December 2011
7 posts
November 2011
3 posts
Doug
I met Doug the other day. I shared food with him. We talked about places that he likes to eat in Ann Arbor and I listened intently. It was chilly that day and both of us were bundled tight as we could against the wind. We spoke like civilized people and I looked him in the eye… him sitting, me standing. He told me that my name reminded him of an old movie. Isn’t Hannah a mermaid in that kid’s...
October 2011
4 posts
Project H →
I’m heading to a lecture by Emily Pilloton tomorrow to help inform my thinking. I want to flesh out real examples of how design + social justice = community change. Project H is about going to the people, as the non-profit moved from Cali to NC in order to seek out a population that needed their work. Project H is about designing WITH, not FOR — calling the designer into an engaged...
Design Studio for Social Innovation →
manifestdestinydt:
Here is a design-focussed group seeking to “hack” communities by implementing design strategies for solutions to social issues. Their design intervention connects & facilitates community. Like TN said about our mapping: “How does our architecture alter the map?” This is one response. Check it!
-hhm
August 2011
6 posts
Reflections
I came here to South America seeking to learn. I wanted to learn what it means to be an architect, a creative thinker, a problem solver. I aimed to find out how social justice can have a place in a world moving toward completely intertwined globalization. I found myself in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where my questions were met not with answers, but with potent discussion of international economics,...
students protest for educational reform →
Life on the street // I was out on the streets last night in the aftermath of the manifestations. We saw students beating on pots and chanting, as well as flares on the streets from the blockades. We quickly hurried into a small cafe for dinner and wine… though where we were was not particularly dangerous, as the majority of the demonstration was blockading and nonviolent. (We did have to...
social architecture in santiago →
I’m taking a side trip from my work in Bolivia and headed to work in the architecture firm ELEMENTAL in Santiago, Chile. They are most famous for the social architecture housing project in Iquique where they built half houses constructed with public funds, leaving room for residents to add their own additions as they are able. This response to the Chilean public housing demand has been...
July 2011
11 posts
WORK TIME!
For most of my blogging, I have focussed on the events of adventure, exploration, and newness. Less of the writing has dealt with the work I’m doing here or my thoughts associated. In reality this has been where the majority of my time has been spent and is really the given reason for me being here at all…
A few weeks ago I submitted my grant proposal for my Gota a Gota project. I...
“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, both now...”
– I was reminded of this verse a friend sent me recently as I was driving home today from work in the Zona Sud …. Cochabamba is entirely surrounded by mountains and the glistening evening clouds over the snowy peaks simply took my breath away. Surely we have a God who is good, present,...
Chorizo Party!
We heard the words chorizo and festival in the same sentence and realized we had to go… an hour trufi ride from Cochabamba to beautiful colonial pueblo Tarata. The city was full of people celebrating the local grub and dancing in the streets.
We had our full of the chorizo, chori-pan (chorizo burger), freshly made cinnamon icecream, and the “nectar de Tarata”, an alcoholic corn drink flavored...
Recipe for Cuñape & Happy Api
Life in this Bolivian household has produced constant warmth in my heart and often a side stitch from laughter. I’m so incredibly fond of all of them and I think the feeling is mutual. I come home each evening late from work and am welcomed to the kitchen table with the warm corn drink api and family stories of long ago. I had anticipated reading much during this summer, but instead I’m taking in...
Toro Toro: Land Before Time
This past weekend was the mid-session break for all twelve FSD interns and we took a long weekend to reflect on our work so far, to take a rest, and to explore the national park, Toro Toro… Although we really are here to work and learn about the intersection of our career path + development work, the experience of traveling only colors in more of the final image. And what a masterpiece we...
AKVO - See it happen →
Akvo creates open source web and mobile software, and builds networks of skilled partners that can change the way development aid is allocated and reported.
Check it!
June 2011
16 posts
THE PROJECT
GOTA A GOTA // Grant Proposal Abstract
Water shortage is a chronic issue in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The infamous Cochabamba Water Revolt of 2000 highlighted the heavy political baggage that contaminates each drop of water consumed in the Cochabamba valley. Strikes and road blockades plagued the city, climaxing with the death of a teenage boy, whose protest against the privatization of municipal water...
La Chula Pelirroja
My padre tells me that he lives with two women. I have now met them both. One is his beloved wife, my madre, who I also adore. The other is his “Chula”(an indigenous woman from Bolivia who wears her hair in two long braids down her back and holds her babies on her back with the colorful striped cloth tapestry.) This Chula lives outside Cochabamba in “el campo” and beyond that, she’s a redhead....
Orange Soda
I work alongside another architect at Pro Habitat. His name is Jorge and he loves listening to Incan folk music. He works a half-day in the Pro Habitat office as an architect on top of managing his taxi trufi business. He is good at his job because he is good with people: talking, listening, humbling himself to hear where they are coming from. I’m learning a lot from Jorge, about the tectonics of...
World Habitat Awards: Fundación Pro Habitat →
The organization that I am partnering with here in Cochabamba was recognized by the World Habitat Awards in 2009. The project desciption and information attached provides a clear image of the work of Pro Habitat, an intersection between the world of architecture and development. I encourage you to take a peek!
Life on the street: BLOQUEO!
Life in Cochabamba is dynamic. The city itself is a strange mixture of traditional and modern, indigenous and Colonial. Coming home from work yesterday an elderly Chola (the traditionally-clad indigenous women with the long black braids and pleated skirts) was squatting and relieving herself on the sidewalk across from my front door. After a while such occurrences don’t seem so odd and the...
Sopa de Brujas
I’m leaning against the side of the small pool in the back garden of the house as I write this, my belly full of our Bolivian four-course lunch. Taking in the sun outside on a Sunday afternoon is about the speed of most of the city during the weekend. I can hear inside the clanking of plates of my madre, washing the lunch dishes. She and my hermano are laughing and taking back and forth as he...
Mercado La Cancha
La Cancha is spread across city blocks in a region of the city designated to the commercial ventures of vendors. A large majority of those selling the goods are ex-miners, who immigrated to the urban periphery of Cochabamba looking for work. This large emigration from rural to urban has grown the city of Cochabamba to include vast numbers of semi-illegal squatters, expanding the city to the south....
Puyehue Volcano Erupts in Chile →
Front page news today in Los Tiempos shows images of airplanes covered in the volcanic ash and unable to fly.
Humala Wins Presidency in Peru ... →
Ollanta Humala wins presidency in Peru with questionable credentials and political know-how, promoting new economic model for Peruvian markets.
Life as a Cochabambino
I am now settling into my homestay with my new family. The accommodations are quite luxurious and the family is incredibly welcoming to a “gringa” like me. As is common in much of the world, we live with several generations of relatives. My “parents” are in their sixties, and both retired architects. (How extraordinarily fabulous!) My “father” was an architect professor at the Universidad Mayor de...
Introduction to Cochabamba
Cochabamba, Bolivia // 31 Mayo 2011
Estoy aquí al final!
I look up around me through the criss-crossing telephone lines above me toward the clear bright blue sky and from any point in the city sprawl can view the looming mountains encircling Cochabamba. The Andes mountains create a complete circle around the city, taking up more than half the view of the skyline. Below the mountain crags is the...
May 2011
4 posts
