Projects

Grand Ravine Slum Upgrade
(Architecture for Humanity)
Technical Assistance sub-consultant on the participatory redevelopment plan, providing engineering technical support for environmental risk, hydrology, structural, access, ravines, drainage and basic services. Contributing to participatory charrettes and the final plan, including recommendations for new construction, seismic retrofits, environmental protection and civil and green infrastructure.  View more about the project here.

Hope Institute for Handicapped Children
(Fondation des Enfants d’Haïti)
Collaborated with Sketch Architects to craft a feasibility study of a renovation and expansion of a home for disabled children and young adults.  Project included the construction of a physical therapy room, aquatic therapy pool, and a playground with specialized equipment in addition to a complete WASH project and a solar panel installation.  The final document will be used to raise the money necessary to execute the project.

Nine Schools in Departments Sud, Sud-Est, Nippes, and Grand Anse
(Lizzie Blaisdell, Westwood Consulting LLC)
Structural design of eight buildings, used in combination at nine different school campuses.  Buildings ranged from 80 sq mt to 210 sq mt and were single story reinforced concrete and reinforced CMU structures with wood truss and concrete slab roofs and seismic and hurricane design.

55 Latrines in the North of Haiti
(Merlin International)
Structural evaluation, program evaluation and new design for 55 latrines in northern Haiti; coordinated structural, civil/environmental and architectural design.

Mod’Ayiti
(YCF Group)
Structural design of 200 sq m, two story, reinforced concrete and reinforced CMU structure with reinforced concrete grade beam, wall/column and steel truss roof, seismic and hurricane design.

Gheskio Cholera Treatment Center
(YCF Group)
Structural design of 700 sq m open plan structure with reinforced concrete raft slab, reinforced CMU wall, reinforced concrete column and steel truss roof; seismic and hurricane design.

US Navy Fire Stations
(YCF Group)
Project management, quality control supervision and design coordination for design build of three preengineered metal buildings in Haiti.

CLYF Depot
(YCF Group & CLYF Quincaillerie)
Structural design of 800 sq m warehouse facility north of Port au Prince, reinforced concrete raft slab, wall/column with steel truss roof; seismic and hurricane design.

Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway
West Street Sustainable Stormwater Study (WE Design)
Civil/environmental analysis and design for a green infrastructure concept proposal in Brooklyn, NY with the landscape architect.

Media

Infrastructure delivery in developing countries
IEEE Humanitarian Technology Webinar Series, February 2012

The long-term success of infrastructure projects in developing countries depends on how they are delivered. Matt Sisul, lead structural engineer at YCF Group in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, shares lessons from his experience in carrying out projects that have a lasting impact.

In this presentation in E4C’s Webinar Series, Sisul explains the impact of external interventions and a framework for guiding decisions made during the planning, design, and implementation phases to promote sustainable, local infrastructure service delivery. To illustrate his points, he shares interesting case studies of current projects in Haiti and Kenya.

A look at sustainability from the local perspective, part one
Published in Engineering for Change, September 2010

Rethinking participatory design from a local point of view, keeping in mind that the goal of service delivery is to link projects together through participation in all steps of the project cycle, and ensure the community manages its own level of involvement throughout the process, ideally through a local institution.

Another View on Sustainability: the Local Perspective, part two
Published in Engineering for Change, September 2010

Breaking down decentralization, or the empowerment of local authorities to plan and administer local development, into a series of questions to ask oneself and institutional arrangements to be considered.

Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway: West Street Sustainable Stormwater Study, Winter 2009/2010
West Street Sustainable Stormwater Study Report by Regional Plan Association and Brooklyn Greenway Initiative

When complete, the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway will be a 14-mile safe, landscaped separated route connecting neighbors and neighborhoods to four major parks and over a dozen local open spaces on Brooklyn’s historic waterfront. Separate paths for bicycles and pedestrians will allow cyclists and walkers to commute, exercise, explore, and relax from Newtown Creek to the Shore Parkway. Matt Sisul collaborated on an analysis of the existing conditions of West Street to understand how different stormwater techniques could be applied as well as the development of preliminary designs.

Design Squad
An interview in Episode 207, PBS

Matt Sisul and Wil Cao talk to PBS Kids about their work as structural engineers in both New York, working at Parsons Brinckerhoff, and in Cambodia, building a dam for rural farmers with Engineers without Borders.

Engineers Without Borders – New York: Destination Kenya
Published in NYWEA Clearwaters, Fall 2006

A narrative of the Matt Sisul’s first project with EWB-New York, a water project in Usalama, Kenya.