Bethesda Medical Center

Bethesda Medical Center in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, is a shelter for those who seek physical and mental health. The Bethesda Medical Center offers specialized care for HIV Health, TB Health, HIV/TB co-effected Health, Women’s Health, Prenatal/Postnatal Care, Pediatric Health, Dental Care, Family Medicine, Radiology, Outpatient Surgery, Physiotherapy, and Emergency Care. As one of the only health care providers with these services, the Bethesda Medical Center has outgrown its buildings and campus constructed in 1961. Our team flew to Cap-Haitien, Haiti, to meet with the Bethesda Team. We worked with the doctors and board to build a program for the new site and future of the medical center. New facilities are composed of earth blocks made from the site. The building form harnesses prevailing winds to provide passive ventilation to interior and exterior spaces shaded by the building’s structures and landscaping. In addition, the large interior courtyards provide cool and shelter places for people to stay as seeing the doctors is often an all-day event. To support families who may stay on campus throughout the day, the design team created an outdoor kitchen area with a free community well and an abundance of edible planting throughout the campus. The board and design team envision a new Medical Center known as a place of safety in uncertain times of emergency. Therefore, the building’s systems are off-grid and self-sustaining, while the building’s structural systems use top and bottom bond beans joined by a basketweave system of supporting steel woven through the earth block walls.