Percy-Cavaillon Center: Redefining the Relationship Between Sustainable Design and the Local Community

Project Location and Its Community Significance

According to the architects’ description, the project is situated in the heart of dense tropical vegetation in southern Haiti, in a remote and hard-to-reach area. This location reflects the challenges and opportunities associated with designing facilities that serve rural communities, allowing integration with the natural environment without impacting the surrounding landscapes.

Project Functions

The facility consists of a community center serving the rural residents of Persy-Cavaillon, in addition to the office of the local farmers’ association, APTEKKA. It is the only shared facility in the area, making it a pivotal element in the social and economic life of the local population.

The Center’s Multifunctional Roles

The project was designed as a versatile platform, including:

• Training programs for farmers and local community members.
• Cultural events that bring residents together and strengthen social cohesion.
• Group meetings to enhance community collaboration and knowledge exchange.
• Rest areas providing a comfortable environment for daily interactions among community members.

Supporting Community Projects Amid Challenges

Funded by FOKAL (Fondasyon Konesans ak Libète), the project is one of three initiatives located on the southern peninsula of Haiti. This region experiences high levels of instability, climatic, social, and economic, making the design and implementation of effective community projects critically important.

Food Security Crisis in Rural South

Rural areas in Haiti, particularly in the south, have experienced a worsening chronic food insecurity crisis. This is due to a combination of interconnected factors, including recurring climate hazards, political instability, and ongoing economic crises, placing local residents in daily struggles to access food and maintain stable livelihoods.

The Role of Local Organizations in Building Resilience

In this context, the work of local organizations such as APTEKKA is essential in supporting small-scale farmers. Their efforts include:

• Protecting sustainable traditional farming practices.
• Strengthening the community’s capacity to withstand climatic and economic crises.
• Empowering farmers to face food production challenges in a volatile environment.

The Importance of Integrating Funding with Local Support

This project represents a model of collaboration between external funding and local action, demonstrating how combining resources with local expertise can enhance the adaptability and sustainability of rural communities. It highlights how carefully directed initiatives can achieve a lasting impact in regions facing multiple challenges.

Center Design and Its Interaction with the Local Community

The center was developed through intensive engagement with the local community to ensure it meets residents’ needs and daily functions. The building consists of two floors, each designed according to specific uses reflecting the nature of community and agricultural activities in the area.

Ground Floor: A Multi-Purpose Space

The ground floor includes:

• A multi-purpose hall for events and training sessions.
• An administrative office to organize programs and initiatives.
• A cafeteria to serve visitors and participants.

Upper Floor: Storage and Temporary Accommodation

The upper floor houses:

• Spacious storage areas for local products, inspired by Haitian galetas, traditional grain barns featuring cross-ventilation to preserve crops.
• A dormitory to accommodate participants coming from distant villages for training sessions.

Integration with the Environment and Local Practices

The building is surrounded by a continuous veranda providing both functional and aesthetic protection, while the design incorporates sustainable strategies to enhance indoor comfort, such as:

• A rooftop rainwater harvesting system.
• Cross-ventilation and edge openings to expel hot air.

This design reflects a combination of local and bioclimatic principles typical of tropical homes, ensuring user comfort, reducing reliance on costly mechanical systems, and maximizing the use of available natural resources.

Focus on Sustainability and Ease of Maintenance

With sustainability and ease of maintenance in mind, the design emphasizes the use of locally available natural materials, aiming to reduce the project’s carbon footprint and enhance integration with the surrounding environment.

Materials Used and Reusability

Although the design relies on a steel structure and roof, both were engineered to be dismountable and reusable, reflecting the designers’ attention to the building’s long-term flexibility and connection with modern buildings.

Incorporating Local Resources in Construction

Stones extracted from a nearby river were used to construct parts of the building, while soil excavated on-site was repurposed to prepare earthen plaster. This approach demonstrates the project’s ability to utilize local resources and minimize waste, simultaneously reinforcing environmental sustainability and economic efficiency. It also aligns with building material strategies commonly used in sustainable projects.

Climatic and Seismic Challenges in the Region

In recent years, the area has experienced major natural disasters, including:

• Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm in 2016.
• A 7.2-magnitude earthquake in 2021.

These events caused massive destruction to infrastructure and housing, highlighting the urgent need to develop alternative, resilient construction methods capable of withstanding severe climatic and seismic conditions.

Adopting a Hybrid Construction Approach

The project draws inspiration from the Lakay Riral (Haitian rural house), employing a hybrid construction approach that combines:

• Local expertise in steelwork and metal structures.
• Traditional, low-maintenance techniques relying on local resources.

Structural and Functional Advantages

This system ensures enhanced seismic resistance and natural thermal comfort, with easy reproducibility at the local level. The approach also reflects the integration of traditional knowledge with modern engineering expertise to meet the needs of rural Haitian communities in a sustainable and practical way.

Implementation Challenges Over Two Years

The project’s implementation spanned a full two years and faced numerous natural and social challenges. Key obstacles included:

• Heavy rainfall and repeated flooding.
• Continuous hurricane warnings, including Hurricane Melissa.
• Social barriers, such as gang-organized blockades that disrupted supply routes from Port-au-Prince to the south.

Impact of Economic Conditions on the Project

The inflation crisis, coupled with shortages of materials and fuel, necessitated multiple redesigns of the project, highlighting the complexity of implementing community initiatives in regions facing simultaneous and multifaceted crises.

The Role of the Local Community in Project Success

Despite these difficulties, the determination of the local community was crucial to completing the construction. Residents contributed directly through practicing konbit, a traditional form of non-monetary collective work for a common cause, providing support to the contractor and actively participating in the building process.

Enhancing Ecological Diversity Around the Project

Finally, in collaboration with agronomists from the Jardin Botanique des Cayes and inspired by the jardin kreyòl, a traditional agro-ecological system in Haiti, more than 100 trees and plants were introduced around the center’s site.

Preserving Local and Endangered Species

The new plantings included several local and endangered species, contributing to enhanced ecological diversity and the restoration of the area’s natural balance.

The Center as a Cultural and Environmental Landmark

The project goes beyond serving as a community center, becoming a prominent cultural and environmental landmark. It demonstrates how integrated architectural and agricultural design can combine social functions with local environmental preservation, while also raising community awareness about the importance of sustainability.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

Percy-Cavaillon Center can be regarded as an integrated experiment in architectural design and community sustainability, offering an opportunity to explore hybrid techniques that combine local knowledge with modern structures, an inherently positive, though somewhat limited, aspect of the project.

However, when examining the architectural aspects more broadly, certain potential reservations emerge. For instance, relying on traditional practices alongside reusable metal structures may provide flexible solutions within the rural Haitian context, but it could lack scalability or alignment with broader design standards. Additionally, the building’s design encompasses multiple overlapping functions (training, storage, temporary accommodation, cultural events), which may pose challenges for internal organization and efficient use of space over the long term.

From the perspective of adaptation to climatic and seismic conditions, the project demonstrates a solid understanding of the local environment, yet it remains a limited practical test for applying this model in other regions or larger-scale projects, where additional infrastructure and ongoing maintenance requirements may arise.

Moreover, while incorporating traditional agriculture and enhancing ecological diversity around the building strengthens its cultural and environmental dimension, the direct impact on improving the community’s economic capacities depends on the continuity of local and external support. This raises questions about the project’s sustainability in the absence of ongoing funding or sustained community engagement.

Overall, this project can serve as a case study for rethinking multi-functional architectural design in remote rural environments, emphasizing the balance between environmental principles, community integration, and future scalability, while acknowledging that the current experience remains limited in scope and practical application beyond the local context.