91ÊÓƵ

The challenges that come with building a health clinic in a rural town in Haiti immediately became apparent when University of Oregon architecture students Grace Aaraj and Jackie Davis traveled there.

“They don’t even have roads going to the site,” Davis said. “It’s just footmarks.”

Last fall, the pair won a student design competition for a clinic in Jacmel, Haiti, through the REvive Jacmel project led by Portland-area surgeon Michael Workman. Aaraj and Davis relied on research and conversations with people who had traveled to Haiti to inform their design. In December they joined a group of Portland State University architecture students on a weeklong trip to the Caribbean nation, and visited the town where the clinic will be built. Meeting Jacmel residents assured the students that the design was moving in the right direction, Aaraj said.

“Going there was very important for us because we knew our intention was to design something that was framed for them,” she said. “That made us more certain because we talked to them. We saw it.”

It was also helpful, Aaraj said, to see medical service limits there now and observe firsthand the differences between American and Haitian building techniques, she said.

The visit by Aaraj and Davis to Haiti made the clinic’s design better, said Annie Ledbury, another University of Oregon architecture student who is helping organize the REvive Jacmel project.

“… The goal of the project was to have something culturally relevant, and that’s hard to do from the other side of the world,” she said.

Knowledge gleaned from the trip helped Aaraj and Davis as they worked closely with KPFF Consulting Engineers and Waterleaf Architecture, Interiors and Planning to refine the design. Waterleaf Architecture hosted frequent meetings at its Portland office, partner Richard Aanderud said. The concept for the clinic became even clearer after the architecture students saw where it will be built, he said.
“It was an eye-opener for them,” he said.

The approximately 3,000-square-foot outpatient clinic will provide minor surgery and other health services, Aanderud said. Exam rooms, a nursing station, a dental office and a pharmacy will be included.

The project team is pursuing grant opportunities and hopes to gain enough funding to construct the clinic this fall, Aanderud said.

“I think we have a pretty good concept of how we’re going to put it together,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of funding.”

It was a thrill to work with a professional architecture firm, Davis said.

“I had never had job experience in an actual firm,” she said. “I got to use that practicum, and this real world project kind of gives me a leg up. Now I can say I’ve worked with contractors, structural engineers and an architectural firm.”

KPFF also worked with five University of Portland civil engineering students on the project, said Lauren DiPalma, a KPFF structural engineer. Those students helped KPFF engineers ensure the clinic could withstand an earthquake, she said.

“Obviously, it’s a high seismic region. There are a lot of structural requirements,” she said. “There are a lot of open spaces and long spaces and then a sloped roof, and all those are challenges from a structure engineering standpoint.”

The clinic will be built using confined masonry, which gains its stability from concrete reinforced columns, DiPalma said. It’s also simpler to assemble – ideal for Haiti, which has a shortage of skilled construction labor, she said. KPFF has used the technique for other Haiti projects, including a school, she said.

“The confined masonry is definitely a unique aspect; we don’t use that here,” she said. “The concrete really locks in the walls.”

KPFF engineers are preparing construction documents for the project, DiPalma said.

“It was a very workable design; the ultimate design only required a few compromises,” she said. “We certainly considered what materials were available locally and the skill set of the construction labor and also what they’re used to building. Because this isn’t your typical building, it required more than what their typical construction process would be.”

Davis said she and Aaraj thought a lot about how the clinic would be used, and designed an expansive waiting room.

“We knew that when people were coming (to the clinic) there would be long lines, so we wanted an entrance sequence in the waiting room to be really comfortable,” Davis said. “We wanted it to be a welcoming place that they would take pride in.”

The project will be well worth the effort to replace Jacmel’s existing one-room clinic and provide medical services throughout the region, Aaraj said.

“It’s special because it’s humanitarian,” she said. “We could say these are not people that deserve less. These are people that deserve more.”

To learn more about the project or donate to the cause, visit .