top right, Thinking Development’s Marcel Noeding discusses the building layout with Sr. Yannick Saieh in Haiti; bottom left, the demolition of the old Rosalie Javouhey school building in July.
A team of architects, engineers and students from UCL are pooling their expertise to build a primary school and community centre complex in earthquake-stricken Haiti. The earthquake, which struck the Caribbean island in January this year, killed nearly a quarter of a million people, left a million more homeless, and reduced much of the capital Port-au-Prince to rubble. Thinking Development, a non-govermental organisation (NGO) which has emerged at UCL as a collaborative response to the disaster, is masterminding a project to redevelop a site in the heart of Port-au-Prince. The Centre Rosalie Javouhey will include a primary school, an adult education centre, a community kitchen and canteen, a multi-functional community space, and an urban garden and playground. The goal is to make the centre disaster-resistant, eco-friendly, sustainable, community-sensitive and beautiful, embodying local knowledge and cutting-edge design, and empowering the local community to develop as they see fit. UCL Philosophy research student Linda O'Halloran kickstarted the project after receiving an appeal through the alumni network of her secondary school. The school in Ireland was founded by a religious order, the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, who are also the biggest educator of women in Haiti.
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