As of January 2016, we are glad to introduce you to Starboard Architects. After over 40 years of practice, Joseph Tonetti has retired. Andrew Wright has reorganized the firm as Starboard Architect PC. The firm will continue to provide clients with the creative, thoughtful and skillful service.
To learn more see here.
At a time when architects were still in thrall to blank-slate urban renewal, Ms. Huxtable championed preservation — not because old buildings were quaint, or even necessarily historical landmarks, but because they contributed vitally to the cityscape.
Read more here
We are proud to share some more information about our involvement in this both challenging and rewarding project and GHESKIO Center.
After the devastating earthquake in Haiti (January 2010) and due to increased needs, GHESKIO Clinic, a pioneer in the research and treatment of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Haiti, has enlisted Tonetti Architects (TAA) to design a new facility in an effort of expanding their services; not only treating and consulting the poorest of Port-au-Prince’s slums, but also the inhabitants of the tent cities (refugee camps).
The Center, to be built by Haitians, will provide nutritional guidance to new mothers, and integrate obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, adolescent, family planning and research within a single complex.
We have visited Haiti twice during the past months to discuss the project with the GHESKIO staff. In the process we gained an understanding of local climatic, environmental and social conditions.
Organized around an open air pedestrian street, our design makes use of natural ventilation and the latest technology on earthquakes and hurricanes.
About GHESKIO
Cornell’s GHESKIO (The Haitian Group for the Study of Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunis tic Infections), a nongovernmental research and treatment center, was established in 1982 in Haiti, the WesternHemisphere’s poorest nation and the one with the highest HIV burden. It was the first institution worldwide fighting HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and counseling families of those infected.
The clinic has continued its free medical aid, never closing its door to patients in nearly 30 years, and has quickly expanded its treatment and research to other sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, blood safety and the prevention of congenital syphilis.
Since the earthquake in January 2010, GHESKIO has expanded its services and its outreach to the local communities (inhabitants of slums and tent cities). GHESKIO has been dedicated to the treatment of cholera (250,000 people affected since the outbreak in October 2010), offered humanitarian relief to 7000 refugees, and provided clean drinking water and sanitation to more than 1000,000 people of Port-au-Prince’s slums.
The clinic has rebuilt most of its buildings that were destroyed by the earthquake, hiring unemployed Haitians staying in the organization’s refugee camp to complete reconstruction. Vocational education classes have been started to help prepare adults in the community for employment; recently GHESKIO has opened an elementary school to make free education available to the refugee camp local community.
Numerous organizations, ranging from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to MAC Aids Foundation and Cornell Community, donate money to GHESKIO.
