Week number 4 in Haiti, kay number 3, seems to be a week of at least two extremes. First, it’s hotter than it has been; we’re on an exposed ridge without any immediate tree cover, and the sun has been beating down. In the evenings, though, a brisk breeze begins to whip through and it cools down significantly.

The second extreme is one of beauty; this kay is in the most spectacular setting of the ones I’ve built so far. The local road, a rugged dirt track, runs along the ridge and the house is right on the road. On either side are nearly uninterrupted vistas of the two neighborhood valleys; the rising and setting of the sun illuminates each in turn. The result is that this kay is very prominent and surrounded by a spectacular backdrop.

We’re making good progress once again, aided by a very good volunteer named Duke. Once this kay is wrapped up, I’ll be taking a week and going to explore the Dominican Republic — a much-needed break.

Mr. Pierre standing in front of his house, under construction, on Tuesday.

Work continues to go very well on the second house. The crew is working hard and we’ve improved on some of the details that were missed last week. The trusses and purlins are up, the front and back doors are installed, and we’re looking at a good chance of finishing up tomorrow, ahead of schedule. Work days here tend to follow a routine. People are up early, around 6-6:30. There’s no full breakfast, but the family serves bread with very sweet strong coffee and sometimes hot chocolate as well — all grown right here. We work until lunchtime, have a simple meal, usually noodles, and then work a variable number of hours until we reach a good stopping point, most often around 4:00. Then it’s time to wash off and relax for a few moments before dinner around 5. Dinner is the big meal of the day and usually consists of rice served with stewed vegetables, black bean sauce, or a red sauce with onions. After dinner, the Haitian crew likes to play dominos, which is loud and competitive activity. Then, once it gets too dark to play, people drift off or stand around and chat. Sometimes one of the guys will break out his battery-operated DVD player and we’ll watch a movie, which could be anything from a comedy in creole to an American action movie. Then, around 10 at the latest, everyone’s off to their tent to sleep, and the next day it all starts again, until the house is done.

I’m now in my third week in Haiti, and today was the second work day on the second of six kays (houses) I’ll be building. This will be an interesting week. It’s the only week for which I’ll have no American volunteers, just the Haitian crew. That’s fine, it’s just an extra challenge to have no recourse to English if a complicated issue comes up!

On the other hand, I’m learning a lot, both language-wise and about the greater context in which I find myself. We took a long walk through the mountains after work today, and the homeowner proudly showed me the work he and his wife have done through the CODEP program to earn the house we’re building.

They started by planting rows of vetiver grass and eucalyptus trees on the deforested mountainside. These hold the soil in place, reducing erosion and allowing fertile soil to develop. Later they plant a wide variety of plants and trees — mango, avocado, soursop, oak, sour apple, chocolate, coffee, lime, orange, papaya, and more. It’s amazing to see the difference between the CODEP fields and the still-bare hillsides surrounding them.

Sunday, April 14. By now I’ve met the other BGF field managers in Haiti, Ethan, Michael, and Mary. We inventory the lumber for the “kays” (houses) I’ll be building, and begin to organize the tools and hardware in the warehouse as well. We’re all staying at Delaney Bay, a volunteer compound in Léogâne that during the week houses a clinic as well.

In the mid-afternoon, we head to one of the strangest events I’ve ever been to my life. It’s a surprise Haitian baby shower, organized by the American father. It’s a surprise because the Haitian mother doesn’t know about it, and because Haitians don’t really have baby showers, preferring to celebrate after the baby is born. There are awkward speeches, followed by awkward singing and dancing and an awkward dinner.

Monday, April 15. Today is my first “work day” and I ride with Ethan and Mary up to the CODEP Depot, one of the four main BGF projects going on in the country this spring. It’s dug into the back of a steep hillside off of the main road; when finished, it will house the agricultural products of CODEP before they make their way to market. We do three or four hours of building, then return to Léogâne to continue organizing the warehouse. I have a few conversations in Kreyòl and am able to keep up by abandoning all attempts to speak correctly and contenting myself with getting my point across. Everyone seems reasonably willing to put up with this.

(pictures to come when my Internet connection allows)

In order to attach my “mystery build” to the trailer, I have two main problems to solve.

Most utility trailers are built to a maximum total width of 8′-6″. That’s the widest allowed dimension for road travel. And that’s measured to the outside of the wheel wells. Unless the trailer bed sits on top of the wheels (which mine does not), the actual trailer bed is smaller — typically 7′ or slightly less. To get the widest possible structure on the trailer, therefore, it needs to extend past the trailer frame on either side. But I didn’t want to cantilever floor joists, which would make it tricky to transfer the various loads between the framing and the trailer frame.

