Day Six (Thursday) The Charrette actually began on Thursday when we rolled into Tubas to meet with the engineers and introduce ourselves, the charrette process, and the project, before heading to Al Aqaba for a quick tour and introductions.  Friday, we set up the studio and met about different preparatory issues.  So, we’ve engaged in [...]

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Day Five (Wednesday) I’m working alone on the Village Plan as both my “assistants” traveled for other missions: Souzan to investigate the potential for Palestinian housing funds to help close a possible, immediate funding gap, and to explore a collaboration to help provide many more houses in Al Aqaba; and Dilan, who’s accompanying Donna to [...]

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Day Four (Tuesday) We addressed five categories of intervention or assistance, distilled today at our team meeting: 1. Financing: for the first three, and then subsequent homes, and financial help for two with unfinished homes using Rebuilding Alliance and Al Aqaba’s self-created bank that they were forced to invent after the IMF and World Bank [...]

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Day Three (Monday) Spent the first part of the day with the crew critiquing the preliminary house designs (everyone fancies themselves an architectural critic), then trying to gather the base maps (aerial, AutoCAD file, an early plan from 2000), and preparing for contingencies (Google Earth map, etc,). Then off to meet with the manager of [...]

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Day Two (Sunday) Overcast start to the day – humidity boiled away by the sun, by 10 AM. Another lengthy day – we eat lunch at 3 and dinner around 10 PM so bedtime is midnight or later. Today a meeting with the engineers who work in Tubas, about 5K to the west, about the [...]

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Day One (Saturday) The birds seem to be holding a chirping contest sitting on the wire outside the classroom that’s our charrette studio. Full day after meeting with the three families who gratefully accept a simple house with a few cultural requests (privacy at the entry in case the woman of the house is not [...]

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Sitting in the common room – our dormitory – about 4:30 AM under a neon light because I couldn’t sleep with skinny, ignored dogs barking all night, then call to prayers starting at about 4:15 and hot already at least to a Californian! One of my roommates is an architect from Ramallah, successful but also [...]

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The National Charrette Institute is participating in a charrette for Rebuilding a Future in Palestine, a project sponsored by the Rebuilding Alliance. This week, architects, engineers, designers, filmmakers and diplomats are all converging on the West Bank Palestinian Village of Al Aqaba to work with villagers on a charrette to design their future homes, even though 90% of [...]

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Each year proves special for the NCI training at Harvard. Last week’s class came from distant points including China, Northern Canada and Saudi Arabia, plus the all corners of the U.S. including Hawaii. Despite the diversity of profession and location a common theme emerged: how to create sustainable plans through collaboration in this age of [...]

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Come to beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia this September and gain both NCI certificates. This is the last opportunity to take both the NCI Charrette System™ and Charrette Management and Facilitation™ certificate trainings this year. The courses will be held at TransLink headquarters with easy access to vibrant downtown Vancouver. **Don’t miss out on early registration [...]

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