It was a strange sight - one you might expect to see inPennsylvania's Amish country, but not in Los Angeles' inner city.A house-raising. Hammers thumping; two-by-fours being transformedinto walls and doorways; neighbors laboring under the hot sun for thebenefit of one family.

By nightfall, the outlines of Maria Miranda's new house stood where,in the morning, there had been only a foundation.

On Saturday, Feb. 18, scores of USC students, faculty and staffvolunteers and other volunteers converged on this particular lot inNorth University Park. Built through donations of labor andmaterials, the Miranda home is the fruit of a unique partnershipbetween USC and Habitat for Humanity, a self-help housing program forlow-income families.

"I'm really pleased with the progress. The only thing working againstus has been the weather," said Bonnie Holmes, assistant dean ofdevelopment and director of administrative affairs at the Lusk Centerfor Real Estate Development, who initiated the partnership nearly twoyears ago. "It's fun to finally be able to watch the family see thatthis is really happening."

Since the beginning of this semester, about 30 Habitat forHumanity-Los Angeles and university volunteers have been spendingtheir Saturdays (weather permitting) on construction of the 1275 W.24th St. house. Miranda - who works at the USC School for EarlyChildhood Education - and her husband, Jose Mario, have been toilingaway every Saturday as well. They helped prepare the foundation andpounded nails to construct the frame for the garage and house. Mariahas done so much hammering her entire arm has been sore.

"It was so overwhelming," she said after the throng of volunteersjoined her to work on her house. "We had dreamed about having a home,but never dreamed of having all these wonderful people help us buildour own home."

Holmes said more volunteers are needed to help with construction,which is expected to continue through the semester. Completion istentatively scheduled for mid-April, when Habitat presents the key tothe Miranda family in the traditional "key giving" ceremony.

Holmes said the goal each week is to gather 20 volunteers from theuniversity and 10 from Habitat's own pool of volunteers, whichincludes several USC alumni.

"We have a lot of people already signing up, and encourage people tomake their interest known as soon as possible," she said. "We'retrying to get a mix of age ranges and experience." Interestedvolunteers can contact Holmes directly at 740-6843. A volunteer lineis also being established through Alpha Rho Chi, the fraternity forarchitecture students.

As construction proceeds on the Miranda house, about 25 USC studentsare taking a scholastic view of the building process from the groundup.

Students in Planning and Development 499/599 are participating in anew, experimental program focusing on the development of theHabitat-USC house. Jointly offered by the schools of Urban andRegional Planning and Engineering, the two-unit course is aimed atproviding a practical learning experience in conjunction with atheoretical framework for housing development.

Along with learning aspects of the building process - includingarchitectural design, civil engineering, land acquisition andgovernmental review and inspection - the students hear lectures fromarchitects, contractors and officials of Habitat for Humanity. Theyalso visit the site weekly to watch and even participate in theconstruction.

The class' two teachers - Henry Koffman, director of the ConstructionEngineering and Management Program in civil engineering, andassociate professor James Moore, who has a joint appointment in urbanand regional planning and civil engineering - stressed that, byvisiting the job site, the students learn invaluable lessons on howtheory is put into practice.

"This course offers a real-life experience versus just reading abook," Koffman said. "We read a book, then see it come alive in thefield."

In addition to observing the construction, many of the students arevolunteering to work on the house alongside the USC and Habitatvolunteers.

Architecture students Vivien Lin, Eliza Guilbert and Kiet Phu areamong the students who want to pitch in. "I hope to gain thesatisfaction of knowing I haven't gone to USC and just stayed in theclassroom, but gone out and made a difference," Lin said. She andGuilbert have also helped Habitat with community relations work,meeting with neighbors and explaining the purpose behind the project.They plan to tie their efforts to a directed-research proposal.

"This is only one house, but people seem very excited about it goingin," Lin said. "It's the first new house to be built in theneighborhood in about 15 or 20 years."

Through the Lusk Center, USC joined forces with Habitat forHumanity-Los Angeles in 1993 to plan construction of a home for alow-income family, preferably a university employee, in NorthUniversity Park. The university put up a share of the $60,000 in landacquisition funds and has been seeking donations for materials andskilled labor in the amount of another $100,000. The remainder of theland costs was funded through a HUD loan to the city.

The project got a major boost from a $60,000 donation of labor andmaterials from Koll Construction Co. of Seal Beach, which has becomean active partner in the effort.

The Miranda family was chosen last fall to occupy the house from afield of some 200 applicants. They will be able to buy the house atcost value - about $65,000 - through a no-interest loan. They alsomust put in 500 hours of "sweat equity," which means volunteer laboron their house or another Habitat house.Since Habitat began 19 years ago, its volunteers have built more than35,000 homes worldwide. The Miranda house will be Habitat-LosAngeles' 10th effort, and a "blitz-build" to construct about 30 moredwellings in the Watts-Willowbrook area is planned for this spring.USC will be housing volunteers from throughout the country duringthat drive, including former president Jimmy Carter and his wife,Rosalynn.

Moore - who, along with Koffman, is donating his time to the class -said he was eager to study Habitat's achievement. "I wanted to knowmore. Clearly there is something unique happening there. If it can beidentified, bottled and transferred to other activities, a uniquelesson can be learned."

Moore credits Habitat's success in part to its church affiliations,volunteer labor and connection with contractors such as KollConstruction. The organization's construction program executivedirector, Steve Wright, and site superintendent, Jack Davidson, alsohave long careers in construction and are experts in organizingunskilled volunteer labor in a way that supports the professionalbuilders.

Habitat counts on contractors such as Koll Construction for discountson materials and contributed services. To make the program work, theorganization needs to mitigate the cost to the contractor as much aspossible, which makes the contribution of volunteer labor crucial.

"By correctly organizing unskilled labor, you don't ask for as muchfrom the contractor," Moore said. "This makes the experience moreattractive for the contractor, which helps if you want to go back tothem periodically. This means shepherding these resources ascarefully as possible."

Whether or not USC and Habitat join forces on another house, Moorebelieves the relationship has been invaluable. "We are developing arelationship with Habitat that will serve both our organizations," hesaid, noting this is Habitat's first academically related partnershipwith a university. "As a faculty member, I would like to be able tobottle the elements of Habitat's success and explain to other membersof the planning and engineering professions how it's done."