Architecture for Humanity responds to Haiti quake

Massive Quake Causes Widespread Destruction

On January 12th around 4.50pm local time a powerful 7.0 earthquake hit the impoverished nation of Haiti.This was followed more than 30 strong aftershocks. There has been widespread major damage and a loss of life estimated to be in the tens of thousands. We had been set to send a design team to Haiti this month to partner with local NGO Yele Haiti but have put this on hold until we can get a full assessment of the situation. We've connected with both Yele and our close friends at AIDG (Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group). We have made a full commitment to support both their efforts in the long term rebuilding of affected areas. We have launched an appeal for supplying construction and design professionals and supporting earthquake resistant housing and community structures.. If you care about building back better, donate today. Cheers, Cameron Sinclair Executive Director, Architecture for Humanity 848 Folsom Street, Suite 201, San Francisco, CA 94107-1173 W: 415 963 3511 | M: 646 765 0906 | cameron@architectureforhumanity.org Donate Now to Support Rebuilding > Updates: All updates will be via this link. Twitter: I've been doing updates at www.twitter.com/casinclair - If you cannot contribute and want to support our appeal, please link to our site with your social network accounts and/or blogs. Volunteering: In a few months we will organize a volunteer build for Yele but for now we request that you do not 'go to Haiti' unless you are a member of emergency services. We will be doing transitional and long term reconstruction, much like our work after Hurricane Katrina. Chapters: The San Juan Chapter will be the chapter lead and we will coordinate efforts with them. Donate by mail: Architecture for Humanity 848 Folsom Street, Suite 201 San Francisco, CA 94107 Recent Images New York Times Slideshow Vancouver Sun Images Recent Haiti Trip Report Read the Huffington Post piece written about our trip in August 2009 NB. We will not be doing emergency services. Our role is to help house those in the long term and to rebuild safer and stronger buildings.

cameron@architectureforhumanity.org • Architecture for Humanity

Roadtrip (11)! - Carnegie Mellon (Spring 2010)

The Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture has posted their Spring 2010 Lecture Series. More Roadtrip fun for those with the gas money!

Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture Lecture Series, Spring 2010:

All lectures take place at the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh and are free and open to the public. The Spring 2010 lecture series is cosponsored by the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art.


CECIL BALMOND Ove Arup, London
3:30 PM Saturday 06 February 2010
reception at Forum Gallery exhibition following lecture

LARS SPUYBROEK NOX, Rotterdam
‘The Radical Picturesque'
6:30 PM Monday 08 February 2010
cosponsored by Epic Metals

PABLO GARCIA POINT/ CMU
‘Supravision'
6:30 PM Monday 15 February 2010
Lucian and Rita Caste Chair in Architecture and Urban Design

LA DALLMAN Grace La and James Dallman, Milwaukee
‘Post Industrial Narratives'
6:30 PM Monday 22 February 2010
exhibition opening following lecture

BEN ARANDA Aranda\Lasch, New York
‘Recent Work'
6:30 PM Monday 29 March 2010
William Finglass Lecture

ANDREW FREEAR Rural Studio, Auburn University
‘Education of a Citizen Architect'
6:30 PM Monday 05 April 2010
Hans Vetter Memorial Lecture

THOM MAYNE Morphosis, Los Angeles
‘W.I.P. #176 Work in Progress'
6:30 PMMonday 19 April 2010
Henry Hornbostel Lecture


Please also note:
wats:ON? Festival
17- 20 March 2010

including installation of solid light film by Anthony McCall,
screening of select films by Ernie Gehr,
Machinema film festival, Arcade Night and more....
The Wats:On? festival is sponsored by the Jill Watson Family Foundation;
Location of events TBA.

postcard

poster

Celebrating what we do, it shouldn't be that hard, really.

While perusing one of the online blogs I frequent daily (A daily dose of architecture) I realized that as the author (John Hill) is currently putting together a book on new architecture in New York he had stumbled across an occurrence that made me pause for a variety of reasons. While compiling a list of projects Mr. Hill had asked for his reader's to help out and suggest a few projects. The interesting part wasn't that quite a few projects unknown to Hill were suggested by his readers instead what was interesting was that it was incredibly exciting to see a wide variety of newer projects, ones that may not have gotten much press. To be fair quite a few smaller projects allow designers to take some chances with form or material or program layout, etc. and don't get the exposure or recognition they really deserve.

