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2011 haiti_utk publication

Introduction haiti_utk

Welcome to the Haiti UTK site! The work on these pages reflects student engagement in design for both a school and housing for the community of Fonds des Bloncs, Haiti in collaboration with the Haiti Christian Development Fund. The project was initiated in the early fall of 2010 and subsequently a class of 19 students, in the spring of 2011, was given the responsibility of deisgning a secondary school. The school is under constuction. A new group of students is now hard at work developing new housing in Fonds des Blancs. The work of these students can be seen in the pages of this blog. Students of the class will be traveling to Haiti Februay 2-6 to collect addiional data. It is anticipated that this second phase of the project will be completed in late April with construction starting summer 2012. The work of the students is being guided by three primary faculty, John McRae, David Matthews, and Chris King, a local practictioner. The students during their exploration will engage a wide range of issues including context, culture, resources, climate and other outside factors not common to their expereince.

Students: Cassidy Barnett, Aaron Brown, Sarah Heimermann, Mitzi Coker, Emily Corgan, Ben Cross, Peter Duke, Emily Fike, Sam Funari, Lauren Heile, Kendra McHaney, Lauren Metts, Morgan Oiler, Bernice Paez, Forrest Reynolds, Emily Ryan, James Sawyer, Zachary Smith, Robert Thew, Cory Wikerson Faculty: John McRae, Chris King, David Matthews

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Friday

Feb102012

Adventures in Haiti

Friday, February 10, 2012 at 1:09PM

The culture of a place is the most important element to consider in design. On of Haiti's most prominent elements of Haiti's cutlture is water. Life revolves around water. In Haiti water plays an enormous role in everyday life. As Americans we take simple tasks such as bathing, laundry, or even simply brushing our teeth for granted. For Haitians the involvement of water brings community. Everything in the Haitians day is based on when, where, and how they obtain their water and who they obtain it with.

Photo by Morgan Oiler

Photos by Morgan Oiler

Site Overview

Photo by Morgan Oiler

Water is not only an important element to the Haitian culture, but to our site development as well. During our time in Haiti our team researched hydrology patterns on our site. The site was broken up into six regions. We started our research at the Ephemeral stream which cuts through the site. We recorded potential wet lands, ponds, and water flow patterns. We noticed the direction of water flow and where water collected. Haiti is currently in its dry season so we were able to notice where ponds of water occur. It was important to get accurate sketches to understand what areas are unbuildable.

Photos by Morgan Oiler

Morgan Oiler |