*Public lectures will be held at the A+D Museum in Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Limited seating available, tickets can be purchased at http://aplusd.org/

For the full lecture series schedule, visit the LA Metro website.

Fueled by a Community Project grant from HMC’s Designing Futures Foundation, Eera Babtiwale, Sandy Kate, and myself kicked off the first in a series of three sustainability workshops for students at McKinley Elementary School in Santa Monica, Calif. We developed the “Sustainable Environments Seen Through the Eyes of Elementary School Children” workshops with the goal of providing students with a worldview perspective of  environmental issues to give them practical suggestions on how they, as elementary school children, can build a better planet for all.

The first workshop was led by Eera Babtiwale and focused on water. She had three groups of about 80 elementary students from grades 3, 4, and 5. For each of these groups, Eera presented the information in a simple and fun way, complete with music, dance, and beautiful illustrations created specifically for our workshop by Sarah Banning. After each presentation, the students broke into smaller groups to work with McKinley school teachers on a hands-on project. They built an aquifer in a cup and then added some “contaminants” to the ground and watched how they seeped underground into the water. It was great to see how the students observed the colored substance seep into the water and then suddenly connect it to real life.

In addition to the students from McKinley Elementary School, we had students from Maracaibo, Venezuela Skype in for the workshop. It was an exciting moment for all students in Santa Monica and Venezuela to connect with each other and share this learning experience. One of the students at my table explained what we were doing to a student in Venezuela via Skype. As a father, it was also fun to see my son participating in the activity, and since he can’t speak, he used his augmentative communication app on his iPad to interact with the other students.

We left the workshop tired and happy, hoping to have transmitted some love for the planet to 300 kids from Maracaibo and Santa Monica. We also left with a new appreciation for what our school teachers do, spending hours and hours providing an education to our kids. This was an incredible experience that reminds us of the value of direct contact and teaching children.

I will lead the next workshop about energy at on February 28, and Sandy Kate will lead the last one that focuses on waste on March 20.

My last few days in Haiti were diligently spent working on construction documents for Lycee de Anacaona, the large high school site I had visited earlier in the week. This school is not only large in scale, but also a symbol of hope and progress for the city of Leogane. Jason, who is the primary architect working singularly on this job as well as ten schools currently in progress, was very grateful for the drafting support and team collaboration Alex and I had to offer.

Concluding my time in Haiti,  I was able to steal away on the back of a Haitian motorcycle for a tour through the quaint, back roads of Leogane. Franky, our translator and friend navigating the way,  pointed to a neighborhood outside of town that had not received any assistance after the earthquake. We agreed this was the opportunity I had been looking for to offer the three suitcases packed full of donations from HMC and friends. To us, what was given wouldn’t appear to be  of much value, yet the impact was overwhelming as children were jumping for markers, pens, and paper more than the toys.

Throughout the week, it was obvious that even seeing us there with plans for action sparked hope in the hearts of children, parents, and school directors in each community we visited. I have seen a need, not only to bring hope, but to change future generations in Haiti. The purpose of going on this trip was not simply to meet a need with what I have to give for eight days, but also what I have brought back and plan to continue that is important. As a volunteer, I was willing to give and work hard, yet the learning experience received through this trip was countless in its return as I grasped humility, compassion, perseverance, diligence and determination in a new way that I hope to inspire in my community.

Find a need, meet the need, inspire others.

No More Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
Monday, February 20, 2012
3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Presented by Janet Dixon, Riverside USD, and Marco Eacrett, HMC Architects
You passed the paper screening! Next step is the dreaded panel interview. A lighthearted and informative workshop on how to avoid some common landmines and get the job! This workshop will be moderated by C.A.S.H. Treasurer Janet Dixon, Director of Planning and Development, Riverside Unified School District. Janet has many years of experience interviewing school facility professionals and will give you excellent tips on how to be successful.

Playing Smart at Close-Out: When to Withhold ‘Em, When to Scold ‘Em, When to Obey DSA, and When to Run…
Tuesday, February 22, 2012
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Janet Dixon, Riverside USD, and Nancy Martin, HMC Architects
Gather some of the best practices to get DSA close-out on current projects. Learn the latest on getting DSA close-out on legacy projects. Collect effective techniques to close-out your project with your contractor (without claims). Hear how to cope when you have buildings on the “AB 300” list, including how best to handle press inquiries. This multi-pronged workshop will address all these topics with some of the best experts available. Don’t play the game without knowing the rules.