And here is where I wonder about local application.

Now, by no means do I profess to know everything about what is going on in Cleveland when it comes to architecture. In all honestly I wax and wane between paying attention and wanting to ignore the whole situation. I wouldn't at all mind though knowing exactly what was built or renovated in the last year just to see if anything interesting had indeed occurred.

I don't think I would be the only person interested in the information. I would even suggest that if a list was provided or created that there would be enough archi-nerds to take photos and post them online and maybe even offer us some critical non-snarky commentary, which, in my opinion, would be rather amazing.

So, what would be the best way to go about this? One option is asking the City of Cleveland Building Department for a list of projects that filed for Occupancy Permit and then sort out the smaller residential projects, etc. to get the list down to an interesting and manageable sort.

The other option would be to ask all the firms in Cleveland to help list all their recent projects. This is a little unfair because the projects would undoubtedly undergo some sort of scrutiny to make sure they reflected a specific image for the firm instead of seeing and learning about all the projects that make up the fabric of the city.

Of course perhaps this is already being done and I am completely unaware of it. If that is the case I hope some nice person will inform me. I have seen older blogs that had started and then stopped for various reasons but nothing recent.

Celebrating local architecture should be paramount to informing the public about what hiring an architect adds to a project (in quality, not cost) and can be best done by showing the wide variety of projects (types, styles, etc.) that are being done locally. Attempting to intelligently converse about these projects may not only inspire practicing architects but perhaps those looking towards a new career path. Perhaps discussions of this sort could even help further the disparate but all slightly connected branches of design and create a cognitive culture within the city. I know this is all waxing poetic but lets be honest, the city would be more creative seeming and interesting if this were to take shape, or form, or exist. There are so many interesting ways of solving problems (something designers are specifically trained for in various ways) that existing in an insular self-referential fashion does nothing for one's own experience or knowledge let along for creating the best product/project solution possible.

Sigh, dare to dream, eh?

Roadtrip (10)! - the Ohio State University

Ohio State University's Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture has posted their Winter/Spring 2010 Lecture series. What better way to spend a dark evening then inside some lecture hall learning about ideas and what not? Seriously, going to lectures has to be infinitely more interesting than catching up on repeats of Cougar Town.

KSA Lecture Series: Winter + Spring 2010
Economy

All lectures are free and open to the public.
Unless noted, all lectures will be held at the Knowlton Hall Auditorium (KN 250) at 5:30 PM.

Design Ecologies Book Launch Event

Wednesday, January 6
Special Event
Speakers: Lisa Tilder, Beth Blostein, Jane Amidon, Scott Colman, Stephen Turk

Geoffrey Thun

Wednesday, January 13
Associate Professor, University of Michigan

Heather Roberge

Wednesday, January 20
Murmur

Charisma Acey

Wednesday, January 27
Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, KSA

Nina Rapport

Wednesday, February 3
Yale University
(co-sponsored with the Engineering Education Innovation Center and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science)

Jesse Reiser

Wednesday, February 10
Reiser + Umemoto, 2009-2010 Herbert Baumer Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture

Michael Speaks

Wednesday, February 24
Dean, University of Kentucky, College of Design

Beatriz Colomina

Wednesday, March 31
Princeton University
(co-sponsored with the Film Studies Program)

Julia Christensen

Wednesday, April 7
Assistant Professor, Oberlin College

Chris Reed

Wednesday, April 14
StoSS, 2009-2010 Herb and Dee Dee Glimcher Distinguished Visiting Professorship Lecture

Chris Lukinbeal

Wednesday, April 21
Arizona State University
(co-sponsored with the Film Studies Program)

Sarah Cowles

Wednesday, April 28
Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, KSA

Ronald Coan

Wednesday, May 19
Council for Community Economic Research

Brian Holland

Wednesday, May 26
2009-2010 LeFevre Fellow, KSA

About the KSA Lecture Series

As part of the Knowlton School's commitment to bringing the highest level of design thinking to its students and the community at large, the KSA lecture series invites prominent researchers and practitioners of architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning to present their work in a variety of areas. These lectures offer technical, cultural and theoretical understanding of the contemporary built environment and represent the contemporary and future state of the art in design thinking.