ARTICLE | PRO BONO / NON-PROFIT WORK
IN REMEMBRANCE OF SHO-PING CHIN, FAIA
L’HÔPITAL DE ST. BONIFACE, MATERNITY WARD & NEONATAL CARE UNIT BY KAREN ROBICHAUD
Karen Robichaud Robichaud is Director of Creative Engagement at Payette. She joined Payette in 2012 as a graphic designer and has since led several communications initiatives from the ground up for the firm. From the outset, Karen established Payette as a leader among other architecture firms with its social media strategy, leveraging many voices across the firm. Karen is a member of the AIA COTE Communications Task Force and a volunteer for Equity. She is an active member of the BSA and chairs its Equity Roundtable.
The maternity ward for St. Boniface Hospital, a project led by former Payette Principal Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA, is an addition to the only hospital in the southern peninsula of Haiti. Located in mountainous terrain 3.5 hours west of Port-au-Prince, the hospital serves a population of almost 12,000. Since it opened in 2015, the hospital has handled 2,000 inpatient cases, 42,000 emergency-room visits, and 5,000 births annually. The design strategy is quite simple: a garden pavilion that opens to a dramatic natural landscape. All the delivery rooms are fully enclosed, with circulation, lobbies, and waiting areas covered yet open to the ambient environment. Utilizing local construction techniques and labor, the building is modern but reflects a “back to basics” perspective. Sho-Ping, working closely with Ching-Hua Ho, an associate principal at Payette, led the firm’s efforts on this project, taking trips to Haiti to understand the site and local resources. In 2013, Sho-Ping wrote about a visit: “Spending the few days at Fond-desBlancs prior to embarking on design was vital. In addition to getting familiarized with the terrain, culture, and work habits, the eyeopener for me was the prevailing feeling of inaccessibility. Location, transportation, resources, technology infrastructure, and skill sets are some prime examples. Based on my initial observations, local sourcing has become such a cliché in the States, but in Haiti, it is almost the only alternative.” Sho-Ping believed that great architecture can be achieved in each project regardless of program, scope, or mission, and in no place is this better demonstrated than her commitment to bringing stateof-the-art health care to Haiti. Tragically, Sho-Ping succumbed to cancer in 2015, not long after the new wing opened. In addition to the maternity ward and neonatal care unit, our team designed a mother’s garden for the patients and their families, meant to meet their psychological and physical needs.
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CONNECTION
THE ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN JOURNAL OF THE YOUNG ARCHITECTS FORUM
Timothy Cooke, an emerging architect now with LEVER in Portland, Ore., contributed to the garden’s design. “I was excited about working on a project that would have such a strong positive influence on the local community of Fond-des-Blancs. I was impressed by the mission of the hospital and its ability to serve such a large community. Additionally, working on the project gave me a greater appreciation of the value of connecting indoor and outdoor space. I learned that simple design elements can have a big impact on a user's experience of a project.” Though our work on the maternity ward has concluded, we stayed in touch with St. Boniface Hospital and most recently heard from Dr. Inobert Pierre, the director general of operations: “The St. Boniface maternal and neonatal health center is a beacon of hope for thousands of women and babies in the southern peninsula, the center of compassionate and loving health care for the most vulnerable." It is our sincere hope that this project continues to have a lasting impact for its community. To honor Sho-Ping’s memory and her deep commitment to the advancement of women in the profession, Payette initiated the Payette Sho-Ping Chin Memorial Academic Scholarship through the AIA to assist and honor female architecture students. It is the first AIA scholarship named after a female architect exclusively for a woman pursuing a career in architecture. Applications open in the fall. ■