As part of the AA Visiting School, students were engaged with the task of designing a ‘core house’ that could be implemented in Haiti as a new form of housing construction. Bamboo was employed as the main structural element while also taking into account the ecological, climatic and social issues of the country. Karamba was used by the students to help analyze the structural performance of the proposed structures and give feedback on the final designs.
Text from the AA Haiti Visiting School
For the summer 2016, students were asked to design a 25sqm ‘core house’ with a structural system which can be straightforwardly constructed with a minimal variation of components. This had to be constructed by, or with the direct involvement of the owners or family so they can feel ownership of the process. This home was to be earthquake resilient, and resistant to hurricane winds of 80 m/s. The home must utilise a species of bamboo which grows in Haiti, in the primary structure however you are not limited only to using bamboo for the rest of the construction. This house was intended to be replicable by others in the community who can learn from the construction and use the finished building as reference. This ‘core house’ is designed to affectionately introduce bamboo as a material to live alongside. This had to be aesthetically desirable to be chosen by the occupier or family and spatially functional responding to the perceived utilitarian social and cultural needs of Haitian society. The output of the class was to be presented through a communicative medium applicable to both the local community and government agencies.
Tutors: John Naylor, Rose Di Sarno, Aditya Aachi, Doria Reyes Cordova, Nancy Leconte, Franck Vendryes, Diego Perez Espitia and Sebastian Kaminski of ARUP.
Students: Pablo Acevedo, Yukiko Yoshida, Marc Rochnal Louis Jean, Yussef Agbo-Ola, Anthoula Tsagkataki, Jean Widny Lordeus, James Turner, Simon Abboud, Ego Jusmé, Astrid Cam Aguinaga, Jupille Facile, Parnel Presna, Hsu Myat Aung, Schnight-dy Azilien, Junior Emmanuel, Jorge Mayorga, Regine Tesserot Fabius, and Elysée Morancy