[GSBN] Haiti Gingerbread houses and Ti Kay Pay (+ nomination) (was Earthen floor . . .)

Tue Apr 5 17:45:16 UTC 2011

Enthusiastically second Henri Mannik's nomination.

Thanks,

Bruce King, PE
Director of EBNet
Ecological Building Network
the art and science of building well
bruce at ecobuildnetwork.org
PO Box 6397
San Rafael, CA 94903 USA
(415) 987-7271
follow us on Twitter: @EBNetwork

On Apr 5, 2011, at 9:15 AM, martin hammer wrote:

> Jorge,
>
> You mentioned the “traditional Haiti house” or the “tropical Haitian  
> house”, as documented by Anghelen Arrington Phillips.  Few outside  
> Haiti are aware of what are known as the Gingerbread houses, a name  
> they adopted after American tourists in the 1950’s compared them to  
> the “gingerbread” Victorian era houses in the US.  They are  
> fascinating buildings built between 1870 and 1925, derived from the  
> architectural styles of France and the US at that time, but are  
> uniquely adapted to Haitian culture, climate, and materials.  Many  
> use braced timber wall framing with masonry infill (colombage),  
> similar to European half-timber buildings, but are even more closely  
> related to building systems found in Pakistan, Turkey, and Spain.   
> These buildings performed well in the earthquake, and it’s common to  
> see one standing adjacent to a lot with a collapsed concrete and  
> concrete block building.
>
> The Gingerbreads have no direct connection to strawbale, but have  
> personal meaning.  I evaluated them as part of an earthquake  
> reconnaissance team from the Earthquake Engineering Research  
> Institute last March, and later with a team from the World Monuments  
> Fund.  We subsequently wrote a book entitled “Preserving Haiti’s  
> Gingerbread Houses”, recently published and available as a free  
> download at www.conservationtech.com.  I’ve attached a photo of a  
> prominent Gingerbread (that suffered moderate damage from the  
> earthquake, and was later repaired).
>
> Regarding strawbale, I agree with your point Jorge, that a good way  
> to promote strawbale in Haiti is to adapt it to the traditional  
> architecture.  That’s what our Builders Without Borders team has  
> done.  But not by adapting it to the Gingerbreads, but to the  
> traditional Ti Kay (small house in Kreyol) which is the more common  
> and I think the truer traditional house in Haiti.  It is the basic  
> two-room plus galri (porch) rural living unit.  The Gingerbread  
> houses are also traditional, but are urban/sub-urban, were  
> constructed in a limited time period, and were built only for the  
> middle and upper middle class (maybe 8% of Haiti’s population).   
> I’ve attached a photo of what we call the Ti Kay Pay (small house of  
> straw).  More can be seen in the Photo Gallery at www.builderswithoutborders.org 
> .
>
> In another post I should tell of the key features in the design, and  
> lessons learned.  But for now I will say that the building was/is  
> successful (with numerous challenges along the way) and is being  
> received very well by all who see it.  We’re now exploring next  
> projects and prospective partners.
>
> The Ti Kay Pay team includes five core members who are on this list,  
> with peripheral assistance from at least six others on this list.  I  
> want to thank and acknowledge them (and a few others) for their  
> contributions.  Catherine Wanek and Derek Roff provided support as  
> co-directors of Builders Without Borders which is the umbrella  
> organization, with help from two organizations, the Sheltering Pine  
> Institute, and Grass Roots United (who provided the site on-site  
> support).  Dan Smith, Henri Mannik (P.E, more on Henri later), and  
> Andy Mueller joined me on the design team, with bamboo assistance  
> from Darrel DeBoer.  Haitian architect Regine Laroche (introduced in  
> a previous e-mail) helped steer us regarding cultural issues.  Tim  
> Owen-Kennedy and Bob Theis chimed in at times with perspective from  
> their own work in Haiti.  Likewise Bruce King and EBNet, who is also  
> co-owner of our sturdy rubble crusher.  A natural builder from the  
> SF area, Kevin Rowell, who spent 10 months in Haiti, made many  
> contributions in the bale production phase, along with resourceful  
> Haitians Noel and Arol who manufactured the bales.  Andy Mueller was  
> the lead builder (and did a remarkable job), with weeks of important  
> work from Tina Therrien.  One of our primary donors Mark Phillips  
> dedicated over a month helping with the construction.  Most  
> importantly Haitians Jean Louis Ellie, Annio Baptiste, and Samuel  
> Alcide became integral team members, learning (as did we) how to  
> build with strawbale in Haiti.  They are the first of many Haitians  
> we hope will learn, help develop, and continue this way of building  
> in Haiti.  I also want to make special mention of Darcey Donovan,  
> whose work in Pakistan with strawbale building since 2006, was in  
> many ways the starting point for the Ti Kay Pay system, including  
> the method of bale fabrication.  This first strawbale building in  
> Haiti was a team effort in every sense of the word.
>
> And to continue a bit further, it’s not difficult to draw lines from  
> all the people and work I just mentioned to many others, maybe even  
> everyone on this GSBN list.  One needs only look at the earthen  
> floor discussion to see a direct example of that.  But there are  
> countless other connections and influences that are less obvious,  
> but no less important.  This continues to be a remarkable web of  
> remarkable people, and I’m not sure there’s anything else quite like  
> it on the globe.
>
> With that I’d like to nominate Henri Mannik, an architect and our  
> team’s project engineer.  Henri has designed and engineered numerous  
> strawbale buildings in northern California (and now in Haiti), and  
> has participated in numerous structural tests with strawbale systems  
> over the years.  He would bring another acute engineering eye to the  
> group.
>
> Cheers all.
>
> Martin Hammer
>
>
> On 3/25/11 1:54 AM, "Van Krieken" <vankrieken at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I understand that .the traditional Haiti house was very much  
>> influenced by the northen french bathhouse architecture, in the  
>> late 1890. Young Haitian architecture students in France, were  
>> inspired by these forms and created a tropical Haitian house,  
>> documented later by an American,.Anghelen Arrington Phillips.
>>
>> StrawBale building methods can adapt very easily to this  
>> traditional Haitian architecture language. I make a emphasis on  
>> this issue because I believe that the best way to promote strawbale  
>> houses its to adapt them to the traditional architecture, special  
>> in rural areas. We do that in Portugal, and the impact is  
>> excellent, as locals do not look at these houses as a foreign  
>> aeccentricity, but yes as a intelligent and smart way to build  
>> their traditional houses.
>>
>> Being lime the traditional material used in Haiti, why not just use  
>> a limecreet in the floor (well documented by Barbara Jones), about  
>> 5cm of 4:1 lime/sand -- attention, not too humid please .. :-)) --  
>> finished a few hours later by a «burnt cement» finishing layer  
>> (cement powder mixed with pigments, and trowel after with a inox  
>> trowel). It makes a beautiful floor, very traditional on tropical  
>> and temperate climates, fresh and easy to clean. If you need more  
>> practical info about this just tell me.
>>
>> By the way, .cCouldn't we all help to developed a few well  
>> documented open source emergency building projects for a law cost  
>> passive house that could be used in any part of the globe, and  
>> easily adapted to local architecture design?
>>
>> Good work
>>
>> Jorge Van Krieken
>>
> < 
> Gingerbread 
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