| La Esperanza Housing & Development Casas de La Esperanza |
La Esperanza Housing & Development Casas de la Esperanza (EH&D) is a non denominational, non political NGO, tax exempt: 501 (c) (3). It develops housing and provides technical education to families who are currently squatters, living on the outskirts of Granada, Nicaragua |
1. The Well |
UN Millennium Development Goals, Goal 7, Target 10: "Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water" |
| Housing, education and work are the most important problems of Nicaragua. In La Prusia we have to add the lack of a good system of potable water. Until now the water was coming from Granada and was pumped through pipes to La Prusia's houses. It was a very inefficient way, insufficient and very expensive for the community. The families of La Prusia got water during a few hours every second day. They had to pay it at a very high price. |
| Cezanne, The well |
| The Land EH&D has bought in La Prusia a beautiful piece of land. This second lot has about 323,000 square feet. We call it EH&D 2 |
| 2 The "Cuidadores" Carlos Porfirio and Estebana del Carmen & family |
| 3 The Volunteers Houses |
| 4 The Play Ground |
| 5 The "Bodega" (Warehouse) |
Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) Harvard GSD has included in the spring semester of 2008, the project of EH&D2 as one of its “studio options”, directed by Prof. Teddy Cruz, for grad students of Architecture, Landscape and Urbanism. see the Harvard GSD studio They will create an overall Development plan for La Prusia, with the design and construction of private homes and communitarian buildings. This collaboration will involve Harvard graduate students in an International Development Project, making them aware of the challenges facing the world’s poorest communities and empowering them to use their skills and resources to contribute to the fight against poverty. The designs they will create and their contribution will benefit the citizens of La Prusia in the short term with quality housing and in the long term with new education and expertise that will be marketable skills. They will help also to develop innovative Architectural techniques in Nicaragua. PARC Foundation PARC (Planning + Art Resources for Communities) Foundation Its mission is to strenghthen communities in need by serving as catalyst for the development and promotion of contemporary architecture + art www.theparcfoundation.org EH&D thanks Harvard GSD and PARC Foundation for bringing to La Prusia their innovative perspectives to explore housing and shared infrastructure as integrative tools to generate urbanism at the scale of the poor neighborhoods and questioning the role of architects in facilitating social organization and community cohesion. In this context, all of us will be working in La Prusia with the premise that no advances in housing design can occur without reorganizing the existing social, political, and economic structures, in order to promote alternative systems for 'in' and 'co' habitation. Saturday 14th March 2008 |
| Harvard Graduate School of Design and PARC Foundation: partnership across borders with La Esperanza Housing & Development: Empowering People, Families and Communities |
| Thirteen graduate students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Professors in charge of the studio, the PARC Foundation, some Architecture students of the UAM and volunteers of EH&D in La Prusia, Granada, Nicaragua. In EH&D1, in front of the School Workshop Encounters with the Community |
| Now EH&D2 has: 1 A Well |
| Meanwhile, Megan took care of the children |
| On May 9, Harvard GSD's team presented its proposal of project for EH&D2 See two Videos below |
| The GSD's Scale Model |
| The GSD´s Proposals |
| Now, they are designing their development project for the people of La Prusia in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Central America |
| Harvard University GSD Presentation of the Teddy Cruz team's Studio on La Prusia |
| May 9, 2008 The Project of La Prusia at the Auditorium of Harvard University GSD Julia Watson MLA, DK Osseo-Asare MArch, Juliana Silbermins MAUD Anne Vaterlaus MLA, Christine Canabou MArch, Quilian Riano MArch Simon Bussiere MLA, Chris Ryan MArch, Sara Lynch MArch, Brian Yang MArch Aron Chang MArch, Kristen Von Minden MArch, Doug Miller MArch Directed by Teddy Cruz, assisted by Andrew Sturm |
Under the direction of the Teddy Cruz's studio we have started the construction of three buildings for professional training and small business that will be placed at the entry of EH&D2 |
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| La Esperanza Housing & Development EH&D, November 2009 |
| EH&D 2 THE SECOND LAND OF EH&D |
