Haiti Sustainable Education

See a video recently posted in the Chicago Tribune
Rough road leads to site of future boarding school in Haiti
(video credit Zbigniew Bzdak)

Haiti Sustainable Education (HSE) is a K- 12 scholarship based boarding school in the Grand-Bois region of Haiti near the Dominican Republic.  It will be a phased project starting with K -2 and will add a grade each year. Each grade will be able to accommodate 70 students (or 2 classrooms of 35 students maximum)

HSE will provide full boarding accommodations for students and there will be adult supervision for younger students provided by full time faculty members who will reside in the dormitories with the students. In addition, for the very young, there will be suite mothers who will assist children in preparing for their day in the morning and will sleep in the dormitory rooms as well. The project will include housing and classrooms for up to 910 students and will be sited in on approximately 15 acres.

Ann Clark Architects has collaborated with Michelle Sakayan of Sakayan Inc on this project for the programming and master planning phases.  While design the master plan for HSE, it was important to separate the living functions from the education functions. By doing so, it will afford students the ability to focus on learning during the day and resting and reflection at the end of the day.  In addition, a key design feature will be a common space where the school community can come together and interact.

The design solution includes a large axis bisecting the site from front to back. On one side of the axis, the dormitory and living functions are placed, and the other side will accommodate the educational and administrative functions. The design also places a large circular common area at the flat portion of the site and near the entrance to the campus.  This large common area is surrounded by a loggia with which one can access many parts of the campus while being entirely covered from the elements.

Location: Grand-Bois, Haiti
Design: 2012
Construction:
Design Principal: Ann Clark
Project Architect: Marcus Powell
General Contractor:
Structural Engineer:

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(1B) HSE PD Package-Master Plan.ai
(1A) HSE PD Package-Master Plan.ai