The second problem is to design a system that allows the structure to be one day separated from the trailer if necessary. For example, the structure could be installed on a permanent foundation and the trailer reused or sold. This rules out permanent and/or destructive solutions, such as welding anchor bolts to the trailer frame itself. If these anchor bolts terminated inside the walls, detaching the structure would require a lot of cutting.

The solution that I am pursuing is to add 4×4 pressure-treated pine “bumpers” to either side of the trailer frame. Attached to the U-channel steel frame by 3/8″ galvanized hex head bolts, the bumpers extend the frame to 7′-10 1/2″ — just short of the 8′-0″ that I am aiming for, so I will run the floor framing 3/4″ long on either side. 1/2″ bolts will extend up through the floor framing and sole plate, attaching the walls securely to the bumpers.

Drilling through hardened steel isn’t easy. I’m using cobalt/tungsten bits, predrilling with a 3/16″ bit and finishing with a 7/16″ bit. The key to drilling through steel is going at the right speed (slow) and using a cutting oil to prevent overheating. After about 5 holes, I’ve pretty much ruined the larger bit, so perhaps my technique isn’t that good yet.

Assuming I can finish the holes, I should be able to securely attach the bumpers. If the trailer needs to be removed, the 3/8″ bolts could be taken out and the whole structure jacked up by the bumpers. To make this work, something needs to be done to address the wheel well area, where there are no bumpers to support the floor and wall framing. I’ll expand on this more in a future post.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Today I got the first piece of a new project. I’m calling it the “Mystery Build”, because what I will be building is a mystery to others (and also to me).

However, the first piece is not a mystery. It’s a 7′ x 18′ flatbed utility trailer, with a double axle and a total weight rating of 12,000 lbs.

More to come.

The front page of the new digital portfolio displays a rotating set of images and links to the five broad categories of work.

I’ve been busy applying to graduate schools lately, and that has prompted me to work on revising and updating my portfolio. In addition to my traditional portfolio, I’ve been working to organize and document my work on the web, and the results can be found in the ‘Portfolio’ section of this website.

Digital portfolios offer a means to display a much broader and deeper array of work, with no limit to the amount of content and a variety of formats available. However, working within the WordPress.com structure, I have kept the design fairly straightforward and uncluttered. I’m aiming for a presentation that is simple, intuitive, and attractive.

The portfolio is organized into five broad categories: House Design, Research & Planning, Construction, Graphic Work, and Architecture Studio.

The whole thing is still a work in progress, so expect some broken links and incomplete pages. I welcome any comments or suggestions about the organization and appearance. Thanks for taking a look!

See the portfolio >>

I returned this past Saturday from my week-long trip to Haiti with the Building Goodness Foundation (BGF). The trip was a great experience, although there are plenty of challenges involved in working in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Not least, I was sick and well below 100% for three of our five work days, but luckily we had a great team of American volunteers and Haitian carpenters and the construction went without a hitch.

The house is small by most standards, 12′ by 20′, although not too small because many aspects of Haitian life, such as cooking and socializing, take place outdoors. It’s a fairly simple structure made of wood, yet it should withstand both hurricanes and earthquakes. Its few details include front and back doors, four windows, one interior partition wall, and a covered front porch.

Construction of the house follows a detailed plan that BGF has developed over the years. There is no floor platform to work on; instead, eighteen wooden posts are set into poured concrete footings, and the house is plumbed and trued as the plywood wall panels are attached. This is a tedious and slow process, but it’s worth taking the time to get it right. The roof trusses are built on site and then raised, and the corrugated metal roofing installed on purlins.

Camping at the work site made for very basic amenities, and being sick wasn’t all that pleasant. At the same time, the location was beautiful, balanced on a ridge overlooking a small river valley in the Haitian countryside. The area is extremely deforested, like the whole country, but the lack of trees does create some spectacular views.

Creole Made Easy, pa Wally Turnbull.

Bonjou tout moun!

(You’re not crazy, I’m trying to write in Haitian Creole. Scroll down for a translation…)

Kom m’ te poste anvan, m’ pral ale nan Ayiti nan kat jou pou m’ pase youn semen la. Donk, m’ te panse, fòk m’ aprann yon ti kras kreyòl ayisyen (ou “ayisyen” tou senpleman). M’ renmen aprann lang yo, e kom m’ pale deja franse e gen anpil mo nan ayisyen ki sanble a mo franse, pètèt se pi fasil.

