The unprecedented challenges facing Haiti after the earthquake on January 12 invite us to analyze foundational aspects of Haitian society as rebuilding projects are being put in place to restore virtually every single component of the country’s infrastructure—physical, health-related educational, socio-economic, political, etc.
This round table, with Massachusetts State Representatives Marie P. St. Fleur and Linda Dorcena Forry (both of whom are Haitian-American), and Prof. Steven Lerman, Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Education will explore the anticipated contributions of research universities in Haiti’s rebuilding efforts and how these contributions will bear on these universities’ traditional missions of research and teaching. Both state representatives represent districts in Boston and have been instrumental as leaders in working with the Haitian community and the Mayor’s office to support the local Haitian community in Boston.
The round table will be moderated by Dr. Dale Joachim and will take place at 2:00pm, Wednesday, February 17th in the Bartos Theatre at the Media Lab (E15-070). All are welcome.
Skip to minute 5 for the section on yourHOUSE.
Larry Sass: This design of yourHOUSE is a reinterpretation of historical New Orleans style “Shotgun” Housing utilizing recycled plywood as the main structural material. The house will be fabricated and assembled entirely of friction-fit components, completely eliminating the need for mechanical fasteners such as nails and screws. This fabrication technique is made possible through the extensive use of computer numerical control (CNC) milling machines…
Sass’s house at MOMA was subject of much scrutiny– after all, minimising joints to increase robustness has been a builders rule of thumb for many centuries. However, yourHOUSE should not be viewed as a house through the eyes of a realtor, but as a demonstration of the possibility to not only make almost anything with personal fabrication machines, but also to make those things personally customisable. Sass and his team paid great attention to the architectural origins of the location site they were designing for, in this case, post-Katrina New Orleans. This is a general benefit of providing machines for fabrication instead of pre-fabbed products. The users can make things the way they want, the way they see they need things.
Jeff Warren and Alice B. Philips: The SHRIMP (Sustainable Housing for Refugees via Mass Production) is an attempt to bring housing and other relief to large displaced or homeless populations, especially those who have suffered in a natural disaster. Providing shelter to a family of four, it folds up into 1/4 of a shipping container for efficient deployment.
Harnessing economies of scale is theoretically by far the cheapest way to help as many people as possible. Architecture schools are riddled with proposals of flat-packing houses that fit into shipping containers– cheap, fast and easy. However, these rarely ask whether or not they will be used. After all, it is a free house for those who don’t have houses, so they (where the disaster has struck) obviously want this…right? The rejection of FEMA trailers would probably be viewed as similarly surprising.
In the end, no one can know what it is that Haitians will use but the Haitians themselves. We hope we can help by supporting Haitians in rebuilding.
The Students of Color Committee (SCC) of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT:
We are hosting a screening of The Road to Fondwa, a documentary about positive self-help development movements in Haiti, followed by a question/comment segment with one of the film’s directors, brief presentations of faculty initiatives in Haiti, and ending with a a dialogue for participants to ask questions and speak of their work and experiences in Haiti. Dinner will be served (Haitian cuisine of course!)
A fablab, or fabrication laboratory, is a workshop of computer controlled machines with which one can make almost anything: furniture, electronics, even houses. In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, people need to be able to make the things they want and need to resume their lives.
