ruminations about architecture and design

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

a home in haiti


This is not a typical dwelling in Haiti. In fact, I'm not sure this is even in Haiti, I'm trusting someone else's blog.
In any case, there are luxury homes in Haiti, and they are not featured in stories about the great number of people who live under shockingly bad conditions in that country.

Presumably, this house was designed by an architect. Did that person have any moral qualms? Was there a consideration on the part of anyone involved in the project as to the extreme constrasts of the situation? Did the laborers make a journey up the hill each morning from the slums to build this? What went through their mind on the trip home in the evening?

Who am I to judge? I cannot draw a cart, or eat dried oats, so if the opportunity to design something like this were presented to me, I would probably take it. Architecture is a service, not a heap of stones, and it exists as a consequence of continuous efforts and observations.

1 comment:

  1. You could replace the word "Haiti" with "the United States," and it would still make sense...why are we more struck with the division of rich and poor in other countries than our own?

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