“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.” — President Rene Preval of Haiti
As Preval noted, Haiti’s rebuilding efforts in the wake of January’s 7.0 earthquake won’t be complete without a manifold approach, as the entire infrastructure of the nation and its capital, Port-au-Prince, has crumbled under thousands of tons of rubble. The shelter issue is pressing, however: 3,000 people sleeping on a school soccer field, machete fights over tents, an estimated 1 million people displaced. So how are architects responding to an immediate humanitarian crisis? They are problem solvers, after all.
