"Out of the Ruins, a More Sustainable Haiti"

Hello All!
I am excited for our class blog! I have been following globalgreen.org as one of my publications. Global Green is an environmental non-profit that has helped with rebuilding in New Orleans after Katrina. I found an interesting article on their website regarding the re-building of Haiti. (The article was originally at TreeHugger) The disaster offers a unique opportunity to rebuild in a sustainable manner. The article describes many of the challenges prior to any new construction starting in the country. Standards in building practice and code need to be put in place before building can start. There are also dangers of exploitation by hiring inefficient financially-motivated government contractors. Also, many of the temporary structures set up will also ultimately be used by the Haitians as permanent settlements. Clearly there are many challenges ahead for the country. Many do not even know if many of the people that left the capital for the countryside will come back. The president of Global Green wonders whether it would be better for the country to move towards a more agrarian economy. There are so many questions and challenges listed in the article, one architecture question I had is listed below.

I wonder if there is a way to design a temporary structure that has the potential to be converted to stable long-term housing?

Just a thought.
-Nick