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Walking past New York City construction sites may soon be a much more pleasant visual experience.

The January 12 earthquake that struck Haiti has galvanized the architecture community to lend its support, but the disaster has particularly resonated among African-American practitioners, some of whom are of Haitian descent.

Like many architects, George Gekas saw the destruction caused by a massive earthquake in Haiti and wondered how he could tap his talents to help. But, as the resident of Mt. Desert Island, Maine, placed phone calls and clicked around the Internet, he realized options for immediate, hands-on action were limited. “It was very frustrating,” he said. “I thought, ‘There’s no time to waste.’” Photo courtesy International Federation of Red Cross "It's just going to take a really long time before people start focusing on construction," says Cameron Sinclair of AFH. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation Who Will Lead

Graph courtesy AIA Despite noting that “the long-awaited recovery seems to be under way,” the AIA's newly released Consensus Construction Forecast offers little reason for optimism in 2010. It does, however, provide hope for 2011. The semi-annual report—compiled from data provided by McGraw-Hill Construction, Global Insight, Portland Cement Association, MoodysEconomy.com, and other sources—predicts that nonresidential construction activity will fall another 13.4 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars this year, which is notably better than the 20 percent drop-off in 2009. In the report, nonresidential construction refers to the commercial, industrial, and institutional sectors. Commercial and industrial are projected to be weaker this

Photo: Eduardo Fierro, BFP Engineers Inc. Collapsed two-, or possibly three-story reinforced concretebuilding in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation Who Will Lead Recovery Effort in Haiti? Haiti Highlights California Quake Risks A/E/C Specialists and Others Rush to Help Haiti Architects Speak About Shoddy Construction Architecture Groups Mobilize to Help Haiti A preliminary damage assessment map for major buildings and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince is now available from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research's Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNITAR/UNOSAT). Sites marked as "No Visual Damage" may have major structural damage not identifiable in the imagery. Damage there

Scramble to save lives and sustain survivors leaves questions unanswered about how recovery will be led. The leaders of the U.S. earthquake response effort in Haiti say they expect it will be “several weeks” before the effort shifts from a first-response life- support mission to planning for recovery, but when it comes, that phase “will involve all the military and civilian subject-matter experts.” Photo © BFP Engineers Inc / Eduardo Fierro Second- and third-floor beam-column joints without shear reinforcement in this five-story building in Haiti failed. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation UN Releases Map Showing Damage in Haiti Haiti

Scramble to save lives and sustain survivors leaves questions unanswered about how recovery will be led. ...hampering the delivery of aid, he noted the U.S. government has been particularly helpful in assisting the Haitian government with restoring and maximizing airport services. “The control tower has been damaged, while the runway was okay. Therefore, the United Nations is very closely coordinating with the U.S. authorities to have a smooth operation, and I am grateful that the United States government has been swiftly and effectively dealing with this in close coordination with the United Nations,” he said. Photo © BFP Engineers Inc

Scramble to save lives and sustain survivors leaves questions unanswered about how recovery will be led. ...Command (NAVFAC) division in Norfolk, Va. It has several contracts in place with private-sector firms to support the Haiti effort if task orders are issued, according to Jim Brantley, division director for public affairs and communications for NAVFAC. Atlantic Contingency Constructors, LLC, Virginia Beach, Va., Fluor Intercontinental Inc., Greenville, S.C., and URS-IAP LLC, Washington, D.C., hold a $1-billion global contingency construction contract with NAVFAC. It includes providing engineering and construction services for disaster recovery. Image © Unosat/Meti&NASA 2009 Density of post-quake bridge, road blockages

Scramble to save lives and sustain survivors leaves questions unanswered about how recovery will be led. ...months. The work of sorting out land tenure and building ownership may be able to begin in about six months but could take as long as five years. Meanwhile, transitional shelters, health clinics, schools, hospitals and community and civic structures will need to start construction within six to nine months, with construction of permanent housing ongoing for one to five years. Image © Unosat/Meti&NASA 2009 Density of post-quake bridge, road blockages in Port-au-prince on Jan. 13, 2010. Related Links: Structural Engineers Survey Devastation UN

Photo courtesy Wikipedia Norval White Architect Norval White, a pioneer of New York City’s preservation movement who parlayed that passion for buildings into a widely read and frequently reprinted book, died on December 26 of a heart attack at his home in Roques, France. He was 83. Educated at M.I.T., Princeton, and the Fontainbleau Schools, White, a native New Yorker, fought unsuccessfully to save the original Pennsylvania Station, a Beaux-Arts creation from McKim, Mead & White that was razed in 1963. White had more luck, however, with the AIA Guide to New York City, a witty and scholarly block-by-block directory