Architecture for Humanity recently broke ground on the Ceverine school in Maissade, Haiti. The school presents many challenges common in Haiti: an extremely remote, rural site, as well as a lack of basic services such as water and electricity.
Architecture for Humanity faced the additional challenge of addressing an existing school block which had been constructed poorly. The existing school block had been built on a raft foundation on a steep slope and had begun to slide. The kitchen was a small cramped shed made of wood, creating a fire hazard. The latrine was merely a pit with a concrete shell over it.
The Architecture for Humanity team engaged the services of a local contractor and set to work to not only repair the existing damage but to expand the school with two additional classrooms, a new kitchen and composting latrine. The team was assisted by a team of U.S. volunteers including Tommy Stewart, the American Institute of Architects and the American Institute of Certified Planners.
Construction is proceeding using a large team of laborers from the Maissade community and we expect to be completed in early October.
The refurbished Ceverine School will serve 260 students in four retrofit classrooms and two newly-built classrooms.
More information can be found at Ceverine's project page on the Open Architecture Network: http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/ceverine
