Stunned by the devastation wrought by Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, PAYETTE’s healthcare group, led by the late Sho-Ping Chin, formed a collaborative team of experts to help rebuild the country. A new maternity hospital for a grossly underserved and vulnerable community emerged from a multi-year, design-build relief effort. Located in mountainous terrain 3½ hours west of Port of Prince, the St. Boniface Hospital is the only hospital in the southern peninsula, serving a population of almost 12,000 inhabitants. Since it opened in 2015, the hospital has seen 2,000 inpatient cases, 42,000 emergency room visits and 5,000 births annually.
L’Hôpital de St. Boniface
Maternity Ward and Neonatal Care Unit
Project Statistics
LOCATION
Fond des Blanc, / Haiti
COMPLETED
2015
TOTAL SQUARE FOOTAGE
13,700 SF
PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Outpatient Exam, Postpartum Beds, Pathology Observation Beds, Labor and Delivery, NICU
AWARDS
IN THE NEWS
Team
Sho-Ping Chin, FAIA
Principal-in-Charge
Ching-Hua Ho
Project Designer
The St. Boniface maternal and neonatal health center is a beacon of hope for thousands of women and babies in the southern peninsula, the center of compassionate and loving healthcare for the most vulnerable.
Dr. Inobert Pierre, Director General St. Boniface Hospital Haiti Operations
Back to Basics
The building adopts a modern, “back to basics” approach, utilizing local construction techniques and labor. The design strategy is quite simple: a garden pavilion that opens to a dramatic natural landscape. All the delivery rooms are fully enclosed, with circulation, lobbies and waiting areas covered yet open to the outside environment.
Interweaving Nature
In addition to the maternity and neonatal service, a 5,000 SF training center will provide for community health development and related activities. A therapeutic “Mother’s Garden” will address the psychological and physical needs for patients, families and communities. Paths for strolling weave between planting beds, with shaded sitting areas along the way. The maintenance of the garden, which is full of local plants and vegetables, will be incorporated into the community development program.
Photography copyright Terry Sebastian, courtesy of Build Health International and Erik Benson via St. Boniface Haiti Foundation.
