Haiti

Rubble Bag Houses

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I’ve pulled together the recent posts on rubble bag houses, expanded and edited the info, and published a new blog post at Mother Earth News. It includes details on how to build and reinforce rubble walls. Concrete rubble from collapsed buildings is a huge problem in Haiti. It is blocking roads and hindering reconstruction. Instead … Read more

Kay Hybrid

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Like many other designers, architects and engineers who are working to help rebuild Haiti, we’re constantly trying to create new house designs and improve previous efforts. This new hybrid design for Haiti is based on our Transitional L Kay design. The Kay is the most common house style in their country. Both versions provide immediate … Read more

Rubble Bags

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I’ve been scouring the Internet looking at photos and videos of concrete rubble in Haiti. As you probably know, much of the concrete there was reduced to rubble in the earthquake (largely due to poor quality construction). But what is less apparent is a great deal of the concrete was pulverized. There is a tremendous … Read more

Earthbag Houses in Petite Goave, Haiti

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Today’s post is about another low cost housing project in Haiti. Lower walls are ‘earth logs’ made with soil-filled filter fabric. Fabric is placed inside wood forms, filled with local soil and pinned closed. Earthbags are stacked on top. “The Foundation of St. Peter has started building houses out of the rubble in Haiti. We … Read more

Construction of Earthbag Clinic in Leogane, Haiti

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Here’s a posting from HaitiVolunteer.org asking for volunteer construction workers in Haiti. Rasin Foundation is looking for volunteer carpenters, masons etc. to help us finish building our environmentally friendly and low cost earthbag medical clinic which has 5 exam rooms, 1 waiting room, 1 procedure room and bathroom. Located in rural Petite-Riviere, Leogane, our current … Read more