Here is an organization I read about that I wanted to bring to your attention. Pecha Kucha which started as a social gathering for young architects in Tokyo, is now a world wide gathering of architects that has a different event in every major city in the world. This year, they are working with Architecture for Humanity to focus on new ideas and efforts for reconstruction in Haiti. Have a look at their website, very interesting.
Here is a great post by way of our friends at CoolHunting.com about the SEED Emergency Housing project by the Department of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture at Clemson University. The project uses designs made of shipping containers that were originally made for housing in the Carribean. Ever since Katrina and now Haiti, these homes are being used as solutions to the housing problems since they are built to withstand Hurricanes and Earthquakes. For more: CH: SEED Emergency Housing Shipping Containers
Here are a couple of new options for emergency housing by way of Design Observer. Of course they have their drawback: limited production, cost and delivery time but with time and effort this can all be improved. All in all the designs look very promising and will hopefully be implemented very soon.
As you can all imagine one of my main concerns with Haiti (other then medical and food) is shelter and infrastructure. I have been doing some reading that I want to share with you. One of the most prominent organizations for this cause is Architects for Humanity and Cameron Sinclair. Sinclair wrote a very important article for the Huffington Post that anyone who is interested in the reconstruction of Haiti should read. He is right on the ball.
Here is the article: HP: Haiti Quake: A Plan for Reconstruction.
Please visit the above links and article for more information. You can also follow me on my twitter page or click on the sidebar twitter button. I will be posting all I can find on the subject on my twitter page so please don’t hesitate to connect and/or follow me or drop me a line by email.
