Studio Work: Caleb House_Team 05

The Caleb House provides housing for men with aspiring leadership roles within their community.  As such, a group of men live communally together while their education continues.  Like the teachers’ house, the Caleb house it is meant to provide housing for 6-8 men who will live as roommates.

                The planning studies conducted for communal men’s living expressed that an emphasis should be placed upon the learning/study space that was a requirement of the home’s program.  As such, our group determined that this space would be the central node from which the rest of the home would revolve.  The public space is separated from the private bedrooms and bathroom by both the learning space and a porch.  We recognized that these spaces work exceptionally well as transition spaces in our planning studies.

                The roofs shed the water to the periphery of the home where they can be gathered into holding tanks for use in irrigation.  The whole house gathers in the center which lends itself to the idea that the core of the home is the most used and important space.  Indeed this study space is emphasized by additionally heightened ceiling and a peripheral ring of vent block fenestration.

 VIEW OUR ENTIRE PROJECT HERE 

Studio Work: Teachers' House_Team 05

This year we were able to expand upon last year’s school design studio.  While the school remains under construction currently, we were charged with providing housing for the influx of teachers now tasked with living locally.  The teachers’ home was designed to accommodate six to eight teachers living as a set of roommates. 

 

                  After a series of planning studies our group came to the unexpected conclusion that the bathroom of all places would best work as the core of our building.  We knew this formal gesture would be a difficult sell, but after using it as the knuckle between the private bedrooms and the public kitchen, living room, and dining room, we determined it was the correct course of action.

                  The inwardly sloped roofs collect rainwater into an internal collection tank for use with the adjacent water wall within the bathroom.  The inwardly sloping roof also allows for large exterior walls to admit maximum light and ventilation.  The space created in the public core is open but still comfy because the dimensions remained tightly controlled to minimize expense of construction.  

VIEW OUR ENTIRE PROJECT HERE

Recollections: Haiti House Design_Team 05

This semester’s studio assignment was one that everyone in our group will remember as being different and more rewarding than most.  It will be remembered for re-shaping our notion of the world.  It will be remembered for being real. 

                  In so many instances we are tasked with designing imaginary buildings on unobtainable sites using untested means of construction.   They certainly have their merits as they challenge us to expand our mental horizons, but they are also limited.  Cost is seldom an issue.  Rarely are we challenged with the builder’s dilemma that if we can draw it… they can build it.  Haiti is different.  These buildings will be built.

                  After being totally blown away by how far our preconceptions were off before traveling to Haiti, we set down to work designing appropriate homes for Haitian civilians.  Like most every studio project we minded local context and regional flavor, but unlike other projects, we found it disrespectful and incorrect to veer far from these precedents.  The building process in Haiti, we realized, was something the people were proud of… something they could control… something that should remain intact. 

                  Rather than trying to create an American design and give it to Haiti where it would surely be rejected and ignored, we attempted to design Haitian.  Instead of introducing disorder and chaos to a land riddled with such things, we emphasized rationality above all else.  Our designs were decidedly un-American.  Not in the sense that they hate America, but in the sense that they are strongly dislocated from their nation of their designers.

Tall tales...

0800

As usual, I woke around 0500 to the sound of roosters all around the neighborhood.  Although many more folks have moved in, I scarcely notice any change in the environment.  After I tied up the goat on the lush path, I ran across the exposed stones towards the stream for a quick wash my and the opportunity to mentally prepare my lesson plans.  Before I headed off to school I boiled a few chicken eggs I had foraged on our new indoor stove.  I ate my breakfast on the go and arrived at the schoolyard about ten minutes later.

8 AM

As usual, I fell asleep quickly last night but was awakened annoyingly by roosters well before the sun rose.  After lying in bed for an hour, I grabbed a yogurt that I purchased in bulk from Port-Au-Prince weeks ago.  After taking a shower I stepped outside to enjoy my coffee and the sunrise when I stepped in goat shit.  As if my morning could start any worse, the chickens I had kept had been robbed of their eggs.  Oh well, soon I’ll be presenting my tales of New York to hordes of curious and adoring children at the school after a bumpy ten minute car ride.

