This Haiti Summer Studio challenged students to connect with the local community, communicate, document and design in an area without running water or electricity and using designs that can be constructed by local residents.
Ten students and six advisors from the U.S. joined Howard University’s partner, Mercy Outreach Ministry International, and Haiti’s University GOC on a design project that will help Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes residents develop the capacity to improve their daily lives through architectural design solutions. The group spent two weeks in Haiti, where the students practiced the principles of compassionate and participatory design. This documentary video chronicles the student’s experiences. This studio is an example for other schools to use service-learning to implement collaborative, contemplative and participatory design processes that empower local citizens and foster community resilience while enhancing student’s awareness.
A public-interest design education and service-learning project in Petite-Rivière-de-Nippes, Haiti organized by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and Howard University, School of Architecture and Design with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, School of Architecture. With support from the Fetzer Institute, the 2014 Haiti Summer Studio is the continuation of the “2011 Haiti Idea Challenge” where students were asked to propose permanent design ideas to rebuild the infrastructure, cities, and neighborhoods affected by the 2010 earthquake.
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