VMDO Architects worked with the Building Goodness Foundation to build a new Excelsior Trade School in Thomassin, Haiti. The facility provides education in construction trades as well as in other related skill sets so desperately needed as part of earthquake recovery. The men and women who graduate will be empowered to teach others, expanding the ability of Haitians to help Haitians.
The trade school will not only be a model of good construction, it will be a model of self-sufficiency. The building will be the center of construction education. It will be where Haitians learn to rebuild their own country- in a way that will endure for generations.
Once the school is built, it will:
- Focus on construction trades.
- Train Haitians as builders, but also educate them to train others, essentially building a group of skilled people to help Haiti build themselves out of the earthquake’s devastation.
- Have a student population (men and women) expected to start around 125.
- Offer a curriculum that will build skills in plumbing, electrical, computers and business.
- Include a Volunteer Residence nearby to accommodate, among others, visiting teachers to the school.
Client: Building Goodness Foundation
Location: Thomassin, Haiti
Discipline: Community Spaces
Completion: 2013
