The school design produced by the team of Marissa Brown, Marlon Giron, Steve Pantazis, and Dena Wangberg was selected by a panel of jurors including Maurice Bohomme (Ecole St. Joesph), James Reardon (New Trier Township High School),  Tung Le (OWP/P | Cannon Design), and Sharon Harr (UIC) to be the basis of design for the new Ecole St. Joseph.  Their design employs passive sustainable design measures, the reuse of building materials, budget conscious design, simple constructability, and careful programming on a confined site.  Jurors, however, were thrilled by the quality of all the entries submitted and remarked on the wonderful designs of each.

Designs resulted from a May schematic design charrette Architecture for Humanity – Chicago hosted in conjunction with New Trier Township High School, Little by Little, and Ecole St. Joseph.  Ecole St. Joseph, sadly, was leveled in the devastating January 2010 earthquake that struck the island.  Architecture for Humanity – Chicago’s goal is to rebuild Ecole St. Joseph in a sustainable manner with close attention to the school’s future needs in order to better serve the children for years to come.  Furthermore, we aim to provide a safer, healthier, more vibrant place for daily learning and community events.

The winning design team has been working to further develop their scheme so that Architecture for Humanity – Chicago may transition the work to an Architect of Record in order to see the project through to completion.  For questions contact Geoff Malia at gmalia@afh-chicago.org.

Winners and finalists from Architecture for Humanity Chicago’s Street Furniture competition have recently been featured in several publications! Our images of the winners and finalists can be viewed on our old site here. Landscape World, a South Korean magazine, did a profile on the competition, the winning entry by MAS Studio, and the honorable mentions by Brenna Martin, and Ross Atkin and Isabel Lizardi.

This month’s Chicago Architect contains an update on finalist Full Circle Farm by P.K. VanderBeke and Pei-San Ng, which is undergoing construction via the efforts of the designers in Little Village. MAS Studio is included in the current CS Interiors Summer 2010 issue, with an image of their completed installation in Little Village constructed in partnership with AfH Chicago, Archeworks, and Enlace Chicago.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Greenbuild International Conference & Expo convenes the industry’s largest gathering of representatives from all sectors of the green building movement. Three days of extensive educational programming, workshops, a vast exhibition floor and ample networking events provide unrivaled opportunities to learn about the latest technological innovations, explore new products, and exchange ideas with other professionals.Greenbuild is the three time recipient of IMEX Green Meetings Award and the 2010 show will be held Nov. 17-19, 2010, in Chicago, IL.

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti devastated an already struggling country. Medical care is acutely needed as most medical facilities perished or were severely damaged. Most of the population is living and receiving medical care in temporary tents. Conditions are not ideal and Haitians are dealing with lack of clean water, unsanitary conditions, lack of ample food and medical treatment. With many injured, preventive outpatient care is in high demand.

The Response

With an open and flexible floor plan, the facility is able to accommodate the current needs as an Outpatient Treatment Center, but can also respond to changes in function, program or patient influx as needed. Sustainability in this case, is not to follow current trends, but a necessity. Although an urban environment, Port-Au-Prince lacks the reliable infrastructure to run a medical facility. In order to keep the facility self-sustainable, reliable and off the grid, several strategies such as rainwater collection, use of solar and heat energy, natural ventilation and lighting, and proper sun shading techniques were implemented. The facility is also raised off the ground to allow for constant air circulation underneath the building, helping keep the facility cool, and to respond to Haiti’s flood season.

Beyond all the technology and strategies, this facility’s primary goal is to provide medical treatment and dispensary in a sanitary, comfortable, safe and self sufficient structure for the local community.

Dr. Yves-Mario Piverger was interviewed today by Chicago ABC 7 about his work to build medical facilities in Haiti. A team from Architecture for Humanity Chicago has been helping Dr. Piverger with this project and just completed a marketing/design booklet which will be on display at our chapter meeting next Tuesday, July 20th, at Brehon.

For the full article click here.

Our old website can still be viewed here.

In the meanwhile, here are a few of the events we have coming up in the next few weeks:

• July 11th- PARK(ing) Day Charrette from 9-11am. Email Marc at marc.woodcock@gmail.com for more information.
• July 20th- Chapter meeting from 6:30-7:30 at Brehon Pub, 731 North Wells. The winner of the Ecole St. Joseph competition/charrette will be announced!

If you need to get in contact with the chapter, please email contact@afh-chicago.com. If you have questions/concerns/comments about the website, please email lbowe@afh-chicago.com.