PUARL Third International Conference | Portland, Oregon | November 1-3, 2013

PUARL Third International Conference | Portland, Oregon | November 1-3, 2013

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Content from PUARL

After the successful completion of the first two International PUARL Conferences at the University of Oregon in Portland in the Fall of 2009 and 2011, the Portland Urban Architecture Research Laboratory, PUARL, announced the 2013 biennial conference titled “Battle for the Life and Beauty of The Earth.” The 2013 Conference focused on problems and issues that populations are facing in urban environments and buildings throughout the world today.  The conference  took place  in  Portland,  Oregon  in  the  Fall  of  2013,  November  1-­3, in cooperation with the Collaboration for Inclusive Urbanism, CIU.

Taken from the title of the new book by Christopher Alexander, Hans Joachim Neis, and Maggie Moore Alexander, this year’s conference focused on the variety of ways in which urban environments and urban buildings, as well as their design  and  production,  can  support  life, beauty,  and  wholeness,  in  addition  to  confronting  the  challenges  implicit  in  attaining  these goals.   Life as a complex web of relationships, as an emergent process  over  time,  and  as a human feeling was discussed in terms of complexity theory, pattern theory, ecology, sustainability, and landscape to address contemporary discourses and debates in environmental design, urban design, and urban architecture.

The three main themes that were emphasized in this conference:

  • Inclusive Urbanism & the Ecosystems of Cities
  • Building Production for a More Beautiful & Resilient World
  • (Re)Generative and Emergent Processes

 

INCLUSIVE URBANISM & THE ECOSYSTEMS OF CITIES

Understanding of urban environments must begin with the understanding that they are most successful when they represent diverse and resilient ecosystems.   The urban challenge of this age must include questions  about social equity  and urban inclusivity.    How can we promote diversity and enfranchise underrepresented groups in the ecology and processes of cities? From the Collaboration for Inclusive Urbanism,  www.inclusiveurbanism.org, “The role of the city is to  provide  the  contexts  that  invite  people  to  realize  their  social,  personal,  and  economic aspirations. This invitation should be available to all.”

BUILDING  PRODUCTION  FOR  A  MORE  BEAUTIFUL  &  RESILIENT  WORLD

If cities themselves are the organic product of human need, what is the process by which the production of the physical structures of buildings, neighborhoods, parks, and urban landscapes support and augment urban life? What are the building processes that create neighborhoods, urban landscapes and buildings that are resilient and alive within themselves and that support those all-­ important intangibles of life and beauty – the life worth living. Papers in this category will  address  the  question  of  how  we  produce  life-­ supporting  buildings,  complexes, neighborhoods and communities for all people, especially the 93% of the world.

(RE)GENERA TIVE  AND  EMERGENT  PROCESSES

Strong ecosystems form a complex and complete web of relationships that emerge and change over time.   Generative process explores the world as an emergent process at several levels of scale and with regard to different modes, and regenerative process does the same for recurring cycles  of  growth  and  re-­growth.   These  modes  include  elements  of  but  are  not  limited  to physical, artistic, musical, and sociocultural as well as economic themes.   We ask: how can generative and emergent processes as well as (re)generative (urban) design help to solve some of the current  urban challenges  that we face in our cities, neighborhoods,  streets and parks? What are the methods, ideologies, and vocabularies that can support the creation of built environments that are complex, complete, diverse, resilient, and emergent over time?

The 2013 PUARL schedule included presentations by:

Johann Jessen PUARL Lecture: Challenges for Reurbanization in German Cities

A. INCLUSIVE URBANISM & THE ECOSYSTEM OF CITIES

Howard Davis Keynote – Makers in Cities: the Architecture of Urban Production

Michael Garrison Two Primary Schools in Central East Africa Based on Indigenous Sustainable Design

Greg Bryant Referendum on Urban Life: A City Stops Development-As-Usual

Michael Tavel The Culture of Sustainable Urbanism

Robert Walsh The Lovable City: Thomas Mawson’s Civic Art (1911) Applied to Contemporary Urbanism

