ABSTRACT
Built in the early XIX Century under the reign of King Christophe, just after the freedom of Haiti from slavery, the Sans-Soucis site – mainly a Palace and outbuilding among the National Historic Parc (Site Sans Soucis, Citadelle Laferrière, Ramier) was damaged in 1842 by a major seismic event. In order to preserve the site that remains a pearl in the country, ISPAN (Haiti Government) and UNESCO started many operations of securing and protecting between 1979 and 1990, but the site continues to deteriorate and remains highly vulnerable. In order to preserve the patrimony and to develop tourism, the Haitian Government launched a project to preserve patrimony and help touristic sector (PAST project). For this project, a designated private design consortium has to reinforce, restore, interpret and highlight the historic monuments in the Sans-Soucis site.
This paper discusses the geotechnical issues and complexity of the case and the project that is still in progress. Among the main subjects, the paper will present the geological understanding of the site done from abroad (pandemic situation with no-displacement on site and few monitoring), an important seismic hazard context (masonry wall and huge retaining masonry wall), a mountain site with potential instable slopes and geological anomaly. We will also discuss the priorities of the project modified during the mission because the site continues to be damaged (roof fire of the chapel's site), the solutions that must be face to the material reality of the country…and the specificity of the mission that needs to preserve but also prepare for tourism.
Finally, the paper deals with the approach of this complex project for geotechnical subjects and the need to go out of the comfort zone of well-known design and include other disciplines (history, archeology, local social culture…). The main goals remain to find solutions that fit for the monument and its integrity but also for the local population who needs to appropriate their history and be involved in determining the way it is restored.
