Segundo Cardona, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and his team bagged the first place in a competition for rebuilding the Cathedral of Our Lady Of the Assumption, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that was destroyed in an earthquake in 2010.
The Archbishop of Port-au-Prince; Mgr. Guyre Poulard launched the competition in the fall of 2012, inviting architects to submit plans for rebuilding the cathedral. After scrutinizing 30 finalists, the winning design was declared earlier this month.
The competition was held jointly by Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince and Faith and Form Magazine and hosted by the University of Miami School of Architecture. All the 30 designs are on display at the school.
A total of 134 designs had been submitted to the panel of jury. The six-member panel was headed by the Dean of the university, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The panel also included former tourism minister of Haiti, Michael Crosbie.
The main requirements for designing the cathedral were:
1. Preserving the remains of dilapidated structure and using it to build the new cathedral
2. Developing a new civic space which can be used for non-religious activities
3. Developing a plan that is sensitive to the rituals of the cathedral.
4. Creating a space of remembrance for the 2010 earthquake tragedy and its victims.
Check out the complete winning plan of the cathedral at the official website.
The earthquake that hit the capital city of Haiti affected millions of lives. Around 250,000 residential and 300,000 commercial buildings were destroyed in the natural disaster.