Architecture by Moonlight

Paul E. Fallon

When a natural disaster strikes, one imposing obstacle always impedes recovery: the need to rebuild. Not just homes, schools, and other buildings but also lives must be reconstructed. Yet amid the horror there is also the opportunity to build back better, to create more resilient buildings and deeper human connections.After Haiti's 2010 earthquake, architect Paul E. Fallon wanted to help rebuild the magic island he had visited the previous summer. Over the next three years, he made seventeen trips to design and supervise construction of an orphanage and a school in Grand Goave. In the process, he confronted the challenges of building in a country with sparse materials and with laborers predisposed toward magic over physics. Architecture by Moonlight is about much more than construction, however. Readers will also experience the many relationships Fallon developed as he balanced the...