Pou antrene m’ nan ayisyen, m’ te deside ekri kèk mo pou m’ prezante e pou pale sou efò mwen pou aprann ayisyen. Si pa chans se ayisyen ou ye, oubyen si se kreyòl ayisyen ou pale, tanpri fè repons! M’ ta renmen konnen konbyen fot m’ ap fè…

Bon, mwen menm se Vincent e mwen rete Ozetazini, nan leta Virginia. Men, m’ te viv nan anpil kote. M’ te etidye pou vini achitèk nan University of Virginia a, nan lavil Charlottesville, Virginia. Apre sa, m’ te rete pou twa ane nan leta Mississippi pou m’ travay nan gerizon la apre siklòn Katrina la, uit mwa an Frans pou m’ anseye angle a, e uit mwa nan leta Washington pou m’ bati yon kay.

Gen mwens resous pou aprann lang ayisyen an ke pou lòt lang, men m’ te jwenn kèk resous anpil itil. Premye, se liv la Creole Made Easy pa Wally Turnbull. Si ou pale angle, e si ou vle kòmanse aprann kreyòl ayisyen, m’ panse ke liv sa a bon anpil. Li se yon ti jan kout, ak sèz leson ak de paj chak, men li gen yon diksyonnè bon anpil. (Si ou pale franse, m’ te tande ke yon lòt liv ki bon se J’apprends le créole haïtien pa Robert Damoiseau.)

Dezyèm, gen anpil resous nan entènèt. Paregzanp, University of Kansas a genyen plizyè resous: yon gide siviv nan kreyòl (ak odyo), kèk tèks nan kreyòl, e yon diksyonnè. M’ te jwenn kèk videyo nan ayisyen pou m’ eseye konprann yo: Pwojè Eskrab Kreyòl Ayisyen, paregzanp, e yon gason Ameriken ki pale kreyòl.

Men, finalman, m’ panse ke metòd la pi bon pase tout lezòt yo, se m’ ale an Ayiti pou pale ak moun yo ki viv laba a. Mwen trè kontan gen opòtinite sa a!

(E… eske ou te konnen ke ak Apple iPhone 4S la, Siri pale kreyò ayisyen?)

English translation:
Hello everybody!

Like I posted earlier, I’ll be going to Haiti in about four days and spending a week there. So, I thought I should learn a little bit of Haitian Creole (or simply ‘Haitian’). I like learning languages, and since I speak French and many Haitian Creole words resemble French words, it should be somewhat easier.

To practice my Haitian, I decided to write a couple of paragraphs to introduce myself and talk about my efforts to learn Haitian. If you happen to be Haitian, or to speak the language, please respond! I would love to know how many mistakes I’m making…
So, I’m Vincent and I live in the United States, in the state of Virginia. But I’ve lived in a lot of places. I studied to be an architect at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, VA. After that, I lived for three years in Mississippi, working in the reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, for eight months in France, teaching English, and for another eight months in Seattle, building a house.

There aren’t as many resources for learning Haitian as there are for other languages, but I’ve found several helpful resources. First, the book Creole Made Easy by Wally Turnbull. If you speak English and if you want to start learning Haitian Creole, I think this is a very good book. (If you speak French, I’ve heard that J’apprends le créole haïtien by Robert Damoiseau is another good book.)

Second, there are many resources on the Internet. For example, the University of Kansas has several resources: a ‘Survival Guide’ to Creole (with audio), several texts in Haitian Creole, and a dictionary. I’ve found several videos in Haitian that I watch and try to understand: The Haitian Scrabble Project, for example, and this American guy speaking Haitian.

In the end, I think the best method of learning is to go to Haiti and speak with the people who live there. I’m very glad to have the opportunity to do so!

(PS: Did you know that with the Apple iPhone 4S, Siri speaks Haitian Creole?)

Next week I’ll be traveling to Haiti for seven days to build a house with a group of volunteers from the Building Goodness Foundation (BGF).

The house is called an ‘incentive kay’ (kay means house in Creole). In Haiti, BGF supports an excellent project called CODEP, short for COmprehensive DEvelopment Project, run by Haiti Fund, Inc. CODEP’s reforestation efforts in the mountains near Léogâne, Haiti, have helped repair the ecosystem and support economic development, education, health and hygiene, and other improvements. Participating Haitian families can earn a variety of incentives, including a new house—the incentive kay.

With four other people, two BGF staff members and two other volunteers, I’ll be hiking into the mountains between Léogâne and Jacmel and camping for 4-5 days while we build the house. We’ll have a generator and power tools, but we’ll also be living in tents and without many amenities. With luck, my recent hiking trip on the AT will have prepared me somewhat for the strenuous hike, although this time I’ll be carrying my hand tools with me as well! And I’ve also started picking back up on learning Haitian Creole, so I hope to know some of the basics by the time I’m there.

Wish me luck! Also, please consider supporting the good work of BGF and Haiti Fund, Inc. They can use it.