giving back
written by kathleen atkins
LONG-TERM PLAN FOR HAITI • After the earthquake, an MIT architect
regroups and revises his design for a sustainable community in Arcahaie
MAIN PHOTO BY DINA RUDICK/BOSTON GLOBE STAFF
a child stands in a makeshift
tent in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
following the devastation of the
January earthquake. Architect
Jan Wampler and Haitian
activist Gerthy Lahens (top)
review the initial design for
sustainable development in
Arcahaie, which is laid out in
the model above. Wampler
plans to redesign the project
with input from the Haitian
people it will serve.
Jan wampler values people over profit. A practicing architect for 46 years and professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MI T) for 40 years, Wampler has made a resounding impact, not only in the field of architecture but also on the world. At MIT,
Wampler teaches a workshop to graduate and undergraduate students
that offers, with the backing of university resources, hands-on
experience designing sustainable communities around the globe.
Last year, with his students and then MIT research fellow Gerthy
Lahens, a Boston-based Haitian-born activist, Wampler began
planning a sustainable community in Arcahaie, Haiti, a village an hour
outside of Port-au-Prince. Wampler and his team were scheduled to
be in Haiti when the earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands
struck on January 12, but he had postponed the trip to finish a project
in Hawaii.
Post-earthquake, Wampler is redesigning the project. He believes
that it “has to come from the ground up — from the Haitian people. I
do not want people to think we are imposing ideas on them, but rather
are working together to build something that will help their lifestyle.”
His sustainable community includes a school, a cultural community
center, a farm, a living area for orphans, and a laboratory for medical
learning. With the proper funding, he hopes to fast-track the complex,
offering much-needed facilities for the Haitian people.
Says Wampler, “This will provide new hope and could be an
answer for Haiti.”