The first Design Open Mic of the month is reserved for internal review of all active projects (and some operations stuff). The meeting takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and I punch up a good six pages of notes. Here I'll spare the volume and stick to hightlights. Feel free to stop into 848 in April for the unabridged version. #iLoveArchitecture

Amidst all the design and construction work the Haiti office is also hub for the Bati Byen professional outreach program. The Rebuilding Center's working with several local Haitian banks to finance economic development grants for business owners. The center's also partnering with a university in Port-au-Prince to conduct software training sessions this spring. While the marketing period has concluded, you can still see Bati Byen billboards about town. What a success - the Rebuilding Center is much better known in the design/construction community, and receives a constant stream of folks seeking construction assistance.

A Bati Byen billboard way out in Cimetiere

Haiti DF Rickie Siegel staying organized. Image by Jessica Linzey

"Le Nègre Marron" by Haitian artist Reginald Girault. This figure is an icon for Haiti

The Civic Art for schools program has also been a hit. The eight artists selected in the first round are finishing the design/student charrette sessions and are moving into construction. Round two artists are being interviewed.

Haiti Rural Mapping Initiative - This one deserve a full report (April?). The W.K. Kellogg Foundation enlisted our help to put 11 rural Haitian communes on the map. Literally. The Rebuilding Center hired surveyors and cartographers, and have trained locals in GIS and Open Street Maps to survey communes, build maps and present them to mayoral offices as the first such documents in most cases. Many of the towns, villages, roads and waterways are being cataloged for the first time.

Villa Rosa planning - Full Update coming soon...

Football for Hope is aiming to reach 20 Centres (sic.) completed or under construction this year, with a dizzying array of activity. In April you can expect:

• Ghana and Rwanda to open

• Edendale and QwaQwa (both in South Africa) to break ground
• Botswana and Cameroon to hire their contractors
• Mozambique to finish training crews in Compressed Earth Block manufacture
• Limpopo (South Africa) to finish DDs
• Cape Verde, Zimbabwe and Alexandra (South Africa) to develop designs (Kuda, the Zimbabwe DF, is being oriented at Headquarters, so we'll be getting a full report on her work)
• DRCongo and Mauritania to start design (and launch Worldchanging pages)
• Identification of the 20th Centre???

Design Fellow George Kinuthia employing the oft-overlooked "Collage Report" for QwaQwa

One of Luvuyo's Edendale renderings

Nathan Jones, DF for Besongabang Centre in Cameroon, regularly ends his days
CADding after the electricity shuts off, until his laptop dies

DF Diego Collazos has been rallying on new schools in Lota, Chile, and Ica, Peru, communities affected by earthquakes in 2010 and 2007, respectively.

A good ol' second floor plan of the Sumate school in Lota, Chile

A response to the Midwest Tornadoes is being led by professional members of Chicago, Lexington, Louisiana and Indianapolis chapters, some of whom have ties to the stricken areas. Meanwhile the AIA is partnering with us to develop strategies for standardized disaster responses by the profession. Architectsrebuild.org is now soliciting proposals. We'll save the other big chapter news for a bit later on...

Alix just got back from a whirlwind trip to Brazil and Argentina (a bit more tan, we couldn't help but notice). She and Nathaniel Corum were conducted a design workshop with Barcelona students on the flood-stricken village of Petropolis, Brazil. In March the Brazilian intern for the project, Carolina, will be visiting Headquarters for orientation before developing a small sports center there. In Argentina, Alix visited Liga FOS as it was moving into bid/tender.

Other Sports Micro-Venture Funds projects across the world in India (sports infrastructure for Delhi and Yuwa Girls' Football Hub in Jharkhand) and China (simply known as Lost Heavens) are entering construction.

Sky mural rendering for Games in Lost Heavens project for Gan Hai Zi Village, Yunnan, China

Soccer team members in Jharkhand finish a day of volunteer site clearing
with a parade of reclaimed materials ;)