PARTIE 2 - Icomos

THEME 2
introduction
Theme Chair
DEVELOPPEMENT OR A RETURN TO THE ART OF
BUILDING
Stéphane Kelley
President of the ICOMOS International Scientific committee on the Analysis and Restoration of
the Structures of Architectural Heritage (ICOMOS US)
skelley@wje.com
Esteemed colleagues,
I would like to thank Benjamin Mouton and the organizers of the Scientific Symposium, Heritage, Driver of
Development, for this distinct honor of standing before you today.
It occurs to me that it is difficult if not impossible to speak generally on such a topic when I am placed in my
cultural context of a professional from an industrialized nation that traces many of its built heritage to the
beginning of the industrial revolution. I will ask your pardon for reacting to the subthemes from the prism that
has been formed by my cultural background.
Learning from the past
Until our modern era, heritage buildings - especially vernacular ones - provided countless examples of
successful adaptation to the physical environment; use of local materials; traditional techniques guaranteeing
the greatest opportunities to acquire and perfect artisanal skills; and an optimum capacity for recycling.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a magnitude 7.0 Mw event that occurred on 12 January. Its epicenter was
25 km west of Port-au-Prince. The Haitian Government estimates that approximately 230,000 people died;
300,000 were injured; and approximately 1,000,000 were left homeless. It is also estimated that 250,000
residences and 30,000 commercial buildings either collapsed or were severely damaged. The media has led
us to believe that the city was largely destroyed but the truth is much more nuanced.
My first visit to Haiti was made possible by funding through the World Monuments Fund (WMF), Foundation
Kilti Ak Libète (FOKAL), and the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development. The purpose of this first
visit composed almost exclusively of expert members of ISCARSAH and ICORP was to assess the earthquake
damage to the Gingerbread district of Port-au-Prince. The assessment included more than 200 Gingerbread
houses in the district that is estimated to contain as many as 300 Gingerbread houses. These structures are
constructed using traditional building techniques - braced framing and colombage - that had their origins
in Europe but lived on in this former colony into the second decade of the 20th Century. The Gingerbreads
performed well in the Earthquake relative to the more contemporary buildings.
Due to chronic urban fires local codes had forbid the use of wood by the mid 1920s and builders had embraced
the technology of reinforced concrete. Indeed many well-known Haitian monuments lost in the earthquake
- the Cathedrale de Notre Dame (1912) and the Palais National (1918) - were early examples of reinforced
concrete. The use of reinforced concrete after 1925 appeared in countless buildings that were untouched by the
hands of the architect, engineer and skilled laborer. Such a colloquial approach can be performed successfully
with wooden structures, but concrete is a counterintuitive material that requires strict performance-based
codes, detailing requirements, and standardized approaches. Haitian buildings constructed of poor concrete,
smooth rebar, and improper detailing failed catastrophically.
FOKAL, in their purchase of the Maison Dufort Gingerbread have boldly proposed along with the Institut
du Patrimoine Wallon (IPW) the development of a built heritage trades training center. The rehabilitation
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LE PATRIMOINE, MOTEUR DE DÉVELOPPEMENT
HERITAGE, DRIVER OF DEVELOPMENT