GreenSpace Collaborative

The Sheltering Pine Institute and Builders Without Borders first building project in Haiti has been completed. Team leader and architect Martin Hammer and team member and lead builder Andy Mueller were in Port-au-Prince to construct the first strawbale building in Haiti. 

The Ti Kay Pay was designed to use as many in-country, repurposed and local materials as possible, to build on existing labor and skill resources, and to encourage the creation of local industry. From the foundation to the roof, material and building system choices were made with these goals in mind.

One enormous material resource that is largely untapped in Haiti is the rubble resulting from the collapsed buildings in the earthquake.

The Ti Kay Pay design uses crushed rubble in the foundation and in the stem wall in gravel bags. The same crushed rubble is also screened for fine aggregate in the plasters.

Pallet trusses and bamboo rafters provide the roof structure, covered with commonly available and durable sheets of corrugated steel. Wood from pallets, left from the vast number of aid shipments, has become a new in-country resource for Haiti.

This work in Haiti includes training and active involvement of people in the communities where the work occurs.This collaboration allows the development of appropriate solutions that are received and owned by the local population.

Donations. Please consider donations to support the beginning phases of this important work that will create local industries and employment, provide an inspired model of sustainable reconstruction, and that is expected in time to sustain itself. Donations now will make you a part of constructing ongoing rebuilding efforts in Haiti.Consider making the donation in honor or memory of a loved one, or as a meaningful gift for a family member or friend.  All donations are tax deductible as the Sheltering Pine Institute and Builders Without Borders are a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

To donate and to follow project by project progress, see BWB’s website at www.builderswithoutborders.org or The Sheltering Pine Institute at www.shelteringpineinstitute.org/

Form more information on this project please visit www.tikaypay.wordpress.com