THE HAITI PROJECTTHE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLECOLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN

INTRODUCTIONNearly 30 years ago, Professor John McRae,

former dean of the College of Architecture

and Design, traveled to Haiti and became

intrigued with the spirit of its people,

colorful history, and deep rooted culture

and pride. During his travels he established a

relationship with Jean and Joy Thomas of the

Haiti Christian Development Fund, who were

doing work in the village of Fond-des-Blancs.

Upon hearing about the tragic earthquake

in January 2010, John contacted Jean and

Joy to see how he and the students at the

University of Tennessee could assist in Haiti’s

“build back better” campaign. The timing

appeared to be ripe with opportunity for a

mutually beneficial relationship between the

students and the tremendous needs of the

nation. Thus, the Haiti Project was established,

creating an interdisciplinary approach to

help solve multiple issues of health, safety,

and sustainability. The collaborative group

of students, including architecture, nursing,

engineering, interior design, and landscape

architecture, began working on the first design

project – L’Exode Secondary School in Fond-

des-Blancs – during Fall 2010. The exposure

to another culture, a new set of design

parameters, and real-world experiences

will continue to give students invaluable

lessons and equip them to become better

professionals with more sensitivity towards

different cultures and the context of others.

“Working with a group of dedicated students and architects to reach a common goal has been an

experience unmatched by any other”

Marianela D’ Aprile, First Year Architecture Student

CONSTRAINTS

Haitians are disproportionately vulnerable to

earthquakes and other natural disasters due

to socioeconomic factors, among others. As

designers, economic constraints and exposure

to another culture can offer an opportunity to

supplement our technical skills with empathy,

acute problem solving, and cultural sensitivity.

While architecture students are often

encouraged to design structures that test

the limits of materials and technology, those

involved in the Haiti Project learn to design

with a sense of restraint and pragmatism.

Being creative in a setting with low resources

can be more difficult, but it makes the outcome

that much more rewarding.

Due to the lack of resources and infrastructure,

the challenges of designing in Haiti are:

• using cost effective

local materials and construction

methods

• utilizing natural lighting and ventilation

methods

• incorporating health, water, and

sanitation considerations

• designing structures that will withstand

earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding

• planning for phased construction

“The constant negotiation between cultural, economic, climatic, and tectonic constraints has created a fascinating

arena in which to practice our craft and our humanity”

Andy Ruff, Fifth Year Undergraduate Architecture Student

Nursing

“The Nursing program recognizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in finding

innovative and sustainable solutions to the complex problems facing the world’s most vulnerable

populations. Because health and wellness are shaped largely by socioeconomic and environmental

factors, nursing’s partnership with architecture was a natural fit. As nursing faculty, we may have

initially perceived our role in the collaboration as predominantly informative: Teach architecture

and design students the fundamentals of infection control and describe how healthcare workers

and patients interact in clinical settings so that students can design a building suitable to the

purpose of health promotion. However, it was not long before we realized how much we had to

learn from our creative counterparts.”

Moriah McArthur, MSc, Clinical Instructor, College of Nursing

COLLABORATION

Engineering

“The experience of getting to know and learn from people who are different from you is beneficial

and enjoyable in ways that go beyond the professional.”

Jeremy Mefford, Graduate Civil Engineering Student

Architecture + Design

“Whether it is professional or personal, I think we can all say from the bottom of our hearts that we

have benefited from this experience in ways that we will never be able to truly explain.”

Laura Sherborne, Undergraduate Architecture

Master Plan

The first phase of the L’Exode Secondary School, designed by COAD students in a spring 2011

seminar course, was completed for the community of Fond-des-Blancs in August 2012. Some of

our students and faculty were able to attend the grand opening in September 2012, with over

300 attendees. The first phase includes five classrooms and the cafeteria. The school, designed in

three phases, will include a total of 500 students.

SECONDARY SCHOOL PHASE 1

Classrooms

Eventually there will be a total of 18 classrooms along with dormitories. Built in phases, the num-

ber of classrooms will grow as the student body does. The classrooms each seat 25-30 students

with separate entrances and natural ventilation and lighting. This approach provides for produc-

tive teaching and learning, allowing students to focus on lessons.

Cafeteria

Many students attending school depend on in-house meals to get them though the day. While

students attend L’Exode Secondary School, they are able to dine in an environment that allows

for community bonding and wholesome meals. Many students from the community have limited

resources and the meal they have at school may be their only daily nutrition.

There are four different housing types that

the designers were asked to consider for

the proposed community of this spring 2012

studio. They included the young professional,

retiree, typical Haitian family and roommate.

The 14 houses were all designed as part of

a master plan within a tract near the school.