Regan Greenhill 7@ Public Amenities in Barcelona’s 22@ Information District

B.D.Wortham-Galvin Contingent Urbanism: when tactics are the strategy

Gabriel Brown, Howard Davis, Hajo Neis Old Town/Chinatown Research and Studio

B: BUILDING PRODUCTION FOR A MORE BEAUTIFUL & RESILIENT WORLD

Stephen Duff Keynote – Significant Details: Design & Construction Processes in Four Design-Build Apprenticeship Projects at the University of Oregon

Sergio Palleroni Keynote – Public Interest Design

Aysun Ozkose Ecological Homes for a More Beautiful & Resilient World at the Event Room

Kyriakos Pontikis Eco-Humane Design

Christopher Robin Andrews Architectural Ornament in Haitian Culture

Ayesha Batool The Resilient Existence of External Perforated Solar Screens In Islamic Architectural Environments

Tom Kubala Toward Carbon Neutral Operation

C: (RE)GENERATIVE AND EMERGENT PROCESSES

Masami Kobayashi Keynote – Fukushima Workshop Summer 2013

Greg Bryant Christopher Alexander’s Dialogue with the Computer Industry

Doug Schuler The Surprising Power, Vitality, and Potentiality of Examining the “Dark Side:” The Collaborative Production of an Anti-Pattern Language in an Educational Setting

Takuma Ono (Re)generative and Emergent Processes

James Miller Resilience Found Through Human Processes in Post-Disaster Haiti

Michael Mehaffy Changing the “Operating System for Growth:” Diversity, Resilience, Beauty

Takashi Iba Making a Movie: A Pattern Language

Yodan Rofe & Kyriakos Pontikis Sketching a Sustainable Form Language for a Neighborhood

Ross Chapin Pocket Neighborhoods and the Scale of Sociability

Peter Baumgartner Patterns in Education and Architecture

 

 

About the Portland Urban Architecture Research Laboratory

The Portland Urban Architecture Research Laboratory, PUARL, seeks to promote wholeness and sustainability  in  the  urban  and  architectural  design  process  by  conducting  basic  and  applied research  in addition  to working  on practical  urban and architectural  projects  both within  the region  and  internationally.  PUARL  provides  a  platform  for  the  exchange  of  ideas  and  the discussion of research and professional practice for scholars, academics, and professionals both through their work and the organization of international conferences and symposia. Topics of interest  include urban  sustainability  and  wholeness,  generative  process,  pattern  languages, living  architecture,  complexity  theory,  emergence  and  unfolding,  and  the  nature  of  order. PUARL is intent on continuing to advance these fields of investigation and influence the conduct of architecture and urban design worldwide by providing and encouraging an interdisciplinary approach  to  critical  and  relevant  topics  across  fields  and  throughout  the  world. puarl.uoregon.edu

About the Collaborative for Inclusive Urbanism

The working premise of the Collaborative for Inclusive Urbanism, CIU, is that inclusive cities are both more  affluent  and more  socially  just.  Inclusive  cities  are  more  affluent  because  they mobilize and enable a wider spectrum of people and talents than a city in which some of those human  resources  are  marginalized.   They  are  more  socially  just  because  by  including  the otherwise marginalized in the productive activities and opportunities of the city, inclusive cities offer  better  access  to  pathways  for  social  and  economic  betterment.    Inclusiveness  works against  gentrification,  and  its  shadow:  urban  decay.  It  works  against  dividing  the  city  into ghettoes.  It does not mean freezing growth or preventing redevelopment; rather, the opposite—encouraging more sustainable, prosperous, widespread growth and development by avoiding exclusivity, dislocation and the heavy, often ignored costs they carry.   The role of the city is to provide the contexts that invite people to realize their social, personal, and economic aspirations.  This invitation  should be available  to all. In the service  of this goal, we carry out research and develop innovative ideas that lead to designs, policy recommendations, and experiments in practice.  www.inclusiveurbanism.org

 

UO Architecture Alumna, Ashley Koger Travels to Fukushima, Japan

A Week In Fukushima

Abandoned cement factory, Fukushima. Photo: A Koger

 

By Ashley Koger

 

