Tony Costello Lecture: A Decade of Humanitarian Work in Haiti

WEDNESDAY | NOV. 17, 2021 | 4:00 PM | in AB 100 and via Zoom

For a link to watch the lecture, email caplectures@bsu.edu. Or join us live in AB 100. We can offer AIA continuing education credit for this lecture. If you would like credit, let us know when you write for the link.

Tony Costello, FAIA, principal of C+A Costello + Associates, is the campus planner and architect for the first five buildings of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Orphanage Campus in Plaine de Nord, Haiti, He will present the inspiring story of how he and his faith-based practice has worked since 2010 to help Fr. Andre Sylvestre overcome numerous obstacles in achieving his dream of establishing a home for the “poorest of the poor“ in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

ATTENDEES WILL LEARN ABOUT:

The award-winning R & D into improving concrete masonry construction in Haiti funded by the National Concrete Masonry Association and carried out by Tony and his students at Ball State following the disastrous earthquake of 2010.
The improvements in concrete and CMU construction incorporated in the first five buildings of the campus which are considered to have established new standards for projects in Haiti.
The incorporation of innovative planning and design standards based on sustainable practices that use simple, improved methods of local construction methods, natural lighting and ventilation concepts as well as resilient structural improvements.
How a faith-based architect and client worked tirelessly to overcome a decade of natural and manmade disasters to earn the first ever-awarded AIA Indiana Architectural Humanitarian Award in 2021.

Tony Costello is Irving Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Architecture in Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning. He retired in May 2005 after 38 years (1967-2005) serving as a full-time faculty member. He was the first faculty member to hold this distinguished professorship which was established in 1991 and remains the only one at CAP. For the past 14 years (2006 – 2020) he has continued to be involved with the Department of Architecture and College of Architecture & Planning where he: annually teaches an externally-funded, elective course focusing on projects in Haiti; gives invited lectures in professional practice and other courses; serves on design juries; participates in a selective number of community-based charrettes; and serves as a consultant to the department’s Professional Advisory Board.

His interest in facilitating students’ commitment to serve the profession while in school and after graduation was the impetus for him being faculty sponsor for the school’s chapter of the AIAS for over 25 years until 2014. In 1999, he and his wife, Carmen, established the Costello Family Fund to Support the AIAS Chapter at Ball State which continues to fund leadership development and participation in AIAS/AIA activities at the state, regional and national levels within the chapter.

Tony is also the founding principal of C+A COSTELLO + ASSOCIATES, a limited-practice, sole-practitioner firm he founded in Muncie in 1976. In his capacity as principal and project designer, his firm undertakes a limited number of projects which allows him to focus on his involvement with pro bono projects in Haiti. Since 2001 these include: three (3) prototype latrines constructed in Plaisance, Haiti, 2001 – 2006; a school / public library for the Haiti Library Foundation on the campus of the St. Vincent de Paul School, Plaisance, constructed in 2013; a campus plan (in association w/ BSU/CAP students) for The Our Lady of Perpetual Help Orphanage (OLPH) Complex near Plaine de Nord (2012); the Residential Complex for OLPH (2013 / First phase occupied in Sept. 2016); a K-6 School (Partially completed and in use in 2018); a Residence for The Sisters of Charity who teach at OLPH (Dedicated and occupied / November 2017); and, a Study Hall / Library (Completed and in use May 2019. Two (2) projects continue in progress – a Medical & Public Health Clinic w/ Guest House above (In construction 2019) and a Chapel (Design Concepts / November 2018).