Iron Market Haiti, Port-au-Prince Project, Caribbean hall building, Earthquake design news

Iron Market Haiti: Port-au-Prince Building

Port-au-Prince Building, Caribbean design by John McAslan & Partners, London, UK

19 May 2011

Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Architect: John McAslan & Partners

image : Allison Shelley

Iron Market Haiti

When the Haiti earthquake mangled Port-au-Prince’s Iron Market, it destroyed a symbol of the nation. Built in France and bound for Cairo to serve as a railway station, the vagaries of history, tides or captains led it to end up here, where it served as a perfectly good market hall until ravaged first by fire in 2008 and then by earthquake.

image : Hufton & Crow

Working on a pro-bono basis the architects led an international multi-disciplinary team working with all-local craftsmen to salvage what they could of the original twisted structure and other materials and painstakingly reconstruct the rest.

image : TIME magazine

Funded by Irish billionaire, Denis O’Brien, and re-opened by former US President, Bill Clinton, the Iron Market is now fully functioning with 700 stall holders and forms the cornerstone of a new cultural hub for the city.

image : Hufton & Crow

Iron Market Haiti – Building Information

Location: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Architect: John McAslan & Partners
Client: Denis O’Brien
Contractor: ISPAN, Haiti
Contract Value: confidential
Date of completion: Jan 2011
Gross internal area: 4,645 sqm

image : Allison Shelley