Urban bonfire

Best Presentation Award

 USC Architecture Guild Design Charrette 2020

Partner : Jeffery Cheung • Spring 2020

Over the last several years, Los Angeles has seen an increase in wildfire severity. While the number of fire incidents have remained relatively consistent from 2015 to 2019, the area burned nearly tripled in 2018 compared to 2016, with over twenty times the number of structures damaged. In addition to climate change and major droughts hitting Southern California, one often overlooked cause of increasing wildfire severity is fire suppression. Over the last century, forestry practices have included wildfire suppression, allowing forests, debris, and plant growth to build.

As a result, when a wildfire is unable to be suppressed, it becomes significantly more destructive. One solution to this is to set “prescribed fires,” smaller, intentional fires that clear out surface brush to prevent larger catastrophic fires from breaking out.

Each activity demands the participation of both countries, through sports of teams like volleyball or through the choice of an iconic national movie and others to learn about the adjacent nation's history and present culture.