Final Site Design Proposal

Final Site Plan

In designing a site proposal, our new team wanted to synthesize the strengths of our previous schemes. This amalgamation of concepts, drivers and priorities eventually yielded a site plan that would be practical, beautiful and functional. Above all, we wanted to design according to the human scale, ensuring a meaningful connection between the inhabitants of this development and the built environment. While many things drove our design, there were three concepts that impacted decisions more than others. First, to create a strong sense of community; second, to provide a sense of order that is easily understood and clearly recognizable; and third, to design universally, allowing all people to utilize every feature of the site.

Courtyard PerspectiveThe shared courtyard was the primary avenue with which community was emphasized. We believe that every community needs a tool to enhance social interaction, and that this interaction is necessary and beneficial for every resident. An elongated courtyard ensures a relationship to the pedestrian path that winds through the site, thus connecting the residents to others that may not live within their cluster of homes. By placing the main entrance to the home on the inside of the courtyard, social interaction is optimized and community is created.

 Order vs Organic

We recognized that in a nation that has just experienced tragedy, creating a sense of order would be paramount. Often times, the perception of order is equated with security and safety, so we sought to develop a clearly organized, rigidly executed site plan with one moment of break from that system. The streets (vehicular circulation) were forced to snap to a grid that established the footprint of our blocks, while the pedestrian path to the west of the homes was allowed to break that geometry and follow the natural topography of the land. This breaking of the system allowed for ultimate convenience while one moves through the site. The organic pedestrian path was not a matter of preference, but one of convenience and livability. We sought to create a development that catered to the everyday lives and activities of its residents, rather than to the chance visit by a passerby.

Pedestrian Bridge

In order to allow the development to be utilized by the maximum number of people, we decided that universal design would need to be decision driver. As mentioned earlier, the organic pedestrian pathway was a response to convenience and livability, because half of this development will be inhabited by Ex-patriots who are returning to Haiti to retire. This meant that minimal elevation change along walkways and paths was absolutely essential. The easiest and most inexpensive way to accomplish this was to allow the path to follow the natural topography of the land, creating the organic shape seen above. This ideology was even carried into the design of the footbridge that will span the stream that cuts the site in two. It connects the two points on site that have the least elevation change, allowing for ease of access and continual usage. In addition, the elevated bridge allows for phenomenal views and an unparalleled experience within the site.

These values are not only crucial to a successful masterplan of the site, but are also crucial to the design of the individual homes. Ultimately, our duty is to serve people as best we can. By recognizing exactly what people need and desire in a home, we are able to respond through design and create a space that will be livable, beautiful and enjoyable.

Gallery of Presentation Drawings and Key Images

LLBen's Reflection of Design & Looking Forward

Crossing the Stream in Fonds des Blancs - Photo: Lauren Metts

m Photo Lauren Metts

After our trip to Haiti, we decided that our initial design needed several alterations to become more successful. Not knowing how much the extreme topography affected the site as a whole, we had designed homes that would no longer be legitimate to build. Also, we needed to take into consideration the noise coming from the generator the people of this community would have access to and how to deafen it. Being a new and improved neighborhood, the design of the kitchen within the homes needed to be altered to uplift and strengthen the notion of a more technologically advanced society.

Several key issues that we saw the need to develop further after our visit are as follows:

1. The placement of homes within the site and the probable conditions needed to be thoroughly thought through after visiting the site.
2. The homes needed to have access to a road or path of some kind for (at least) the construction purposes, as well as vehicular access.
3. The relationship of public verses private spaces needed to be designed systematically to encourage outsiders to want to come to Fonds des Blancs, which included the size of the lot for each unit.
4. The porch and its placement within the floor plan was a key component in the home. We also learned that the porch should be treated as the most popular room within the dwelling, being the main space inhabited by the owner and his visitors. The idea of a back, more private porch needed to be considered in addition to the front, public porch attached to each unit.
5. Access and placement of the public spaces, water, a generator, the commercial program, and footbridge needed to be dealt with by thinking as a Haitian would (who would or would not have vehicular access).
6. The diverse categories of housing for different types of people coming into Fonds des Blancs also needed to be considered as we moved from the site plan to the individual units.

With all of our designs, we had to keep the idea of the next phase of design in mind, Phase III, which included the airstrip adjacent to our site at hand, and would be a possible place to expand our initial design.

 Photo: Lauren Metts

One of the homes found on our hike