[Editor’s Note:  Ashley Koger graduated from the University of Oregon in Portland Department of Architecture in spring 2013 with a master of architecture.  She was eager to explore how she could put her experience to good work and engage herself in projects that might benefit the world.  Seeking to expand her experience, she approached UO Portland architecture professor, Hajo Neis and asked him how she could continue to stay involved and active in an academic university setting.  Neis suggested she join him and his colleague, Masami Kobayashi of Meiji University in Japan for the student summer exchange workshop sponsored by the Architectural Institute of Japan (you can read about this collaboration,  here).  Having to spend only about $200 out-of-pocket (AIJ sponsored the students and generously provided all accommodations, meals, and transportation), Ashley joined the group that was comprised of students from all over the world; and for one week this last summer immersed herself in the situation of Fukushima, Japan investigating ways to help a landscape and a people she would become somewhat enamored with. What follows is her story. And her images. –Ed, SS]

 

The schoolgirls, dressed identically in plaid outfits, hung their heads in exhaustion gently rocking from side to side in unison with the movement of the train.  As the train slowed at our stop, their bob haircuts swayed across their noses and back again.  I didn’t know it yet, but their tiredness foreshadowed the week to come in Fukushima—the place I would be spending the next ten days.

Napping school girls, Fukushima. Photo: A Koger

No doubt you will remember hearing about Fukushima in the recent past.  Not many of us will ever forget seeing images of that tidal wave sweeping over the sea wall and engulfing everything in its path.  This disaster was unfortunately followed by the news that the tsunami had also caused the explosion of Fukushima 1 at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant on the following day,  March 12, 2011.  Now I was in this Fukushima, hardly two years past the disaster, and finding myself in a position to explore this region and, if at all possible, offer ideas and inspiration to an area newly abandoned by its citizens.

Abandoned playground, Fukushima. Photo A Koger

But on this day, the day of my arrival, I was more captivated by just observing the people and the landscape as it flew by the train windows.  It would not be the first time I would notice this almost charming and close-knit habit of train-napping.  In fact, watching people sleep on the train is a comically common occurrence in Japan.  Businessmen often offer their shoulders to neighbors who have fallen asleep accidentally.  The buzzer that dings at each stop is jarringly loud, perhaps intentionally so that you will wake every few minutes and make sure not to miss your stop.  The system is designed to accommodate the very, very tired.

Order and organization, Tokyo Meiji Jingu. Photo A Koger

I was on the train with the sleeping schoolgirls and eight people I had met just hours before at the main terminal of Tokyo Station.  We had traveled from subway to bus to commuter train, and had come from Tokyo, the largest city in the world, to one of the most rural and under populated areas in Japan, all in the course of four hours.  From passing along the highway and seeing skyscrapers for miles, we were now moving at commuter speed past unending fields of rice and tobacco.

Roads, pedestrians, roads, Tokyo. Photo A Koger
Rice fields, Fukushima. Photo A Koger.

The nine of us were a diverse group.  There were four Japanese students from Meiji University, 4 students from Thailand, and me, the one American attending the workshop from the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts Department of Architecture with professor Hajo Neis of the Portland Architecture Program.

 

When we disembarked the train, we were greeted by the rest of the students attending the workshop, a group of eight Indian students, a landscape student from Iran, and two more Japanese students from Tokyo University.  We communicated in English and asked questions of each other’s backgrounds.  I quickly learned that the Indian student were from C.E.P.T. University in Ahmedabad, India, where I had attended a study broad during my junior year of undergraduate.  When we learned we had friends in common, we quickly became friendly and verbalized the all too common phrase, ‘what a small world!’    But it was true; it was so interesting that we were all instantly comfortable with each other, even though we didn’t really know what came next on our adventure.  It was a sunny, warm day, and we sat outside and joked and waited to see what came next.

UDCT, our workspace, Fukushima. Photo A Koger

We walked through the street of the small town and came to our office for the week; with it’s acronym clearly spelled out in neon orange letters on the building: UDCT- Urban Design Center Tamura, the only open building on the street.  The purpose of all of us in Tamura for 10 days was to help with this exact problem.  Tamura city, a collection of 5 small towns within rural Fukushima, is a shrinking city.  Since the earthquake and subsequent nuclear power plant explosion, this problem has been exacerbated.   Many people who were forced to leave during the earthquake have decided to not come back, and Tamura is struggling to survive.

