A Semester's Journey

This semester was a great experience for all of us. The trip to Haiti, of course, was an immense eye opener.  We were able to see, for ourselves, the Haitian culture, beautiful landscape, and the effects of natural disaster. The class challenged us in new ways, brought us together as classmates and teams, and allowed us to have a different sense of pride in our work.  

  

The challenges presented were unlike anything in previous studios. We had a very limited material palette to work with, but we strived to use materials in new and innovative ways, such as wicker doors and iron kitchen cabinet doors.  Another challenge we worked hard to overcome was the provision of ventilation and lighting.  To minimize the usage of electricity, we established designs that would allow for passive cross ventilation and, in some areas, stack ventilation.  In addition, the strategic placement of windows, made of vent block and wicker, gives the house passive lighting.

 

Normally our studio projects are completed individually.  This was probably everyone’s first experience working in a group setting.  It was challenging at times, agreeing and dividing up the work evenly, but it gave us a sense of what it will be like to work in a firm.  It also seemed to bring us closer together, working with Interior Design students and Graduate students.

 

The end result, we feel, gives us a different sense of pride than our normal final projects.  This one is a gift to other people to enrich the lives of those who need it most.  We also feel accomplished, designing a house that will suit Haiti very well, as far as function and aesthetics.  To see the houses built and possibly meet those living in them would give a sense of accomplishment like no other.

Expatriate Family House

Specifications

1,400 square feet

3 bedroom

2 full bath

Design Goals

- allow ventilation in all rooms

- give added ventilation in bathrooms

- design a glorified porch space for public gathering

- create a separation between the master bedroom and the two guest bedrooms

- connect the indoors and outdoors

 Due to the importance of social interaction in Haitian culture, a returning expatriate would want to come back to a home that will help enable them to fit in with the culture once again.

Because the porch is often the only space that visitors are invited to gather on, the porch has gained the status of an individual room in Haitian culture. In the expatriate house, the U-shaped courtyard becomes a glorified porch that allows plenty of space for guests to gather.

Hierarchy is given to the main living space with tall gabled trusses punctuating the interior of the space. Doors on either side of the living space open to the outdoors, connecting the interior living space with nature and adding a connection between the occupants inside with the occupants outside.

The master bedroom is separated from the other bedrooms to create a sense of privacy. Each bedroom is located on a corner of the house to ensure cross ventilation will cool the rooms throughout the day. The two restrooms extend outward on either side of the house in order to enhance ventilation within each bathroom.

Lastly, we added a few decorative touches that we felt would enhance the overall feel of a Haitian house and create more business for the locals in Haiti. Ironwork is used instead of cabinet doors in the kitchen. Woven wood is used on the exterior doors to create a translucent barrier that allows light to flow into the living room. Also, we have suggested that the wood trusses on the interior be colored so the vibrant color on the exterior is brought into the house.

Teacher Roommate House: Final Proposal

Specifications:

• 4 Bedrooms
• 2 Full bathrooms
• 2043 sq. ft. (nominal)
• 1820 sq. ft. (habitable)

Design Goals:

• Simple symmetrical plan
• Large shared living space that opens to the outside
• Use materials found or produced locally in Haiti
• Passive ventilation for all rooms
• Apartment layout

The final design of the Teacher Roommate House is designed to demand interaction.  The occupants for this house are envisioned as being teachers that work at the (School) up the road.

The layout of the floor plan mimics a dormitory style plan where the bedrooms surround a large open living space.  Included in this living space are the kitchen, dining and gathering spaces. Wicker panels built into the exterior walls of the living space open up to covered porches giving the space a public feel. Oftentimes in Haiti, visitors are only invited onto the porch and not into the houses.

Each end of the house is a two-bedroom module able to sleep up to four people. Bathrooms and storage spaces serve as buffer areas between the two bedrooms and the bathrooms are extruded to allow.  Vent block windows in all the rooms allow cross ventilation of all spaces.

The roofing design on the house gives hierarchy to the spaces.  The largest hip roof is over the primary living space, while smaller hip roofs are over the secondary bedroom spaces.  A flat roof covers the tertiary restroom and circulation spaces.

 The exterior design of the house has a rhythm to it.  The bedrooms and living space each have exterior walls that extend up past the ceiling line of the house.  Along the exterior there is a horizontal shading plane that helps with sun shading on the exterior of the house.  Pilasters along the exterior walls assist in holding up the cantilevered roof as well as add a visual sense of rhythm.

 

Lastly, the house was designed to be a representation of its occupants.   Its formal appearance shows strength with a hint of monumentality.  This aspect was included in the design to give importance to the teachers and make them important in society.

Teacher Roommate Housing Design Proposal

When designing the roommate house, our team thought about how the layout of the house will affect the interaction among the roommates.  The rooms of the house are separated by the living space with a porch that extends out the front of the space.  We wanted to create a house plane that resembles the layout of an apartment.  With two rooms set to each side of the house, sharing a common bathroom and storage area.  The house includes a large covered porch that will face the pedestrian walkway through the center of the development.  

 

The kitchen is placed at the front of the house next to the porch, so that you can cook and look outside the front of the house to say hello to anyone walking by.  Each room includes many vent block windows to allow natural ventilation and the possibility of cross ventilation.  Additionally, the bathrooms are pulled from the main form to allow a natural breeze to flow through the bathroom.

Housing Design Proposal

Expatriate Housing Programming 

Our team signed up to work on the expatriate housing programming.  We used two methods of diagramming to portray our interpretation of program relations.  The first was a more simple, quick look at what spaces are related, a "bubble" diagram.  The connections made could either be because the spaces should be attached for circulation, or more functional aspects like sharing a plumbing wall.

The second diagram, an Adjacency Matrix, is a much more in depth look into how each program is related to every other space in the house.  We decided to created four categories to help us define these relations.  Adjacent, or primary the primary connection, means that the spaces should be attached for convenience or functional purposes.  Nearby is a secondary connection, and not adjacent means that the spaces should not or would not be near each other in the house for privacy reasons or for front/back placement within the house. Not related are simply spaces that do not have an important correlation.

Expatriate House Design Scheme

After defining these adjacencies we diagrammed a layout for how we could achieve everything on our list, as well as focusing on passive ventilation and creating a private courtyard.

When designing this house, our team thought about the site plan and about the multiple driveways and pedestrian paths that border many of the lots. In thinking about an expatriate coming back to Haiti after living in the US for a while, we thought they might have grown accustomed to the American standard of a private backyard.  So, we wanted to create a house plan that would give them a sense of privacy with a courtyard in the back of the house.  If they want to lay down outside and read a book and not feel like everyone can see them, or even if they want to open up all the doors to the courtyard and truly blur the definition between interior and exterior, then they can do so without everyone being able to see inside.

Another aspect of this courtyard, and "H" shape plan arrangement is that it helps to promote passive ventilation, a leading factor in our house design.  With each branch of this house being single loaded, cross ventilation is easily achieved.  The bathrooms are pulled from the main form to obtain cross ventilation, as apposed to only having one window in the bathroom wall and having more stagnant air.  Also when designing the roof plan and gables, we added a clerestory for stack ventilation.