Local architecture student earns a trip to Costa Rica

East Meadow resident Dimitrios Malliakas is among nine architecture students from the New York Institute of Technology who left on a ten-day trip to Costa Rica on Tuesday to present creative waste removal designs.

Malliakas and his teammates, Crystal Eksi and Michael Koutsoubis, designed a facility that was both sustainable and educational. They were praised for their simple, organized ideas.

Malliakas said Tobias Holler, assistant professor of architecture at NYIT, challenged students to develop teams of two or three and create an eco-friendly waste removal facility for Nosara, a Costa Rican community on the Pacific Coast.

Holler, who first visited Costa Rica in 2007, met with local leaders in July 2011 where he learned that a recycling center was needed.

“[The residents] really care about where they live and they want to preserve it,” said Malliakas.

Fifty students entered the competition and only three teams were chosen to represent their projects in Costa Rica. A jury of professors from NYIT’s School of Architecture and Design chose MCD Costa Rica, Malliakas’ team, and Duality. The third team was chosen by popularity after receiving the most votes on Facebook.

“It will be an invaluable experience for students to travel to Costa Rica to further develop ideas with community input,” said Holler. “They will learn about building in a tropical environment, and experience first-hand the powerful role that design can play in improving life in a rural community.”  

Team MCD Costa Rica designed a facility using sustainable architecture and a plan that will incorporate community involvement. Some of the walls will be made of bottles in its raw state. The team envisions community members donating their bottles for the project at sites throughout the community. “Wherever you are, you can be involved,” explained Malliakas.

The competition was open to third, fourth and fifth-year architecture students. Malliakas said MCD Costa Rica represented the youngest competitors.

The nine students will take a class in the spring semester and will combine their ideas into one. Then, if there is enough funding, construction will begin this summer.

Malliakas graduated from East Meadow High School in 2009. He said his father, who is a contractor, exposed him to architecture. He also enjoyed art classes and attended the Huntington School of Fine Arts his junior and senior years.

“I wanted to do something with art, so I decided to give architecture a try,” he said. “The creative aspect is the point that hooks me.”

Malliakas admits that architecture is challenging. He said his architecture class at NYIT started with 100 students and has dwindled down to forty.