2018 Reports

Heritage, Education, and Urban Resilience: Building Alternative Futures in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Avrami, Erica C.; Raynolds, William; Arlotta, Allison; Boote, Ethan; Covington, Whigham; Fesette, Emily; Jiang, Yi; Lubitz, Adam; Mistry, Nilika; O'Hara, Morgan; Siri, Olson; Ramanathan, Ramya; Taylor-Hasty, Katherine

This study was produced by a Fall 2017 joint historic preservation and urban planning at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and built upon the work of a previous 2015 studio. Students explored how Gingerbread houses in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, can serve an integrative and catalytic function in relation to urban form, creative placemaking, and community resilience. This inquiry approached the Gingerbreads from two perspectives. The first focused on the use of the Gingerbreads for educational and cultural purposes to understand the opportunities and challenges confronted by this particular institutional community, which is geographically dispersed. The second examined the Gingerbreads in a physical community by focusing on a particular neighborhood/node, Pacot, in which Gingerbreads are geographically concentrated and represent a significant element of the urban fabric. The studio was undertaken with the support of World Monuments and in collaboration with the Haitian Education and Leadership Program (HELP), the Fondation connaissance et liberté / Fondasyon Konesans Ak Liberte (FOKAL), and MASS Design Group.