PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

A Miami architect has come up with a plan to ship prefrabricated, small houses to Haiti that could be used instead of tent cities that have sprung up in Port au Prince. The idea has considerable appeal, because it would provide a better source of protection that tents and would allow something closer to normal living for Haitians. Here is clip from the Miami Herald:

Miami architect devises prefabs for homeless

Andres Duany -- the famed Miami architect -- has designed a basic, inexpensive and easy-to-assemble house that could shelter thousands of displaced Haitians.

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• Interactive graphic | A temporary house

BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI

aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com

 Can a stripped-down, bunkhouse-like structure made of near-indestructible, space-age materials provide a solution to Haiti's post-quake housing crisis?

 Famed Miami architect and planner Andras Duany certainly thinks so.

 Duany, who helped develop the prefabricated ``Katrina Cottage'' as an alternative to the widely criticized FEMA trailers, has devised a light, expandable ``core house'' for Haiti's homeless that can stand up to earthquakes and hurricanes. It even meets Miami-Dade's tough building code, he says.

 The house, which would sleep eight in a bunkhouse arrangement, could be easily shipped to Haiti in a package less than two-feet thick, and assembled by local laborers in a matter of hours, Duany said.

 The material is a composite that Duany calls ``totally miraculous'' -- thin but strong, durable, fireproof, waterproof and mold-proof. The idea grew out of a project Duany was already working on in Miami's Little Haiti, to erect eight larger prefab houses using the same technique and material.

THE LINK

http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1452078.html

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