Survey Deployment/Fieldwork

Prior to deployment in the field, the studio first tested the KoBo application in New York to gain a better understanding of how the survey functioned and to troubleshoot any potential problems. Beneficially, this short trial demonstrated the time-consuming nature of documenting buildings, highlighted the different tasks each team member could perform, and exposed minor complications regarding question format and wording. After these minor tweaks, the survey was ready to test in the field.

Survey Deployment/Fieldwork. Data was collected through a field survey, conducted in Port-au-Prince over the course of five days (October 5-9, 2015).The study area was subdivided into twenty-four zones of similar dimensions that were distributed among six survey teams. Each survey team was composed of two students from Columbia University and one student from the Université d´État d’HaÏti (Maîtrise en Histoire, Mémoire et Patrimoine), with the additional assistance of several students from HELP and Université Quisqueya throughout the week. Initially, each student group was responsible for surveying four zones.

Team surveying a Gingerbread house adjacent to Maison Dufort on Rue du Travail 2ème.

Study area as divided into 24 fieldwork zones.

Considering the size of the study area and the intensity of the midday heat in Port-auPrince, each day of fieldwork was divided into two three-hour working sessions (8:30–11:30am and 3:00–6:00pm) with a three-and-a-half-hour break in between. During the break, survey teams reconvened at the Université d’État d’Haïti to push data gathered during the morning session. By the end of the week, each group completed thirty hours of fieldwork, totaling 180 hours.

Over the course of the first two days, each team of students exclusively surveyed the Gingerbread houses within its assigned four zones and assessed the current condition of those Gingerbread houses previously surveyed by WMF, ICOMOS, and Quartiers pour Haïti.