1200

We were fortunate enough to have a special presentation at school today.  The man who presented was actually my neighbor, an expatriate from New York City.  He told the children about how his life changed dramatically when he moved from the Haitian countryside to America decades ago.  After living there for years, he claimed he yearned for the simple life back in Haiti.  He showed us pictures of underground trains, of fifty storey buildings, and people beyond people.  We all ate traditional American food he prepared and stored in his home’s refrigerator.   After three minutes and fifteen seconds, the gooey yellow noodles were as hot as though they have been charcoal for hours.  The kids loved them.

12:00 PM

My ten minute drive became an hour experience after my tire blew on the way to the school this morning.  After leaving it with a handy motorcycle riding man, I arrived just in time to begin my presentation and the kids loved every minute.  I utilized the school’s solar generated power to run my laptop and the projector displaying the PowerPoint I made.  Afterwards, I hooked up the microwave to give them a taste of a very un-Haitian food, macaroni and cheese.  After a brief conversation with my friendly neighbor, I realized it was actually a shorter walk than drive to our homes.  I figured I would pick the truck up later, and decided to walk home.

1900

I am going to the community cookout at the pavilion tonight.  I’m so thankful my neighbors appreciate community gathering as it is something I’ve valued since childhood, even during my time at University in Port-au-Prince.  It is my commission to bring the fried plantains and sweet potatoes.  I am quite nervous as it has been mildly rainy throughout the day and I need dry charcoal to prepare them as the generator has been out.  Along with my nerves regarding the vegetables, I’ll have to say I’m anxious to run into Policard Mackenson tonight.  He is new to the neighborhood and I found him quite interesting during his presentation in my class today.

7:00 PM

I can’t help but have a skip in my step as I walk back to the neighborhood from L’ Exode.  Ella Clavessaint’s face is imbedded upon my mind.  With poise, charm, and intelligence, it is her-the Haitian woman-I so desperately missed during my time in the states.  She taught the students with such confidence, it was evident they had deep regard to her.  It looks like I’ll be attending the community cookout tonight after all.

Next steps

Sketch of the "Urban Alternative" site

Our team has honed in on several key issues that are necessary for a successful and fulfilling project.  Each issue will hopefully guide us to a total design.  Each issue was forged from different sources.  As a group, we seek to apply our knowledge gleaned from Jean and Joy Thomas, our observations of the Haitian people, and the work and insights of our fellow classmates.

Sketches completed throughout trip

It is imperative that we bend our designs to suit the Thomas’s desires.  Their insights are really the only insights we have into the nuances of Fond-de-Blanc.  Without them we would not be in Haiti.  They are also the leaders of that community.  What they see fit should be staunchly acknowledged.  The community of Fond-le-Blanc is already seen throughout Haiti as the destination.  It has successfully led a program to plant millions of trees where other regions have failed.  It has accommodated many earthquake refugees without interference.  It has been and will continue to lead Haiti so long as John and Joy are at the leadership helm.  While our design must satisfy our own exacting standards, it is perhaps more important that the design cater to our guide’s initiatives.

We saw how the Haitian community at Fond-de-Blanc lived through a visitor’s lens.  We cannot and will not claim to understand everything we saw.  And we only saw a portion of Fond-des-Blanc.  Learning and interpreting from the best of our observations is really the activity of paramount importance.  Everything we saw was important, but there is a hierarchy that we must ascertain as we sift through all the new and exciting sights.  “Should we consider safety, or running water more of a priority?” we may have asked before departing from America.  The answer is still up to contention but we should continue to challenge our preconceived notions against actual observations.  These observations will be the driver of a total design.

Home in Fond-des-Blancs

Our fellow classmates all made compelling arguments regarding their group’s designs.  Our group needs to learn from them.  Furthermore, our group should collaborate with the others in an effort to cut the fat and maintain the strengths.  When combined they will surely compose a mutual design much stronger than an individual effort.  Each group will surely attempt to incorporate their observations, and who knows, maybe they were looking at something else than we were.  Using one another will be of increasing benefit as we seek to pare down this project into one sleek venture.

We cannot wait to return to Fond-des-Blancs!