Architecture for Humanity - rebuilding Haiti
First, and most time sensitive: On Feb. 20 (this Saturday), PechaKucha is organizing a world-wide event/series of events to raise money for rebuilding in Haiti; the fundraising is going to support Architecture for Humanity's long-term plan. They're also planning on streaming some parts of it online.
The local (to me) one is going to be held at MIT, in the auditorium in the Media Lab building, at 7:30. Admission is free, so I'm assuming they'll have some system in place on site for donations. I don't know if it's necessary to sign up; I don't know if the event is likely to be full. I haven't been to any PechaKucha events before, but they do hold others in the Boston area (their regular event is next Weds., the 24th). The basic format is that each presenter gets 20 slides, with 20 seconds per slide, and topics are generally in along the lines of design/art/neat cultural thing.
A couple of folks from the Boston AfH chapter will be giving a presentation there, which (if I recall correctly) is going to be the same presentation given at all of Saturday's talks, not just Boston, plus a few slides on local projects the group is involved with.
AfH's long term plan is here, and set up as a project on the Open Architecture Network here. The basic goal is to take what AfH has learned over the past 10+ years of working on disaster relief and apply it here, not as yet another design competition, but an actual process to replace buildings, by providing community resource centers for designers and builders, design and construction manuals, training, and rebuilding schools.
Haitians are not going want to hear ideas; they need shelter. It is our job to build homes that are not only safe but incorporate the needs, desires and dreams of the families that will live in them. Additionally, like after Katrina, we are not just building a roof over someone's head -- we are building equity. To many, their home is their safety net. They don't have 401Ks or investment accounts. If we build homes the same way they have been built before, we are just setting people up for this again. We can force better building codes by building examples of what the future will look like. Again, this will be a coalition of building partners.
In case it isn't obvious why architecture is relevant, here is an article talking about the state of building construction before the earthquake.
Most houses and other structures are built of poured concrete or block, there being very little lumber available due to mass deforestation, said Alan Dooley, a Nashville architect who designed a medical clinic, built of reinforced concrete, in Petite Rivière de Nippes, a fishing village 50 miles west of Port-au-Prince.
Concrete is very expensive - much of the cement for it comes from the United States, Mr. Dooley said - so some contractors cut corners by adding more sand to the mix. The result is a structurally weaker material that deteriorates rapidly, he said. Steel reinforcing bar is also expensive, he said, so there is a tendency to use less of it with the concrete.
Building codes are limited or nonexistent, so columns and other elements made from concrete are often relatively thin, designed without proper margins of safety.
And on top of that, it had been 200 years since the last major earthquake, so buildings were designed to withstand hurricanes, not earthquakes.
The local (to me) one is going to be held at MIT, in the auditorium in the Media Lab building, at 7:30. Admission is free, so I'm assuming they'll have some system in place on site for donations. I don't know if it's necessary to sign up; I don't know if the event is likely to be full. I haven't been to any PechaKucha events before, but they do hold others in the Boston area (their regular event is next Weds., the 24th). The basic format is that each presenter gets 20 slides, with 20 seconds per slide, and topics are generally in along the lines of design/art/neat cultural thing.
A couple of folks from the Boston AfH chapter will be giving a presentation there, which (if I recall correctly) is going to be the same presentation given at all of Saturday's talks, not just Boston, plus a few slides on local projects the group is involved with.
AfH's long term plan is here, and set up as a project on the Open Architecture Network here. The basic goal is to take what AfH has learned over the past 10+ years of working on disaster relief and apply it here, not as yet another design competition, but an actual process to replace buildings, by providing community resource centers for designers and builders, design and construction manuals, training, and rebuilding schools.
Haitians are not going want to hear ideas; they need shelter. It is our job to build homes that are not only safe but incorporate the needs, desires and dreams of the families that will live in them. Additionally, like after Katrina, we are not just building a roof over someone's head -- we are building equity. To many, their home is their safety net. They don't have 401Ks or investment accounts. If we build homes the same way they have been built before, we are just setting people up for this again. We can force better building codes by building examples of what the future will look like. Again, this will be a coalition of building partners.
In case it isn't obvious why architecture is relevant, here is an article talking about the state of building construction before the earthquake.
Most houses and other structures are built of poured concrete or block, there being very little lumber available due to mass deforestation, said Alan Dooley, a Nashville architect who designed a medical clinic, built of reinforced concrete, in Petite Rivière de Nippes, a fishing village 50 miles west of Port-au-Prince.
Concrete is very expensive - much of the cement for it comes from the United States, Mr. Dooley said - so some contractors cut corners by adding more sand to the mix. The result is a structurally weaker material that deteriorates rapidly, he said. Steel reinforcing bar is also expensive, he said, so there is a tendency to use less of it with the concrete.
Building codes are limited or nonexistent, so columns and other elements made from concrete are often relatively thin, designed without proper margins of safety.
And on top of that, it had been 200 years since the last major earthquake, so buildings were designed to withstand hurricanes, not earthquakes.