Festival, Tamura: a struggling place. Photo A Koger

In addition to our group of students, we had onboard with us University of Oregon Professor, Hajo Neis,  Meiji International University professor Masami Kobayashi, employees of the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ), and employees of the UDCT. Our goal was to learn about Tamura, and use our architecture and urban design skills to come up with ideas for ways to improve Tamura and encourage people to move there and to visit.

 

After learning the basics about Tamura, our research started the second day.  In a single day, we traveled to all the small towns in Tamura and met with interested townspeople to learn about the history of the place and the visions for the future.   We were all enthusiastic with what we knew to be “good” ideas:  we knew a lot needed to be done, but to each of us, it seemed like a place of opportunity.,  We were driving through miles of beautiful farm land, and it was easy to forget that there was anything wrong.  Then we would see the piles of bags of contaminated soil and be reminded of why Tamura needed our help.  On the bus between towns, I industriously sketched ideas and wrote notes of my urban design thoughts.  The next morning, we each needed to have a design proposal, and I was squirming with ideas.

Street festival, Fukushima. Photo A Koger

I came up with an idea of connecting the small villages of Tamura with a cycling road.  Being a road cyclist myself, a hobby inspired by several years in amongst the avid and somewhat crazed cycling ethos of Portland, Oregon , I quickly fell in love with the winding roads of Tamura and thought it a great place for cycle-tourism.  The roads are of high quality and they meander through the beautiful rice field scenery, something I had never seen before traveling to Japan.  I was embarrassed when I had to ask, ‘so… where are the grains of rice?’  I quickly learned from Hiroshi, one of our professors from the AIJ, those don’t grow until September and October, just before harvest.  Without a single word exchanged,  a yen coin was given to me by our driver, a local farmer, to explain.  He flipped it over and pointed to the mature rice plant insignia on the back.

Working late night, UDCT, Fukushima. Photo A Koger

My cycle-tourism ideas coincided with some other ideas of students in the workshop, so five of us were grouped together with a theme to explore: ‘Tourism and Existing Local Assets.’   The process moved very quickly, as we didn’t have much time and needed to produce a presentation for the city Mayor and townspeople in two days time.  We worked through schematic ideas and tried to come up with a theme for the urban design concept of bringing tourism to Tamura.  We mapped all of the existing assets, we surveyed roads; we interviewed Inn owners and shop keepers; we looked at farmland and the vacant buildings on the main streets.

 

When the day arrived for the mid-week critique, we were given good feedback from the professors and the townspeople, but we had a lot of work to do in the 4 days remaining in the workshop.  Amazingly enough, by this time we were already in a routine.  We left the hotel by 9 each morning, worked straight until 1, took a quick lunch break, worked until dinner, had a review with our professors, and continued working until exhaustion set in around 10, when we would return to our hotel to relax in the Onsen hot tub for 30 minutes and, then, fall instantly asleep in the tatami room.  It was grueling and truly immersive, and I was exhausted; but I was having such a good time I barely noticed how tired I was.

Photoshop generated images from Koger's project: rest space, cafe
Photoshop generated images from Koger's project: Cement factory proposal
Photoshop generated images from Koger's project: CYCLE RACE, Tamura

The last few days of the workshop felt intensely like the last week of a studio project.  We had too much to do and not enough time.  It was rewarding though, because we knew that the more we could show the people of Tamura, the more excited they would be about their city and the more energy could be restored in the community.  Our idea had become a little complex, but also refined.  We were proposing a system of cycling paths through the region that would reconnect the small towns.  At each town, a group of resources would be provided, including a café, cycle repair shop, rest rooms, and convenience store.  These resources would be created in the existing vacant buildings, helping to revive the town main streets.  A new street signage campaign would modernize the navigation, and flowers would be grown throughout the region to help diversify the scenery along the route.

The Mayor loved our proposal; saying that he would like to implement our signage strategy in Tamura soon.  It was really nice to see how all the towns people appreciated our design efforts and it helped them to see hope for the future of the city.  The workshop was an extremely satisfying experience.

