Week 20 Samaritan’s Purse School/Church

While in Haiti, Samaritan’s Purse approached our EMI Disaster Response team with a vision of constructing 100 buildings for schools and churches throughout the earthquake-affected area. They wanted us to make a conceptual design for this project and I was lucky enough to be the lead architect on the team (by default of being the ONLY architect on the team). We had an afternoon with the directors and a brief design charette and then I spent each night during the next week moving forward with the design through diagramming and building a computer model. Here is the design concept:

Designing one building for two different functions for over 100 sites with a multitude of nuances requires a multitude of flexibility! This design starts with a stand-alone open ‘Core’ structure, which becomes the sanctuary for a church or a multi-purpose space for a school. Depending on the site-specific and program-specific needs, other structures connect to the Core. Those ‘Node’ structures are composed of a Kit-of-Parts: a selection of standardized wall components that inform the function of the Node. Classroom Nodes use different wall types than storage or office Nodes. The Core can also expand with additional Core sections. This Kit-of-Parts allows a Plug & Play configuration to provide flexibility in the building’s function and flexibility for differing site conditions.

We had a design review with Samaritan’s Purse last Saturday and they were really impressed at what we had accomplished in the week. They were really excited about the design and the images we created and offered a few suggestions and some changes they want to make before presenting it to the executives. I’m thrilled I could play this role in such a huge undertaking! I hope they progress and can help thousands of people worship and learn through these buildings.