The American Institute of Architects New York Chapter Global Dialogues Committee’s Haiti Housing Collaborative, a diverse volunteer organization, assisted by EnviroSynergy and made up of  New York City based Haitian-American and international architects, planners, and individuals announced that they have selected twelve designs for permanent housing for people left homeless by the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

The chosen twelve designs were submitted by a team consisting of Estela Alvarado, Alexander Díaz  and Gaspar Fernández  of Spain; Timothy Bell of the USA; Joshua Doyle of the UK; Xiaoxi Feng of China; Keith Hayes of the USA; GCP Arquitetos of Brazil; a team consisting of Elena Guirao, Victor Brena Calvo, Carlos Torres Perez, and Sara Franco Restrepo of Spain; I-beam Design of the USA, a team consisting of Julia Villers and Corentin Maury of Canada; Peerachet Pornsanoe of Thailand; a team consisting of Arthur Rabinovich, Alberto Anastasio, Sabine Feil, Omid Balouch, and Paolo Puliga of the USA; and Wallace Tan of Malaysia.

“Eleven months after the earthquake, approximately 2 million Haitians are still without a home,” said Noushin Ehsan, AIA, Chair of the AIANY Global Dialogues Committee. “Even with a large outpouring of humanitarian aids towards Haiti, the transition to reconstruction has been devastatingly slow, and as we approach the one year anniversary of the tragedy, it is more important than ever for the world to rally in support of still homeless Haitians.”

The Call for Collaboration was announced in early 2010 and attracted over 150 registrations and submissions. The Global Dialogues Committee chose twelve projects and on January 8, 2011, a panel of judges including Theodore Liebman, Principal, Perkins Eastman; Jim Luce, Founder & CEO, Orphans International Worldwide; Richard R Gonzalez, RA, Teaching Fellow, Columbia University; Jean W. Wiener, Director, EnviroSynergy; Cynthia Barton; Lance Jay Brown; Cristobal Correa; Mark Freehill; Stephan Georges; Dr. Florentino Latortue; Tom Newby; and Michael Sorkin will combine and narrow the projects down to six. An exhibition of the six final projects, which are intended to create a new vernacular for post-earthquake Haiti, will then be held as a public event at the Center for Architecture located at 536 LaGuardia Place, between Bleecker and West 3rd Streets in Manhattan on January 12, 2010 at 6PM as a fundraiser for the construction of the final six designs. Tickets cost $10 at the door.

Manfred St. Julian, a Haitian-American architect and member of the committee, said “In this collaborative effort the architectural community has made great progress with their generous contributions of time, ideas, and designs. Now, we are asking the general public, corporations and institutions to bring the financial resources necessary to turn the final six designs into real homes for the courageous and resilient people of Haiti.”

-Carolina Worrell