While unrolling two large sheets of paper containing architectural drawings for a metal fence, Yale student Fatimah Guienze '00 stumbles in her eagerness to find the words that best convey her feelings about the structure's beauty. Pointing to details in the drawings, she offers phrases about the fence's "graceful curves," its "rhythm" and symmetry. "It's like Shakespeare's poetry," she finally announces. "It's economical and beautiful at the same time. It's based on utility, but it's art. It's just perfect." Guienze can barely wait to see the fence fully erected on its Arch Street site in New Haven's Hill neighborhood. When she does, she knows she'll be jubilant. The Yale undergraduate, who is majoring in architecture and mechanical engineering, has worked on the Arch Street Fence Project since June as a Dwight Hall Summer Intern. She is one of 46 Yale students who are spending this summer doing community service work in New Haven as recipients of Dwight Hall Summer Internships or President's Public Service Fellowships. About a dozen of those students are working on projects specifically focused on urban renewal or revitalization in Yale's home city. Here's a look at just a few. * * * For Guienze, the internship will allow her to see through completion a project she has been involved in for most of her junior year. She began thinking about the fence in the fall, when she took a graduate-level course on architectural ornamentation taught by Kent Bloomer, adjunct professor of architectural design. As a course project, Bloomer asked his students to create designs of a fence for the Arch Street Blockwatch Committee's project to take a vacant lot in the neighborhood where abandoned houses once stood and convert it into a "green space." The design that was selected for the fence was created by Celia Corkery, who graduated from the School of Architecture in May. Guienze began to assist Corkery with the various elements of the design, and chose to tailor her summer project as a Dwight Hall intern so she could continue her involvement. "One of the great things about the Dwight Hall Summer Internship program is that it allows you to develop your own project under the sponsorship of an outside organization," says Guienze. "So you have a vested personal interest in your job. The internship just fit my plans perfectly." For sponsorship, Guienze turned to the Urban Resources Initiative (URI), a nonprofit organization affiliated with the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) that works with community members on biophysical restoration projects. URI, along with the Livable Cities Initiative (LCI), is providing support for the Arch Street Fence Project. As part of her internship, Guienze meets regularly with members of the Arch Street Blockwatch Committee, as well as URI representatives, to discuss various aspects of the fence design and fabrication -- from the digging of the foundation posts to its ornamentation, including the inscription of the names of individuals that Arch Street community members want to honor. In fact, Guienze has videotaped much of the process to document what community members can achieve by working together in their neighborhoods. "I get so psyched to see all the pieces come together," she says. "It's great to be a part of this community-driven project, to see all the magnetism of people as they work on it together. One of the most fun parts was watching these two 65-year-old men who are members of the block watch association as they dug holes for the foundation. It was thrilling to see them, knowing that while we assisted with this project, it's their 'baby.' They own it." In addition to the Arch Street Fence Project, which should be completed by the end of summer, Guienze has also used her internship to work on the Columbus House Homeless Garden Project. The garden, which receives support from the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP), employs people who have been homeless or had problems with substance abuse to grow produce and flowers for sale at local markets. Under the direction of YHHAP member Mark Melamut, a student at the Divinity School, Guienze is helping to design fences and a picnic area for the garden. She is also performing community outreach and is working on a pamphlet about the project. Bringing in the green Through her work on the Arch Street Fence Project, Guienze met another Yale student, Katherin McArthur, who has helped landscape some of the green space around the fence. McArthur, a second-year student at the School of Forestry (F&ES), has spent the summer in New Haven working for URI as a President's Public Service Fellow. The Arch Street garden is one seven projects McArthur is involved in through URI. She is also helping a number of community groups in New Haven's Hill neighborhood in beautification projects involving new landscaping. Assisting her on a number of these projects is Roger Taylor, another second-year F&ES student, who is also working at URI under a President's Public Service Fellowship. "One of our goals at URI is to give advice about the best course to take for a particular area," says McArthur. "We talk to the neighborhood groups, for example, about which plantings would work well in that particular setting, and we provide the plant materials and the expertise. The community members then provide the labor and do all the work of maintaining the newly landscaped areas." For McArthur, her work as a President's Public Service Fellow has given her a first-hand look at the renewal of an urban environment. "In school, we talk a lot about more pristine landscapes or restoring natural systems," says the graduate student. "The