 

Every night, no matter how tired, I managed to write a few pages in my diary about the events of the day.  I somehow found the energy, and it helped me to unwind after the intensity.  I will admit, more than once I fell asleep with pen and diary in hand.  The memoirs included in this article are excerpts from my diary.

 

I have always been interested in visiting Japan.  I think my design sensibilities are somehow Japanese: I love concrete architecture, simple spaces, and eating while sitting on the floor. Tadao Ando is my ‘favorite architect,’ if I have to do something as silly as choose only one.  My favorite coffee mug that I drink out of every morning has J-A-P-A-N etched into the ceramic base.  I drink green tea:  the bitter Matcha kind that most people don’t like.  I try to live simply.  I eat my spaghetti with chopsticks. and I eat sushi with my family for Christmas dinner. I know none of these Asian customs makes me closer to Japan… but I guess I am just saying that I have appreciated, and admired, Japan for a while without really knowing why or where the infatuation began.

 

Now that I have visited Japan I know that my infatuation has transformed into a respect and a knowing that Japan is a place I feel incredibly comfortable.  The most amazing thing to me is that sense of comfort never waivered during my trip, even with the huge contrast in my experiences.  I felt just as safe, and welcomed on the busy streets of Tokyo as I did at the workshop while staying in the radiation contaminated Fukushima.   The people everywhere are respectful, kind, and thankful for what they have.  I actually never felt sad during my trip in Japan.  Even in Fukushima I was filled with an overwhelming sense of hope.  I have no doubt that the people in Fukushima will overcome the disaster and excel way beyond its boundaries.  I respect so much that the Japanese never sit around and feel sorry for themselves.  They are constantly propelled with forward momentum, and for that reason I believe they can never fail.

 

The sense of hope is incredible.  The Japanese are the kindest people I have ever met.  I hope to always be inspired by this determination and kindness.

Refuge Camp, Fukushima. Photo A Koger

[Ashley Blake Koger graduated from the University of Oregon Masters of Architecture Portland Program in June of this year.  She spent the summer traveling, and is now back home in Portland and working for GBD Architects.  She yearns to find time to write, read, and bicycle more, and would most likely be happy camping in the forests of the Pacific Northwest indefinitely.  She promises to find herself in Japan again soon.]

Ashley Koger, in Japan, summer 2013

 

UO Architecture Students Win Design Competition | REvive Jacmel and Collaborate with Local Professionals, Students

Team 50030: Grace Aaraj – UO Architecture; Jackie Davis – UO Architecture; Matt Deraspe - UO Architecture

UO Architecture Students Design for Haitian Healthcare Clinic REvive Jacmel

Students collaborate with professionals on an interdisciplinary, student-led project to create a new healthcare clinic in Jacmel, Haiti.

 

This summer 2013 REvive Jacmel, an inderdisciplinary student-led project to create a new healthcare clinic in Jacmel, Haiti, held a competition and subsequent awards reception at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

With guidance from Waterleaf Architecture, UO in Portland Department of Architecture students Annie Ledbury and Beth Lavelle organized and coordinated the REvive Jacmel charrette and competition to develop a design for a small general healthcare clinic to be built in the Haitian city of Jacmel, a town continuing to recover from the 2010 earthquake. With direction from Nancy Cheng, UO in Portland Architecture Program director and associate professor, Ledbury and Lavelle, along with UO student Rachel Peterson as research assistant, worked with the project’s instigator, Dr. Michael Workman, a Portland-Vancouver based plastic surgeon.

Team 50010: Melissa March – UO Architecture; Rachel Peterson – UO Architecture; Scott Soukup – UO Architecture; Erik Sasovetz – Residency Physician, Peach Health Southwest Medical Center; Andrew Riley – OSU Construction Management; Sarah Cochenour – OSU Construction Management

Workman, Ledbury and Lavelle organized students from UO, the University of Portland and Oregon State University to work collaboratively on the design. Workman is part of RestoreHaiti, a group dedicated to improving healthcare conditions in Haiti.  The REvive Jacmel project began as an addition to Workman’s efforts to organize “monthly health care teams [to] bring much needed medicine and staffing to local medical clinics” to improve health care in the region.

