Self Sufficient Academy for Haiti is a Geometric Grid of Greenery Topped Plateaus

The FPM GAP Academy located outside of Port au Prince, Haiti will not be any ordinary school. Totally <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/zero-energy">off-grid</a> and powered with wind turbines, photovoltaics and biofuel, the academy will be a model of self-sufficiency. Massachusetts-based <a href="http://www.ikstudio.com/" target="_blank">I|K Studio</a> has created a masterplan for a 50 hectare community that rises about 90 meters in elevation above the ocean. Lush, organic and independent, the school provides space for the students and faculty to live and learn in visually striking geometric-shaped buildings.

Set on a rural site in Lafiteau, Haiti to the north of Port au Prince, the FPM GAP Academy is an distributed energy-networked campus that is a "model of offset power production independent from a central utility."

The learning center will rely on power generated from solar and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/wind-energy">wind harvesting</a>, water retention (latent energy), and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/biofuels">biofuels</a> grown in orchards and ponds.

The renewable energy systems are distributed appropriately according to their optimum locations on the site with regards to orientation and elevation.

Ascending plateaus divide the campus into housing, academic buildings, clinics, farmland and other energy production areas with the goal of this academy serving as an incubator for ideas.

The academy is located on a rural site of approximately 50 acres to the north of Port au Prince.

The academy will provide <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/affordable-housing">low-cost housing</a> for both students and faculty and also provide public markets and clinics.

Masterplan of the academy site.

Material transitions for the buildings to the landscape.

Overall, I|K Studio's vision for FPM Gap Academy is to create a self-sufficient complex by harvesting power from <a href="http://inhabitat.com/category/energy">renewable energy</a> and training students so that the sustainable model can be transplanted to other projects.