fellowship has given me the chance to get a view of environmental work as it relates to human systems. It's important for me to do work that has inherent value, that makes a difference to living things. My work this summer has given me that opportunity." McArthur says her summer community service has also given her a new perspective on New Haven. "It's nice to really feel a part of the city," says McArthur. "I've gone into parts of New Haven that I've never been in before, and I've seen a lot of the neighborhood improvements being made. The neighborhoods in which I'm working are places that do have their share of problems, but I work with groups that are working hard to improve their communities. The Arch Street neighborhood, for example, was once considered a dangerous area. Now, it's a nice, little residential street where friendly neighbors can safely sit out on their stoops. It's a tribute to how much the block watch association has done there." Designs for urban spaces Among the other Yale students whose summer work has exposed them to new neighborhoods in New Haven are three students at the School of Architecture, who are working as President's Public Service Fellows in Yale's Urban Design Workshop (UDW), which is codirected by Alan Plattus and Michael Haverland. In the Urban Design Workshop, architecture students and faculty members work together on design projects on behalf of neighborhood community groups or organizations in New Haven and throughout New England. Paul Arougheti, Dominique Davison and Mi Sun Lim are all working on projects involving the Dwight/Edgewood neighborhood, as well as other areas. Davison and Lim are both graduates of the University of California at Berkeley who later worked for the same California architectural firm before coming to Yale. They are working together to design a daycare center on Edgewood Street, which runs between Orchard Street and Edgewood Avenue. The two began this project during the academic year and continue to work on it as President's Public Service Fellows. They have already created architectural drawings showing various possibilities for the center, which are being analyzed by the Greater Dwight Development Corporation (GDDC). Lim is also spending some of her time walking around the lower Dwight neighborhood to update the city's plan of the area, which hasn't been redrawn since the 1960s. "I'm basically drawing in all of the buildings, property lines, streets and trees of the area, which includes the new Shaw's supermarket and Staples on Whalley Avenue," explains Lim. "Those two shops are the biggest changes since the plan was first drawn." While the latter project involves a lot of footwork, Lim says she is enjoying being able to combine her love of architecture with being outside. "During the school year, I'm pretty much a hermit inside the Art & Architecture Building," says the second-year architecture student. "My work this summer is giving me the benefit of getting much more familiar with New Haven." Davison is also spending some of her time along the same stretch of Whalley Avenue, where she is exploring possible designs for a retail strip across from Shaw's. In connection with this work, she has been meeting with representatives from both the Whalley Special Services District and the GDDC. "My project is in very nascent stages," Davison says. "I'm looking widely at the area and have drawn up numerous options to present to the GDDC. The point is to come up with a plan that everybody involved would benefit from." As part of the project, Davision is also looking at ways to make the area safer for pedestrian traffic. Thanks to her summer job, Davison says she now has greater insight into "the workings of New Haven politics and the city's various organizations, and how they work, or don't work, together." A colorful addition In the UDW office in Yale's Fence Club, Paul Arougheti has been analyzing possible colors and patterns for the brick exterior of a soon-to-be-built addition to the Timothy Dwight Elementary School on Edgewood Avenue. The addition will serve as a multi-purpose area for both the school and for members of the Dwight community. "We want the exterior to fit in with the rest of the school and the surrounding neighborhood," says Arougheti. "The goal is to have the building serve as a beacon for the community." Arougheti is also surveying properties and vacant lots in Trowbridge Square and on Elliott Street as part of revitalization efforts in the Hill neighborhood. "Recommendations are being made about which properties are suitable for rehabilitation and which should be demolished," says Arougheti. "I'm doing a visual study of the streets of the focus area and developing proposals on the best course to take with these properties and vacant lots." Arougheti says that through his work in New Haven, he has discovered what other parts of the city, beyond the downtown area, have to offer. "I've discovered there's a lot of energy in these neighborhoods," says Arougheti. "While there are some houses that are in poor physical condition, there are quite a few people who have really taken a lot of care in fixing up their properties, and there are some turn-of-the-century Victorian homes that can really be restored nicely. The neighborhoods have great potential. I appreciate being able to have some small part in these communities' renewal efforts." -- By Susan L. 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Among the Yale students and city residents who are working on the Arch Street fence and garden project are (from left) forestry student Katherin McArthur, Antwuane Darden, Yale senior Fatimah Guienze and Louis Zayas.