Project Haiti: The William Jefferson Clinton Children's Center
The William Jefferson Clinton Children’s Center is targeting LEED Platinum certification under LEED 2009 and LEED v4. The building is also targeting WELL certification from the International Well Building Institute. The design of the center integrates biomimicry to create a locally attuned and responsive building solution. The building references a culturally significant keystone species, the kapok tree, both in the branching diagrid supports of the balcony system and the low emissivity, heat-shedding characteristics of its second skin. Protecting the building like tree bark, a “boundary layer” shields exterior walkways and vertical surfaces from direct sunlight while allowing for daylighting and natural ventilation. The center is designed to be “net-zero” providing critical independence from the unreliable power grid in Port au Prince.
The kapok is a sacred symbol in Maya mythology.
According to the folklore of Trinidad and Tobago, the Castle of the Devil is a huge kapok growing deep in the forest in which Bazil the demon of death was imprisoned by a carpenter. The carpenter tricked the devil into entering the tree in which he carved seven rooms, one above the other, into the trunk. Folklore claims that Bazil still resides in that tree.