How To Keep Your Construction Program Off The Front Page – Unless You Want It There!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Presented by Timothy White, Oakland USD, and Mary Morris, HMC Architects
How to avoid bad press, and how to get your story told before, during, and after construction. A guide to effective reporting, transparency, accountability, and integrity to keep your project out of those front-page exposés. With a special focus on effective outreach and reporting for large urban districts, this panel will provide clear guidance for all districts on how to frame a program’s successes, and setbacks, in a way that the press and public will understand and appreciate.

Clinic: The Top Ways to Save Dollars
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Presented by Kevin Wilkeson, HMC Architects
School budgets are leaner than ever. Learn from colleagues who have trimmed expenses in their districts while still providing the services necessary to operate and maintain schools. Many of these ideas have been discovered through trial and error. Some are easy to implement with quick returns, while others require more careful consideration to assess long term impacts. This clinic will discuss how districts are getting creative in the area of cost savings with strategies that you can apply in your own district.

Part of my Xref journey and task here in Haiti is to help with the assessment of 200 Catholic schools across the country. Schools for Children of the World has hired 11 teams trained to assess existing conditions of these schools by using a special assessment program for the iPad. Over the last three days, I have been all over the Haitian countryside to accomplish the given task. Starting on Monday morning, Alex and I were assigned to visit four schools in the city of Miragoane, Haiti. The drive to Miragoane is a bumpy one and takes about two hours from Leogane.

Along with our translator and driver, we arrived at our first school site, Ecole Notre Dame de Lourdes, holding 749 students and 17 professors. The main buildings were badly damaged in the earthquake, six of which are still partially in use. The remaining classes are held in three temporary structures on the school site, totaling to nine buildings on site. The school director mentioned that if they could have more classrooms, they could enroll another 300+ children waiting to attend the school the coming year.

To record the damage to the school, we assess the site parameters and determine if there is rubble to be removed, how many structures have been left standing on site, how much of each building has been damaged due to the earthquake, and if they are able to be improved or need complete demolition. We also take photos of cracks, the roof structure, exterior and interior wall conditions, in addition to taking exterior building dimensions and measurements of every interior room in the building. The job is very thorough and we are to note if the site has toilets, pit latrines, or no toilets at all. Most are without running water or electricity, with concrete block windows and no doors. We take note of everything from natural ventilation, flooring, to the condition of existing furniture and chalkboards.

This first school on our assessment was large and domineering, but once we got a good system going we were able to do a thorough job. Typically, I would run the iPad assessment and input the material into the document, while Alex and Franky (our translator) would sketch and document dimensions of the site and buildings and call them out for me to compile. We felt accomplished as a team for taking on such a large school for our first site.

When we finally left Notre Dame de Lourdes, we didn’t have time to make it to the next school before dark, not to mention we were exhausted and hungry. Instead of driving back to Leogane, our leader made arrangements for us to stay overnight at a hotel in Miragoane to continue our work there the next day. The hotel was on the beach, and as we sat on the crumbly, stone steps with our feet in the water, I was able to reflect about the work we had done that day. I was deeply touched by the children at the school. They were so respectful and well-mannered, excited to be learning in their tent structure classrooms. When they were let out for lunch, they immediately ran to me and hugged me and wanted to touch my hands and be smiled at and acknowledged. They knew we were there to help and my soul was bursting to be able to offer them a new school building, not yet knowing that these children actually have a great set-up compared to the schools we would visit in the rural areas the following days.

There is much to share as my eyes have been opened to even more yesterday and today. As we traveled to another school in Miragoane on Tuesday, and then to Jacmel on Wednesday, we have reached three additional schools in the countryside with no classrooms at all, just furniture and sheets, and lucky to have a chalkboard. The men and women in these rural parts of Haiti work so hard just to pay for the simple education their child will receive. Most of them taught by the local parish, we are hoping that through these assessments, the Catholic church will be able to gauge which schools are in most immediate need of new structures so that we can offer to work with them to design new buildings for these communities.

About Xref:

Each spring, HMC Architects awards two travel fellowships to meritorious employees to encourage the exploration of other cultures and to strengthen the creative ethos of the firm. All employees, regardless of position, are invited to submit a proposal to go anywhere in the world, describing how that experience would contribute to their personal vision and professional growth. Out of 24 entries received from employees throughout California and Nevada, one of the winners of the 2011 competition was Kaysha Bucher. She received a $4,000 travel stipend and an additional week of paid time off to complete her Haiti journey.