On his many volunteer trips to Haiti to administer healthcare, Workman saw the lack of modern medical facilities. He recognized a need for a clinic that could perform dental procedures and major surgeries using general anesthesia . The clinic would have to be approximately 2,500 square feet, fully functional off-grid with only generators for electricity, and otherwise operable with little access to utilities and modern conveniences.  It would need to be built by local residents with their knowledge of and ability to construct using local materials and minimal direction.

Team 50030: Grace Aaraj – UO Architecture; Jackie Davis – UO Architecture; Matt Deraspe – UO Architecture

The idea for the project began when Dale Campbell, member of the Associated General Contractors of America, connected Workman to Waterleaf Architecture’s Dick Aanderud.  Workman approached Waterleaf Architecture to see if the firm was interested in partnering in the project. Wanting to integrate students from local universities, Workman reached out to engineering students at the University of Portland and to construction management students at OSU. Waterleaf’s Dick Aanderud (UO architecture alumnus) and Emily Refi (UO architecture alumna and adjunct instructor) felt UO architecture students should be involved as well.  Aanderud and Refi approached UO’s Nancy Cheng. Emily Refi explains, “It turned out Dr. Workman and UO felt strongly about having a competition, and the idea to make it interdisciplinary with engineering and construction students teamed with architectural students— just like in the real world—emerged.”

University students in the REvive competition worked with architects at Waterleaf Architecture and engineers at KPFF Consulting Engineers, who are also involved in the project, to further develop their concepts with expert guidance.

Team 50030: Grace Aaraj – UO Architecture; Jackie Davis – UO Architecture; Matt Deraspe – UO Architecture
Team 50050: Eli Rosenwasser – UO Architecture; Sermin Yesilada – UO Architecture; Mary Kate Cullinane – UP Engineering; Jeff Nakashima – OSU Construction Management; Brady Webster – OSU Construction Management

At the September 5 competition awards reception held at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts, the student teams presented their entries in the REvive competition.

The four student teams were comprised of:

Team 50010:
Melissa March – UO Architecture
Rachel Peterson – UO Architecture
Scott Soukup – UO Architecture
Erik Sasovetz – Residency Physician, Peach Health Southwest Medical Center
Andrew Riley – OSU Construction Management
Sarah Cochenour – OSU Construction Management

Team 50030:
Grace Aaraj – UO Architecture
Jackie Davis – UO Architecture
Matt Deraspe – UO Architecture

Team 50040:
Adam Lawler – UO Architecture
Tim Niou – UO Architecture
Daniel Freitas – OSU Construction Management

Team 50050:
Eli Rosenwasser – UO Architecture
Sermin Yesilada – UO Architecture
Mary Kate Cullinane – UP Engineering
Jeff Nakashima – OSU Construction Management
Brady Webster – OSU Construction Management

Team 50050: Eli Rosenwasser – UO Architecture; Sermin Yesilada – UO Architecture; Mary Kate Cullinane – UP Engineering; Jeff Nakashima – OSU Construction Management; Brady Webster – OSU Construction Management

After the jury members deliberated and the assembled crowd had a chance to vote for People’s Choice, the team awarded Best Overall, Most Constructable Scheme and People’s Choice, was Grace Aaraj, Jackie Davis, and Matt Deraspe—all University of Oregon students.

The project from the team of Grace Aaraj, Jackie Davis and Matt Deraspe received awards for Best Overall, Most Constructable Scheme, and People's Choice! Pictured here are (l-r), Nancy Cheng (UO director of Portland Architecture program), student organizers Beth Lavelle and Annie Ledbury, Waterleaf Architecture's Emily Refi, Dr. Michael Workman and project team member, Jackie Davis.

Commenting on the projects, Workman noted that he was “amazed at both the quality of work-product and flawless follow-thru by all the students.  If this is what the next generation has to offer we are indeed in good hands.”

Team 50040: Adam Lawler – UO Architecture; Tim Niou – UO Architecture; Daniel Freitas – OSU Construction Management

Discussing her team’s winning concept and collaboration, Jackie Davis said,

I am thrilled to be working on the Haiti project with such a great team. Having both enthusiastic students and professional advisers in all the fields working together on the project is making for a very exciting learning experience.

