Haiti Blog
Today is the two-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, and to date, little progress has been made. Haitians are still living in makeshift tent cities, hunger and disease are still primary threats to survival, and efforts to rebuild have been slow to materialize. There have been improvements but, for the majority, life remains a daily struggle.
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We here at Watershed are trying to do our part to help Haitians in need. For the past year and a half, we have been part of a team committed to supporting the rebuilding effort and are proud to now be one of six finalists from an initial field of 400 submissions to the Building Back Better Communities international design competition. The goal: to help design and build the future homes of Haiti. Through a program now being administered by USAID, we are finalizing our design work (below) for affordable, low-impact housing on a site outside of Port-au-Prince. Two years ago, the homes and businesses and lives of millions of Haitians were heavily damaged or destroyed. The gravity of their circumstances, then and now, does not fail to inform every aspect of our work on this potential project and we are honored and humbled for such an opportunity to play a role in improving the lives of so many in need.
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Some of the other model homes from the Expo last week. A full set of images and a short description of the project goal is in the Haiti BBBC Housing Expo Competitors Flickr set. Some pretty fascinating entries, including K-rapas, a tire house concept that was 100% Haitian and made by Haitians (shown here bottom right).
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Photos from Patrick’s trip to the Building Back Better Communities Housing Expo in Haiti. Top right photo is another view of the Watershed-designed ReadyHome Haiti model home on display at the Expo. This home, as well as the other 60+ residences on display, will one day house a Haitian family. All of the model homes are part of a seed project to build permanent housing for the over one million people who were made homeless by the January 2010 earthquake.
Full set of photos and comments in the Watershed Haiti Set on Flickr and in the Watershed Facebook page album.
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Left: An all-too-common sight/site. Right: One of the many juxtapositions, 100+ housing units sitting idle directly across the road from the Expo – - a hop-and-a-skip from a tent city.
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Photos from the road.
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Patrick is in Haiti for the official opening of the Building Back Better Communities Housing Expo. Watershed Architects is participating as one of the firms to design a model home for the Expo.
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The BBBC Housing Expo event is being conducted by the Government of Haiti led by the Ministry of Tourism, and the BBBC project team includes such organizations as the Clinton Foundation, Harvard University and MIT.
President Bill Clinton and Haitian president Michel Martelly are both guests of honor.
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