Part of the concept was to provide housing for

school staff. The young professional and the

retiree housing types were designed for Haitian

expatriates. The expatriate families might have

either come from the city of Port-au-Prince or

were originally natives of the more rural areas

of Haiti and lived for an extended period of time

in either Port-au-Prince or the United States. In

both of these scenarios, these families would

have spent time living in more developed areas

and now wish to return to the countryside. The

homes of the young professional expatriates

would likely be categorized in the United

States as a “starter home” and would be

relatively small in plan. The retiree home would

also be small due to the number of members in

the household. For both of these types, more

modern amenities would be included in order

to sustain the lifestyles these families would

have acquired from living in more developed

areas. The third housing type was designed

for the typical Haitian family, which generally

includes between four and ten members, and

requires more space than homes designed for

smaller family units. The final housing type was

for a roommate situation. These homes would

not be as intimate as those designed for a

family and would require an amount of space

that would allow for comfort to an individual

but also have common space. The designs were

carried through the “design development”

stage and submitted to the Haiti Christian

Development Fund for implementation. The

first house began construction in fall 2013.

HOUSING COMMUNITY

KITCHENMASTERBEDROOM

MASTERBATHROOM

LIVING ROOM

BEDROOMFULL

BATHROOM

STORAGE

POTENTIALADDITION

FRONT PORCHBACK PORCH

Design Thinking

Haiti offers extraordinary creative opportunities for people to think and work differently. Design

thinking techniques were implemented, and transdisciplinary collaboration was incorporated in

the studio experience. These approaches were provided to foster success through relationship

and practicing a deeper sense of empathy when making decisions. Design thinking is a universal

process of creating original ideas, objects, spaces, or experiences with meaning. Imagination and

integrity developed by the students were able to reach beyond the traditions of visual/spatial

design associated with the building arts. They learned to merge and synthesize the tangible and

intangible aspects of the world into new holistic human experiences. Design thinking is an inclusive

process with emphasis on empathy and collaboration. This approach contributed significantly to

the successful efforts of the studio.

Mobile Medical Unit

Student teams proposed a system for delivering health care to rural Haitians in the response

to natural disaster. The design had to address the realities of the Haitian communication and

transportation infrastructure, cultural expectations of delivering medical care, and the ergonomic

and human factor issues of transporting supplies.

Student Projects

The spring 2013 studio, with 23 students in architecture, interior design and nursing, developed a

total of 11 different solutions for the Ft. Liberte Medical Clinic. The projects provided a significant

level of creative thinking and idea generation across a range of considerations. It is anticipated

that a composite - selected by the client, friends of Ft. Liberte - will be built in the fairly near

future.

Nursing Perspective

EBEN-EZER MEDICAL CLINIC

The devastation inflicted by the earthquake

presented a unique opportunity for nursing

and architecture to unite under a shared “build

back better” philosophy and contribute to the

reconstruction of the country’s ailing healthcare

infrastructure. The new Eben-Ezer Medical

Clinic is located in the community of Ft. Liberte.

Faculty in both disciplines had prior experience

working in Haiti which facilitated greater

understanding of Haitian culture and way of life.

As nurses, the goal was to provide insight into

the challenges Haitian people face accessing

healthcare as well as the typical services and

operations of rural clinics. The architecture and

interior design students were extraordinarily

perceptive and engaged us in thoughtful

discourse about the needs of both patients and

healthcare providers. Students also seized the

opportunity to incorporate nursing students

into their design teams and utilized their

knowledge base in design process. Throughout

the semester, nursing students reflected on the

challenges and ultimate benefits of working

so closely with another discipline including:

learning a common language to transcend

discipline specific jargon, embracing new ways

of thinking about health, and overcoming

logistical/technological challenges to ensure all

voices were heard despite the rapid pace and

tight deadlines of the project. These skills are

necessary and transferable to many aspects

of life, and this unique project exemplified the

power of collaboration for interdisciplinary

education and practice.

Moriah McArthur, MSc, Clinical Instructor

This fall 2013 seminar built on the work of the

seminar in fall 2012, in which an interdisciplinary

group of students researched and developed

best practices for single family home design

and construction. There was a particular

emphasis on critical “low tech” systems that

include strategies for harvesting, filtering, and

conveying clean water, managing sunlight, and

creating window screening. The students were

asked to individually identify, through research

and precedent studies, a problem condition

and design a solution strategy using full scale

models and real construction materials.

The course was supported by input from the

Colleges of Nursing and Engineering. The

results of the seminar will be incorporated into

the Construction/User Manual, LIFEHouse. The

material will be translated into both Creole and

French, and will be distributed throughout the

country to leaders and builders in an effort

to provide safer, better, and more sustainable

guidelines for residential building in the

country.