Phase II of the Rady School of Management should be finished in April. The $47.2 million, 80,000 square-foot project was funded through $27.1 in state funds and private gifts from Ernest Rady and the Rady Family Foundation, Wells Fargo bank and other sources. Read the entire article from La Jolla Light.

Upon arrival at the Port-au-Prince airport, myself and project coordinator, Alex, were picked up by Jason, a project leader and architect for Schools for Children of the World. Thankfully, all of our baggage made it safely and we shuffled our way through the chaos of porters offering to help us with our bags. Jason, thankful to have the company of new visitors, was a thorough tour guide speaking to the bustling activity as we bumped our way through the streets of Port-au-Prince to our final destination of Leogane, Haiti. Leogane was the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake, and although the streets are active, it is much calmer than the city.

After moving our belongings into our room at the Residence de Filarose, a hotel run by the University of Notre Dame, we helped ourselves to a little lunch. Since half the day was already spent, Jason decided it would be a good opportunity to show us the beauty of Haiti’s beaches. Much of our architectural services are in collaboration with the Spanish Red Cross, and since Jason has friends in that organization, we hopped in a Spanish Red Cross vehicle and jostled in our Land Rover to Tiano, the choice beach of non-government organization volunteers in Haiti. At Tiano, we took the time to do a little snorkeling, where I saw amazing, colorful fish and coral reefs. I was grateful for the relaxation time since I was drowsy from the overnight flight.

Getting home later in the evening, we sat down to a prepared dinner of conch, potatoes, spinach, and rice while discussing our preparations for the next day. After dinner, I was grateful for a shower, even though it was cold, and I washed up and headed to bed—asleep before my head hit the pillow.

On Sunday, I woke up to roosters crowing outside the window and forgetting where I was, confused to be waking up under mosquito netting yet thankful for a good night’s sleep. After breakfast we headed out to the first of three school sites.

Ecole National de Leogane de Bire is an elementary school, grades 1-6, where construction is just now in progress. We were very excited to see the existing school rubble removed and the beginnings of excavation taking place. It was interesting to be a part of a group speaking English, Spanish, and French/Creole as we discussed a problem that had come up regarding the location of the perimeter wall. Team collaboration is incredibly slow in groups with many language and cultural differences and I was impressed by the patience of our project leader. While on-site, I also saw the temporary schools put up by US Aid shortly after the earthquake, and could not be happier that the children will soon have a more permanent structure to learn in.

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Lycee de Anacaona de Leogane is the main high school in Leogane with 2,800 students attending in shifts throughout the day. This school was completely demolished during the quake and students are now in temporary buildings that are terribly insufficient. The new school design is two-story and makes much use of the site along with an adjacent soccer field. Throughout the week, I will be helping with drawings to get this project ready for construction.

Our last destination of the day was a school outside Leogane in a rural village high up in the mountains. Ecole National de Leogane Fond de Boudin will be a u-shaped building on a small site with a steep grade. Currently attending tent schools in very poor condition, most children in this area walk to school and are excited to see the progress of their new building. The work that has gone into the site recently was impressive, as it has been excavated entirely by hand. The pits that were dug for the new latrines took ten men a week to dig, whereas with access to a backhoe, the job could have been done in less than thirty minutes.

Only two days into my stay in Haiti and I am deeply impressed by the resilience and determination of the Haitian people. It is inspiring to be in a country where they have so little, but are grateful for so much. Sitting on the rooftop of our residence watching Haitians play a game of soccer as the sun sets, I am excited to be a part of something big happening in Haiti that touches the lives of so many as signs of progress are slowly appearing.

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Paying homage to its location amid acres of almond orchards, Roger S. Oraze Elementary School draws inspiration from its rural vernacular and has become a beacon of community pride. Designed to reflect the agricultural heritage of California’s Central Valley, the campus is a modern ranch, blending indoor and outdoor learning environments through the use of abundant glass, outdoor quads, and meandering trails. The buildings mimic the color and design of classic barns. Classroom wings are designed to take advantage of daylighting through the use of high ceilings and clerestory windows, minimizing the need for artificial light. A large multipurpose room, library, and administration building and a series of three classroom buildings complete the campus.