Post-Tsunami Boat Piers

NAME: Post-Tsunami Boat Piers
PROJECT LEAD: Purnima McCutcheon, Architecture for Humanity
LOCATION: Lenin Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India
START DATE: June 09, 2006
COST: $2500 USD (Estimated)
BUILDING TYPE: Water Delivery
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT: University of Minnesota
ENGINEERING: Alpha Associates
PROJECT COORDINATOR: LEAD
UNREGISTERED ARCHITECT: Malea Jochim, Rebecca Celis
SITE ARCHITECT: Purnima McCutcheon

I came across this project in open architecture network .....i was browsing through the projects least expecting anything from INDIA but i was amazed to find few.....one of them was by Purnima McCutcheon ( i really got curious who this lady is , so i browsed google for more information on her , but was not able to find much ..)















The river and the neighbouring villages , a skecth


i am copy pasting the exact description of the project from Architecture for humanity . The project involves the building of 2 piers, one on either side of the estaury/river Uppanaru to service the communities, especially the children, of Ambedkar Nagar, Lenin Nagar, Periyar Nagar and Thiagavalli.

The children of these communities attend a government welfare school, Poondiyakuppam High School, in a village 1 km away, across the adjoining river. Presently these children have the option of using a government bus to reach their school. Due to long waits, a circuitous bus ride, and infrequency of the bus service, the children choose to wade across the river with their bags on their heads. Often times at high tide or during inclement weather, the children, especially the littler ones, will toss their books and bags into the river to swim to get back home.

To ensure the safety of the children and to encourage their pursuit of education, the villagers requested a grant from LEAD and Architecture for Humanity to buy a boat and build boat piers on either side of the river. A boat has been provided for by a private donor. The villagers will hire an engineer and monitor the construction with the help of LEAD.

Architecture students of the University of Minnesota took on the project as a design challenge and came up with several interesting solutions. The final selected design by Rebecca Celis and Malea Jochim was then discussed in depth with local consultants. It was then adapted for the site and material availability.