HOK is the U.S. Green Building Council's official design partner for Project Haiti, a facility targeting LEED Platinum certification that will replace a Port-au-Prince orphanage and children's center devastated by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti and killed 316,000 people two years ago, on Jan. 12, 2010.
The project seeks to provide a safe, healthy home for the children who will occupy the Fondation Enfant Jesus orphanage and children's center. And it is a commitment of the Clinton Global Initiative, which convenes global leaders to create innovative solutions to the world's most urgent challenges.
The main three-story, L-shaped structure is organized around a central courtyard -- a focal point for the orphanage's social life. It is flanked by kitchen, dining and training spaces. The design responds to the dense urban condition and prevailing easterly trade winds by organizing all the spaces around a courtyard facing east. As with the vernacular "Gingerbread" style of Haiti, the building rises around this courtyard and features deep outdoor balconies.
The design of the building massing, orientation, openings and materials take full advantage of passive design principles to provide a healthy, comfortable environment. Building systems will require minimal maintenance and provide independence from the city's unreliable power grid. They will harness excess energy to power street lights and public charging stations on the street.
HOK's design team is integrating biomimicry to create a locally attuned and responsive building solution. The building references the local Kapok tree, both in the branching support system of the balcony system and the low emissivity, heat-shedding characteristics of its second skin.
The below-grade area will serve as the building's "roots," cleaning and storing water and recycling nutrients from waste into biogas for cooking. The first three stories will function as the structure's "trunk." Protecting the building like tree bark, a "boundary layer" will shield exterior walkways and vertical surfaces from direct sunlight while allowing for daylighting and natural ventilation. Rooftop gardens will serve as the "foliage," supporting the solar energy system and providing additional green space.
To view the renderings for the project, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoknetwork/sets/72157628815703727/ BD+C
Related Stories
| Oct 10, 2012
Foster + Partners to Design New 425 Park Avenue Tower
Conceptual designs submitted by Foster, Hadid, Koolhaas and Rogers to be on exhibit during Municipal Art Society’s Annual Symposium
| Oct 9, 2012
AIA billings index sounds a positive note
The so-called new projects index was at a relatively healthy 57.2, up from 56.3 the previous month.
| Oct 9, 2012
Celebrating brick in architecture
The Brick Industry Association’s 2012 Brick in Architecture Awards put the spotlight on new projects that make creative use of one of humankind’s oldest and most beloved building materials.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Special Recognition: Joplin Interim High School, Joplin, Mo.
At 5:41 p.m. CDT on Sunday, May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado touched down in Joplin, Mo. In the next 31 minutes, the mile-wide, multiple-vortex tornado, with winds up to 250 mph, destroyed two thousand buildings, including Joplin High and nine other schools.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Bronze Winner: DPR Construction, Phoenix Regional Office, Phoenix, Ariz.
Working with A/E firm SmithGroupJJR, DPR converted a vacant 16,533-sf one-time “adult-themed boutique” in the city’s reemerging Discovery Triangle into a LEED-NC Platinum office, one that is on target to be the first net-zero commercial office building in Arizona.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Bronze Winner: Pomeroy Senior Apartments, Chicago, Ill.
The entire interior of the building was renovated, from the first floor lobby and common areas, to the rooftop spaces. The number of living units was reduced from 120 to 104 to allow for more space per unit and comply with current accessibility requirements.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Bronze Winner: Walsh Group Training and Conference Center, Chicago, Ill.
With its Building Team partners—architect Solomon Cordwell Buenz, structural engineer CS Associates, and M/E engineer McGuire Engineers—Walsh Construction, acting as its own contractor, turned the former automobile showroom and paperboard package facility into a 93,000-sf showcase of sustainable design and construction.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: 220 Water Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The recent rehabilitation of 220 Water Street transforms it from a vacant manufacturing facility to a 134-unit luxury apartment building in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood.
| Oct 5, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Award Silver Winner: Residences at the John Marshall, Richmond, Va.
In April 2010, the Building Team of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio, Stanley D. Lindsey & Associates, Leppard Johnson & Associates, and Choate Interior Construction restored the 16-story, 310,537-sf building into the Residences at the John Marshall, a new mixed-use facility offering apartments, street-level retail, a catering kitchen, and two restored ballrooms.
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Silver Winner: Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare, Cleveland, Ohio
The $30 million project resulted in three new theatres in the existing 81,500-sf space and a 44,000-sf contiguous addition: the Allen Theatre, the Second Stage, and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre.