Bonneau Campus – Bonneau, Haiti

Bonneau Campus houses an orphanage for children with special needs, a school, volunteer housing, an elder’s home, and a church. It is a place that is open to nature, yet shields one from its harsher environmental aspects. Bonneau Campus turns the site’s disadvantages into advantages – Mitigating the risks of the site and adapting to the location’s climate at the same time. An earthquake-proof concrete structure elevates the main level of the campus well above the flood-prone topography. This level functions as an “elevated ground,” lifting the residents into the breeze while creating well-shaded outdoor spaces underneath. Light materials such as bamboo screens and wooden panels as well as open roof construction allow wind to flow through, while simultaneously keeping the hot sun out. It is on this safe and light elevated ground where campus residents dwell and rest, live together and keep house. The ground level is the space of learning and playing. All activities take place in the shade of the “elevated ground” or of the trees. Brick screens form airy and cool spaces to concentrate. The materials used can resist water and humidity. In the case of flooding, no damage will be caused to the construction. This way, the traditional principles of building in the Tropics (stilts, natural ventilation and shade) that seem to have disappeared in Haiti, return to the country in a new form.

 

Plot Area: 9.765 m²
Floor Area: 3.300 m²   

Team: Sabine MĂĽller, Andreas Quednau, Anna Kostreva, Robert Gorny, Urs Kumberger, Kirk Weisgerber, Niamh Lincoln
in collaboration with Konkuey Design Initiative (KDI)

Client: Northwest Haiti Christian Mission

 

Status: Preliminary design study

 

 

architecture, projects
01/03/2012