Architectural technology and interior design students visit Main Street Project

By Randy Olson, DCTC Associate Dean of Design & Technology

“Sustainability is an energy equation” stated Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, also known as Regi, the chief operating officer of Main Street Project in Northfield, Minn. Regi was addressing a group of DCTC architectural technology and interior design students during a field trip to his sustainable-concept residence on a cold but sunny day in early November 2013.

The students had the opportunity to hear Regi’s philosophy on energy and food production and then see firsthand how he has implemented those concepts into a working model. Regi informed students that conventional agriculture consumes 15 units of energy for each unit it produces. His farming model, on the other hand, balances this energy equation and provides a sustainable ecosystem.

On just over two acres, Regi constructed an agricultural prototype based on his sustainable concepts, allowing the protoype to occupy less than half the ground space. Students also got the chance to see the house Regi built on his property. Only a little over a year old, Regi’s home applies the same sustainable concepts he uses in agriculture, only incorporated into a livable space.

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