BAR Rebuilds: Archive

More on the Plan Historique de la Recuperation de...

If you have a chance to leaf though the presentation of the Plan Historique de la Récupération de Port-au-Prince on the blog post below, do so! It is fascinating.I hope to be able to obtain a video of the final presention so any intersted people at BAR Architects can reveiw it. It was impressive how much research and work the Prince’s Foundation and Duany Plater-Zyberk did in such a short...

Jan 28th

Port-au-Prince Downtown Renewal Plan Website →

Click on this link to follow the work & plan for the Port-au-Prince charette and downtown renewal plan.

Jan 26th

A selection of phrases in Creole (Kreyol)

Koman jounen travay ou te ye? (How was work today?) Mwen beswen yon woulib. (I need a ride) Ki Kote tout moun ye. (Where is everyone?) Ki vyann sa ye? (What kind of meat is this?) Metem deyo la gen yon kou deta!!! (get me out of here, there’s a coup!!!)

Jan 25th

Colorful Haitian Tap Taps

Something between a bus and a taxi, tap tap cabs serve as mass transportation in Haiti. Tap taps are privately owned, but publicly operated as a form of shared taxi.

Jan 25th

Haiti Parters - Children's Academy - Workspace →

Follow this link to access BAR’s “workspace” on Open Architecture Network. This is where we post drawings, sketches, site photos, etc.

Jan 24th

The Commute to Work

Living here the way we do sometimes feels a little bit like being under house arrest. For security reasons, we only leave the house with a driver. This makes it virtually impossible to explore the city on your own. Each morning we are driven down from the hills where our house is to the office, forming part of a “convoy” of SUV’s on their way into the city. All of these...

Jan 23rd

What are the red, yellow, and green marks on the...

Building Seismic Safety Assessments were done starting on January 25, 2010 by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Ministere des Travaux Publics. So all over Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas buildings are tagged with a spray painted MTPTC in a color to indicate their structural safety. Red = Condemned; Do Not Enter (but some are inhabited nonetheless) Yellow...

Jan 23rd

Haiti Days 6 and 7 (January 19 + 20)

WEDNESDAY January 19 Chris and Lisa at work; Yves Francois, local architect and contractor, is on the right. His office is upstairs. We had a lunch meeting with John Engel (center), co-founder of Haiti Partners, which is the organization sponsoring the school we are working on. On the right is Eric Cesal, director of Architecture for Humanity’s Haiti office. In the evening we...

Jan 21st

Haiti Day 5 continued

We had a great day today meeting our client John Engles and touring the site. It is an incredible site - rather remote, about 3 acres, very hilly with amazing views of Port au Prince and the mountains. Within about 15 minutes of being on the site we had about 15 kids following us all around. Above are a few of our new Haitian friends and hopefully future students of our new school! Above is...

Jan 19th

Haiti Day 5, around noon: rumor is that Duvalier...

We met John Engel this morning, founder of Haiti Partner’s, who is sponsoring the school we will design. So far so good—very very nice man. We are leaving to meet him for lunch momentarily. Were supposed to have lunch in the Hotel Karibe, but word on the street is the hotel is surrounded and Duvalier is being arrested. So we will go elsewhere. More later.

Jan 18th

Some Photos

The Maison (where we stay) View of house from gated auto court (North side of house) Stone Detail 1 - Limestone is abundant Stone Detail 2 Chris and his new best friend Regina color in the courtyard Chris and Regina in the house Front Door Living area—messy with boxes from the Inveneo people This is Terminator, the house cat Stairs down to 3 of the sleeping rooms (3...

Jan 18th

Haiti Day 4-a Day at the Office

Concerning the Duvalier visit-no protests or violence that we are aware of! Today we observed Architecture for Humanity’s 2011 Haiti Strategy meeting. Kate Stohr (in pink dress), co-founder and director of the Haiti work, is here from San Francisco headquarters this week running the sessions Tomorrow we will meet John Engle, sponsor of the Children’s Academy (“our”...

Jan 18th

Haiti day 3-Baby Doc is back!

Big news tonight is the return of Baby Doc Duvalier. He arrived a couple of hours ago after 25 years of exile in France. We’re not sure what sort of riots or problems this might create. The group here monitors the news and Tweets with friends around the city for up to the minute, neighborhood by neighborhood news. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Sunday is the official relaxation day...

Jan 17th

Haiti Day 2

Saturday we went with some of the Architecture for Humanity team to Ecole Elie Dubois, an all girl high school, to participate in a design charrette. On the way we passed by the Presidential Palace, which looks the same as it did one year ago Presidential Palace Another Government Building The Ecole Elie Dubois has 213 students grades 9 to 12. Before the earthquake classes took place on...

Jan 17th

Haiti Day 1

We are here! Chris and Lisa arrived Friday afternoon, were picked up at the airport by driver Ronald, and drove through Port-au-Prince to Architecture for Humanity’s office where we were briefly oriented to the projects they have on the boards. Then we drove to the house where everyone from Architecture for Humanity, plus a collection of other folks, live. On the road: Crazy traffic, tent...

Jan 16th

Extollo International - Rebuilding in Leogane,... →

This is a link to an organization that is also rebuilding in Haiti. The General Contractor on one of our projects (TVLC), Sherman Balch of Balch Enterprises, started Extollo International and is making great strides in Leogane, Haiti. How exciting!

Jan 13th