Haiti Earthquake Response
Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 2011
The 1891 Iron Market – perhaps Haiti’s most important public gathering place – was severely damaged by fire in 2008 and in 2010 suffered the devastating effects of the earthquake that affected 3 million people in Haiti and killed many thousands of Port-au-Prince’s citizens. John McAslan + Partners led a multi-disciplinary team including hundreds of local artisans in this restoration project, which proved an extreme test of design, research, materials sourcing and logistics. Key historic building details were restored where possible with new elements engineered by Alan Baxter to meet current seismic requirements. The Iron Market was reopened by President Bill Clinton exactly one year after the earthquake, enabling the Market’s 1,000 vendors to be re-employed.
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‘The restored Iron Market is a valuable mark of Haiti’s progress on the road to recovery.’
President Bill Clinton