CONSTRUCTION EXPLORATIONS

“The class gained a new perspective into the constraints that a Haitian builder faces through limited tools and materials, by

having the opportunity to construct our designs, and experience the challenges inherent in the building process.”

Mallory Barga, 3rd Year Graduate Architecture Student

LIFEHouse represents an innovative approach

to addressing the urgent need for adequate

building standards in Haiti. While including

basic safety instructions, the unique feature

of LIFEHouse is its emphasis on a less-well-

known relationship between housing design

and disease prevention. With a focus on health

and well-being, LIFEHouse offers a broader

awareness of how adhering to adequate

building standards can lead to safer homes

and an overall improved quality of life.

As evidence mounts that there are no plans

to implement a national building code, an

urgent need exists to disseminate research-

based design principles and resources to

individual citizens and communities who are

attempting to rebuild. The term LIFEHouse

refers to a house designed to promote life. It

encompasses a multi-faceted research project

that will explore how culturally sensitive ideas,

along with health and safety conscious design

can contribute directly to a better quality of

life.

The objective is to incorporate student

academic and field research, conducted in

recent design laboratories, into a construction/

users manual. The research will help to support

ten design principles, which will highlight

step-by-step ways to mitigate disease, ensure

safety, and create sustainable ways of life

while utilizing local resources and observing

cultural sensitivities. These design principles

will be illustrated and translated to Creole,

allowing them to relate directly to the people.

They will be strategically disseminated by

Haitian community leaders to ensure wider

acceptance and utilization.

Broader objectives include evaluating the

design principles used in the construction of a

test house in Haiti by Haitians. This process will

reveal the strengths, as well as possible gaps,

in the research conducted so far, providing

a framework for further refinement of the

principles.

This is an ongoing project that has involved

many faculty and students from the Colleges

of Architecture and Design, Nursing, and

Engineering. Research editors, Susanne

Tarovella, Andy Godwin, and Joleen Darragh,

plan to draft the publication during spring

2014.

LIFEHouse: Improving the Quality of Life Through Better Design

A LIFEHouse is a home designed to promote life. It breathes, takes root, grows over time, comforts, brightens, supports, withstands, is resilient, hydrates, and refreshes.

Secondary School Phase 2 + 3

The second and third phases of the school construction will be completed over the next few

years. A multi-purpose building, dormitories, additional classrooms, and the library are the next

buildings to be constructed. There are presently 60 seventh and eighth grade students. The

facility will eventually support 500 students through all secondary levels. The school has been

visited for a post occupancy evaluation to test classroom lighting levels, ventilation, site water

runoff, and other factors. These results will be incorporated into planning of future phases.

UPCOMING WORK

Housing Community

Work on the school, together with subsequent plans, has spurred the college to conduct a more

general research study, funded through the UT Office of Research, developing and documenting

“best practices” in single family house designs. The housing studies described in this publication

are now complete, with construction documents for 14 houses. Construction started on the first

home in fall 2013.

For More Information

To see more student work, please visit http://tiny.utk.edu/haiti-project

To donate to the project, go to Impact Big Ideas at https://tiny.utk.edu/big-impact-haiti

The 2010 earthquake shook Haiti to the core; not just physically but also socially,

politically and economically. Almost three years later the emotional aftershocks

are still being felt. In the months following the quake there were enough blames

to pass around from individual responsibilities to governmental neglects. But

there were also some very constructive conversations around building a better

Haiti. At the forefront of those discussions was the concept of ‘decentralization’.

So many young students died in overcrowded schools. So many century old

government buildings collapsed along with countless substandard homes. ‘Build

better’ became a universal slogan.

Almost three years later, it is sad to say that not much has improved. The chatter

has subsided. The NGO’s have moved on. Thankfully, a few visionaries have

remained committed to the dream of a better Haiti. The University of Tennessee-

Knoxville is one of the few. Working with leaders in the rural community of Fond-

des-Blancs, professors and students have invested their skills to design a better

academic environment aimed at providing a quality education in a modern and

safe environment. Not satisfied with just the needs of the students, they also

created blueprints for a totally modern residential community where relocation

from anywhere in Haiti and the world can happen without a downgrade in living

comfort and amenities. In so doing the University has addressed the two core

issues of the post-earthquake Haiti: safety and decentralization. For this they

have earned the respect and appreciation of the people of Fond-des-Blancs and

created a model that should be replicated in the rest of the country.

Rev. Jean Thomas, Executive Director of the Haiti Christian Development Fund

Fond-des-Blancs, Haiti