Size

Build: 7,459 sq. ft. / 693 sq. m.

Year

2015

Status

Completed

Client

Les Centres GHESKIO

Partners

Les Centres GHESKIO, William Penn Foundation, Henry Kimelman Family Foundation, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation

Portrait of Adam Saltzman
Adam Saltzman
Principal, MASS.Build Director
Adam Saltzman

Adam Saltzman

Principal, MASS.Build Director

Adam joined MASS in 2011, managing the Haiti office and completing the Ludwig Pavilion Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis Hospital and Cholera Treatment Center, both for Les Centres GHESKIO in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He then turned to manage MASS’s operations in Liberia, working with the Ministry of Health and the World Bank to plan the New Redemption Hospital Caldwell. Adam has also managed the Construction Administration for Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama and Nyarugenge District Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. Currently, he serves as Principal and Director of MASS Build leading the construction of The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture.

Prior to MASS, Adam assisted with recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake through Architecture for Humanity. He also interned at Carazo Arquitectos in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Perkins + Will at their New York and Atlanta offices. Adam received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from James Madison University and his Master of Architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 2011.

Adam is the director of the MASS.Build Team, helping MASS invest in local construction capacity in Rwanda and assist our partners in delivering projects that maximize value throughout the supply chain. Read more about MASS.Build.

Project Team

Michael Murphy, Alan Ricks, Sierra Bainbridge, Christopher Scovel, Adam Saltzman, David Saladik, Amie Shao, Kyle Digby, Robertho Jean Noel, Alix Joseph, Benjamin Hartigan

Collaborators

Architectural and Furniture Design: MASS Design Group Project Manager: Andrea Panizzo
Structural Engineer: Matt Sisul, YCF Group s.a.
MEP Engineer: Mazzetti
Lighting: LAM Partners
Civil Engineer: Fall Creek Engineering, Inc.
Façade Design: Nathan King and Jonathan Grinham with the Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design's Center for Design Research
Contractor: YCF Group and TECINA s.a.

Steel Roof Trusses: YCF Group s.a.
Facade Construction: Mackenzy Vil
Roofing Membrane: MFM Peel & Seal
Roofing Metalwork: ACRA Industries
Cabinetwork and Custom Woodwork: Atelier 83 - GHESKIO
Floor Finish: Rust-Oleum Epoxyshield Professional Floor Coating, Installed by ProGroup

Cot fabric, in-kind donation: Phifer

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Site View of Port-au-Prince Coast

© Iwan Baan

Cholera—a curable, preventable disease that had not previously existed in Haiti, emerged in 2010 after contaminated waste leaked into the Artibonite River, resulting in rapid spread. When the disease broke, Port-au-Prince’s only waste-filtration plant remained closed following the earthquake, while access to clean water and waste treatment programs was limited.

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Aerial View of CTC Building and Surrounding Neighborhood

© Iwan Baan

Along with hundreds of healthcare facilities across the country, GHESKIO quickly deployed cholera treatment tents, intended as a short-term response. The tents were difficult to keep sanitary; they were hot in the Haitian climate, deficient at preventing widespread infection, and incapable of providing the human right to dignified healthcare.

Related

GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center Building of the Week

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Interior Atrium with Skylights Doctor Walking in the Hallway

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior View of Staff Bringing in Custom Furniture

© Iwan Baan

Dr. Jean William Pape, co-founder of GHESKIO, asked MASS to help create a permanent cholera center. His request was simple and revolutionary: Could the center treat patients with dignity while addressing Haiti’s systemic infrastructural shortcomings?

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior Nighttime View of the Cholera Treatment Center with Gatehouse

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior View of Staff Bringing in Custom Furniture

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Interor View of Skylight and Atrium with Garden

© Iwan Baan

To reduce the risk of improper waste management, the Cholera Treatment Center was designed to treat waste on-site. The clerestory roof admits natural daylight and diverts rainwater that is stored in underground cisterns, treated, and then used in showers and sinks.

Photo of GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, evening photograph of the metal facade

© Iwan Baan

The water is also processed for use in Oral Rehydration Therapy, the primary treatment used to rehydrate patients recovering from cholera. The facility decontaminates waste using a leaching field combined with anaerobic baffled reactor technology. The center has the capacity to treat more than 250,000 gallons of sewage a year, helping reduce the area’s water-table contamination.

A diagram of the CTC's internal systems, including water treatment and filtration
A diagram of the CTC's metal facade

The building was designed to accommodate one hundred patients at a time. Large fans, high ceilings, and a perforated facade help to move air through the facility. The eight thousand apertures were bent by hand, but digitally designed and evaluated to be optimized for daylighting, ventilation, and privacy. Because of the need for routine sterilization, all materials were chosen for their durability and infection-resistant properties.

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior Nighttime View of Port-au-Prince Street and Building Facade

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior Nighttime View of the Cholera Treatment Center with Gatehouse

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Exterior Nighttime View of the Cholera Treatment Center

© Iwan Baan

MASS worked with GHESKIO’s vocational training workshops, hiring and training victims of abuse to fabricate custom furniture for the CTC.

Photo of GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, aerial birds-eye view of the treatment center

© Iwan Baan

Photo of Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center, Photo by Iwan Baan, Aerial View of CTC Building and Surrounding Neighborhood

© Iwan Baan

These purpose-built chairs and cots replaced the army cots that had been repurposed for use in the emergency tents. The bedding fabric of the CTC furniture can be removed during cleaning, allowing them to be safely re-used.

While cholera persists in Haiti today, there has been progress. Due to the temporary nature of and funding for the majority of facilities, GHESKIO’s Cholera Treatment Center is one of the only remaining active facilities, now servicing the majority of the city of Port-au-Prince.