire victims jump-start rebuilding

A group of architecture students from Utah spent their recent spring break in not-so-sunny California trudging through ash and debris to help victims of the Eaton Fire jump-start the rebuilding process.

The students from Utah Valley University measured foundations and met with 32 homeowners to gather data that they’ll use to make digital models of the owners’ original homes. Gordon MacKay, the professor who led the group, said he hopes fire victims can take the models to a local architect who can then fill in missing measurements and details.  

“What I think it should do for an architect is allow them to give these homeowners a better price because the design portion is done,” he said.

MacKay, who has also worked in the restoration business for nearly two decades, said the work could also help fire victims still quarreling with insurance. “This will give them a really good, scaled drawing of what they had so that they can hopefully get what they deserve from their insurance companies,” he said.

How the project came about

MacKay said the students were moved by the destruction they saw on the news and wanted to know how they could help. One faculty member had an answer: “Maybe we could go to L.A. and draw plans for these folks.” MacKay recalled. “They're all gonna need an architect to draw something.”

Twenty-four students ended up donating their time; the school paid for travel and accommodations.

When they’re back on campus Monday, the students will work in teams to create what are known as CAD drawings of people’s pre-fire homes. They hope to send homeowners those 3D models within a few weeks.

A first step in rebuilding

MacKay said the group worked only with homeowners who want to essentially rebuild the same home they had before the fires. He said the digital models wouldn’t be enough to satisfy a building permit, but he hoped it would cut down the time spent going back and forth with an architect over details and help people start building sooner.

“Sometimes with homeowners — sometimes with all clients — there can be a lot of indecisiveness, right? ... And you can waste weeks and even months just kind of like looking at Pinterest boards,” he said.

Streamlining some of that decision-making could be a welcome relief to fire victims, who face seemingly endless decisions over interim housing, cleaning up their devastated lots and even whether to rebuild at all.

Other resources for rebuilding

The Utah architecture students ended up maxing out on the number of homeowners they could help. But other architecture groups are also offering free and low-cost services to fire victims:

• The L.A. chapter of the American Institute of Architects has a webpage with wildfire recovery resources, including virtual meetings on the rebuilding process, and a list of firms offering design and consultancy services.
• The Pasadena-based Foothill Catalog is working to develop pre-approved home designs that fire victims can choose from.
• HelpDrawTogether.org seeks to match volunteer architects and engineers with homeowners who need help rebuilding.
• Tall Architects, based in Mississippi, offers free plans for small homes or ADUs.

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