it's been a year now since the earthquake struck haiti, and thousands of haitians are still living in tents. housing solutions have been proposed by many designers, but actual implementation has been a disappointment to say the least. last year, students addressed housing in haiti through many alternative and innovative projects. during this process, common questions included: what does "earthquake resistant" really mean? which disaster relief shelters have been effective in the past and why? which materials are locally available? how is the haitian family structured? how much infrastructure is available for support? what is a reasonable budget? which sites should be addressed first and what are the geographic characteristics of these sites?... and the list goes on. it's clear, as students we are not disaster relief specialists or seismic engineers, but we can create fresh solutions to design problems using what resources we have. in response to this daunting assignment, i chose to design for a family of 6, using cobb construction reinforced with bamboo. the construction requires a few basic hand tools, readily available materials (earth, straw, bamboo, sand, lime, wire) plenty of manual labor (which could be an ideal opportunity for local employment) and strong community organization. the structure is intended to be a transitional home, which could be reinforced, or expanded over time to become permanent.
No comments:
Post a Comment