The beauty of Dominica lies only in its natural surroundings. Its built landscape cannot contest and will never be able to. Rivers (three hundred and sixty five), streams, hot springs and pools, waterfalls, and mountainous rain forests are its key natural features. It became evident to me that perhaps this would be a chance to improve upon the built fabric. Had I chosen a site within the interior, more natural, "more healthy", I would have had to encroach upon some microclimates and destroy other habitats and the landscape. The site was now a chance to repair the built landscape and help revitalize the area, thus serving the aims of the thesis better.

Historically, the site had been ‘home’ for about 89 families. After further destruction of their homes and living conditions by Hurricane David in 1979 (150-mph winds), the government relocated the people to another residential district, about 15 minutes walking distance away. With this, the fact that there is no formal outdoor square in the town, and that the site was very near to cultural and political organizations in mind, the program developed had to serve a civic function. Allocating this land to private enterprise would not justify the removal of families. A public housing scheme had been attempted in the area and has so far been halted. Although public housing may meet the ‘public’ need rather than ‘private’, there are still issues to be looked at. Firstly the schemes developed (like the first and many public housing schemes) are hardly affordable by the people whom it was originally intended for; this would just be then the dislocation of poor persons to serve ‘richer’ ones. More importantly, the generating idea- a search for identity through culture- could not be fully explored in a housing program. I did not want to explore modes of living.