Rebuilding Haiti: One volunteer’s on-the-ground observations

Submitted by Katie Davis, architectural designer (Boston, MA)

Katie and one of her new
friends in Haiti

I sat in Boston’s Logan Airport waiting to board the early flight to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, iced coffee in hand. My appreciation for life's little luxuries was about to grow even larger with the coming hours. Upon landing, the airport vibrated with singing and drumming from impromptu musicians. As advised, I managed to quickly get myself and my belongings out of the airport and into the hot sun and the hands of the Architecture for Humanity coordinators. This was the beginning of my adventure: two months devoted to volunteering the best of my architecture-based abilities to a country whose construction was tested—and failed—in the wake of the January 12, 2010 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

En route from the airport, no longer distracted by the immense heat, my focus became the view out of the Toyota truck. As we wound through the crazy vehicle- and pedestrian-filled streets, horns blared and people yelled. But above these sounds, the destruction spoke the loudest. Since this ruin is not a thing of the past, my story will continue in the present. Rubble, debris, and trash rest in the footprints of the crumbled buildings. Scattered along the streets and collected in its curbs, the debris creates an obstacle course around which to navigate the city. Dilapidated buildings and structures, the source of the rubble, lay flattened or sideways. The ghosts of the original architecture linger in its place.


One vendor's art display

 Amongst the piles—in a positive zone of the city—the destruction is silenced by the talent of its artists. While Haitian artwork is deeply rooted in its culture, its visual vibrancy has proven to stand stronger than the neighboring damage. Here, the rubble acts as a backdrop, an exhibition space for the colorful art. Products are displayed along nearly every street each morning: paintings line walls, pottery is tacked to trees, baskets blanket sidewalks, and metalwork clings to fences.

Students in Pélé

This resilient creativity remains a source of inspiration for rebuilding. A main goal of Architecture for Humanity is to help rebuild Haiti through its education, as schools serve as safe gathering places to learn and harness that energy. As such, the Rebuilding Center supports the design and reconstruction of primary and secondary facilities and educates local contractors on proper building techniques by including earthquake and hurricane-proof construction, passive design strategies, local material use, and community collaboration through the design and construction of each school.

The Rebuilding Center concentrates one of its efforts on a school within the dense and chaotic neighborhood of Pélé. The earthquake destroyed a majority of the buildings within the campus’ narrow site, leaving the challenge of providing enough built and open space for the 1,200 pre-k through secondary students, 38 teachers, and the community under safe and sanitary conditions.

Rendering of the
classroom facade

My little piece of the design puzzle was focused on the treatment of the facades of the buildings. Punched windows and open-air clerestory spaces allow for passive cooling and natural daylighting. My design creates an element reusing scrap metal from the streets for the openings, which filters sunlight, provides security, and utilizes the talents of local metalwork artists.

While the rebuilding is happening, each day is a challenge for the Haitian people. Forced from their destroyed homes, families collect in the low-lying areas throughout Port-au-Prince in networks of makeshift “tent cities,” which quickly become unsanitary, disease-infested, and have the tendency to flood. Add to that the country’s ongoing political instability and it paints an unsettling picture of the future with no fast fixes on the horizon.

At the end of my two months, flying home was both the easiest and the hardest part of my trip. The idea of rejoining the First World has its perks; however, knowing the work is far from finished in the Third makes it that much harder.