From the designs submitted by each team, the best ideas will be further examined and selected by competition jurors and will be translated into construction documents in fall 2013 by students who will work closely with Waterleaf Architecture and KPFF. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in December 2013.  Students Grace Aaraj, Jackie Davis and Annie Ledbury are confirmed to be contining with the project as it continues under the direction of Waterleaf Architects this fall and winter (2013-2014).
Davis continued saying,

Having our design chosen to get built was fulfilling in and of itself, but to now getting to see it through to the finish is an opportunity unlike any other in graduate school. It’ll be a steep learning curve with the tight schedule but I’m so happy to see things making progress for this great cause.

Davis’ team partner, Grace Aaraj was enthusiastic to point out the vast scope of the collaboration and the humanitarian goals of the project:

For the winning design, it is like a dream coming true: to be able to design a building, win a competition and then join a firm with a lot of professionals to help you develop it further and make it come to life.

On a similar note, it means a lot to me to be part of this project since it targets directly a daily life and real situation problem. In my conviction, architecture like any other art or science (in fact, architecture is a symbiosis of both) should serve people. It was a fresh experience to stay away from any autobiographical move in the project, go back to basics and use the same language ( materials, needs, colors, traditions) of the locals in Jacmel.  I hope the project will be really built, and I will be able to see it one day, and maybe volunteer in Jacmel as well.

The partners in the REvive Jacmel project include Workman, UO in Portland Department of Architecture, University of Portland Shiley School of Engineering, Oregon State University School of Civil and Construction Engineering Construction Engineering Management, Waterleaf Architecture, KPFF Consulting Engineers and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) Oregon Columbia Chapter.

Workman, who deserves significant credit for a large part of the success of this project, remarked after the review process that the  “collaboration between OSU, UO, UP and architectural/ engineering professionals [was] excellent.”  Workman further noted that “The creative idea’s generated by all 4 teams was extremely impressive.  They were able to both think outside the box, and to deal with the multiple issues involved in building a medical clinic in a third world setting.”

Competition Jurors include:

Yashar Hanstad, architect, TYIN Architects, Norway

Lisa Lutton Majchrzak, architect, BAR Architects, San Francisco

Craig Totten, structural engineer,  KPFF Consulting Engineers

Brian Cavanaugh, architect, Architecture Building Culture

Sergio Palleroni, fellow at Portland State University, director of the BaSIC Initiative

Steve Malany, president of P&C Construction and incoming AGC president

 

 

Links:

  • Haiticlinicpdx.wordpress.com
  • Facebook group REvive Jacmel,
  • http://haiticlinicpdx.wordpress.com/

 

The following are comments from Grace Aaraj, who writes from a personal perspective on the project and the process, on the logistics between collaborating between time zones in her homeland of Beirut and Portland, bridging cultural understandings and asking the right questions…

 

I think the most important thing I learnt is how to design this real project, for real people in time of crisis. In architecture school we are usually limited to site constraints or specific clients’ needs provided to us through discussions with professors and students.

 

In Jacmel’s case, we knew so little about the site and the people. Google earth didn’t help so we extended our research to documentaries, talking to people and a kind of “role player” where we almost close our eyes and imagine to be a citizen there:

 

What will we need?

 

What would make us feel safe and cared for?

 

What is life like before the earthquake? How is life after it?

 

It was more like a recipe where we must fulfill functional requirements, and be “limited” to the local materials and craftsmanship. Towards the end we learned that we were not “limited” by these factors, rather INSPIRED: this is when Jackie, my teammate and I, were able to liberate our design and include interactive community spaces, shaded outdoors and backyard (etc…) using only local resources. We used the site disadvantage to create a prototype that could be adapted to sites with different slopes or orientation, not only for Jacmel, but possibly for other places.

 

We were very limited in time , Jackie and I, since I was in Tokyo for 2 weeks and then i came to Beirut and Dubai. So we managed to invest our time to the best use. We were very communicative and we tried forgetting about deadlines or stress. We would take walks, talk to people and watch documentaries.

 

All the decisions were taken before I came to Beirut. For the last week, we would work online and share files on Dropbox. It was very interesting to work with a 10 hours difference. It was also very rewarding to sleep, wake up and find the other person’s work on the shared folder.  The synchronization was a big incentive for us to work.