Rosie’s point of view

I recently attended a very interesting RSA talk on ‘sustainability as a matter of survival’, by the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, Cameron Sinclair. Architecture for Humanity is a highly acclaimed non-profit that cleverly links the services and expertise of the design, architecture and construction industries, with both humanitarian organisations and communities round the world. In this highly collaborative approach, all stakeholders are involved in a design process that seeks to create sustainable futures for disadvantaged communities. Architecture for Humanity has been particularly successful post-natural disasters, such as the tsunami and hurricane Katrina.

Cameron made the important point sustainability was a matter of survival for 90% of people round the world, and not about being trendy or installing a solar panel. As Uscreates is doing more work in the sustainability arena, I found this particularly interesting, but I have to confess to being left with a slightly sour taste in my mouth when the session began to over run, and he just could not stop talking. I like to think I was just hungry(!), but I think it was a bit deeper than this.

Cameron has become a sort of humanitarian ‘celebrity’ and happily alluded to phone calls from Oprah, as well as other unnamed celebrities (Brangelina possibly, he had done much in New Orleans), dealings with the Obama administration, challenging Madonna on her own humanitarianism, and a whole host of awards the organisation had won.

On checking the (somewhat ego-centric!) ‘Where’s Cameron’ section of the Architecture for Humanity website, you can keep abreast of exactly where he’ll be ‘talking’ next if you want to; in the last month alone he’s flown to Caracas, Washington, LA, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London and Doha, not to run projects but to ‘talk’. I know it’s a cheap dig to pull the flying card, but isn’t it a but rich to be flying all round the world telling everyone sustainability is about ‘survival’, not yaks wool jumpers, whilst regularly committing the worst sustainability offense yourself?! It is the 10-year anniversary of his non-profit, and he’s achieved some great things, but I’m just not sure sustainability, celebrity, ego and flying will ever sit comfortably alongside each other in my mind.

This is something Uscreates will be sure to be mindful of when attempting to change the behaviours of others, by, in a similar vein to other recent points of view, practicing what we preach!

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En el pasado encuentro en Madrid del Tour mundial Red Bull X-Fighters, el piloto australiano Cameron Sinclair tubo un grave accidente al intentar realizar un doble back flip.

De momento el piloto evoluciona de sus lesiones y se encuentra ingresado en la UCI del hospital Gregorio Marañon de Madrid.

La verdad es que duele solo de verlo.

“La sociedad está llena de un violento deseo de algo que quizás obtenga o quizás no. Todo radica en eso; todo depende del esfuerzo realizado y de la atención prestada a estos síntomas alarmantes. Arquitectura o Revolución. La Revolución puede evitarse” Le Corbusier

Esta frase encabeza el espíritu de la web [openarchitecturenetwork] una iniciativa del arquitecto Cameron Sinclair [web] que pretende generar una base de datos con proyectos de arquitectura bajo licencias Creative Commons. La idea es crear una red de arquitectos, científicos, diseñadores, industriales,etc capaces de generar diseños que puedan distribuirse libremente para los más necesitados. El ganador del TEDPrize en 2006, gracias a su web architectureforhumanity recupera uno de los valores más significativos de la profesión, diseñar para la gente. En lugar de generar pequeñas joyitas de egos individuales para las grandes fortunas ha creado un lugar para almacenar y extender los diseños que ayudarán a la humanidad. Una iniciativa admirable que da pistas sobre la arquitectura del futuro, más humana y colectiva.

Esta es la charla que dio en su momento sobre esta red de arquitectura abierta. También puedes ojear su libro, “design like you give a damn“

Acabo de ver este video en TED y me abrió la mente. Cameron Sinclair y su grupo de profesionales están haciendo algo que no me imaginaba que ya estubiese en proceso. La arquitectura con una connotación social real, sin pretenciones, sin un fin económico ni de reconocimiento. Prototipos y abergues, todos funcionando y todos sustentables, diseñados gracias a una red de gente que comparte ideas y las pone a prueba.

Diseños open source, que significa que la gente puede recontruir las obras con sus propias herramientas, sin tener que pagar por derechos de autor. Realmente es una iniciativa excelente. Y el deseo que expresa al final de la conferencia me parece ya no algo utópico, sino algo necesario y real. VEAN EL VIDEO!

Francesco Borromini Rome S. Ivo della Sapienza interior-dome

Alternative title: The Age of Arrogance

Just came back from the ‘Ethics in Architecture: The Corbusian legacy‘ at the Barbican Hall. Just a few notes/bits and pieces  from what was said (apologies if what I write does not match exactly the words of the speakers, I will try to find some audio/video material soon):

Cameron Sinclair: “Ethics is aesthetics.”/”Asking from Zaha Hadid to talk about ethics in architecture is like asking from Robert Mugabe to talk about human rights.”

Winy Maas: “I’d love to live in a manifest!”

Charles Jencks: “I like the multiplicity of positions we have today, you didn’t have that with modernism.”/”Koolhaas morphing to Herzog morphing to Zidane: all unhappy men.”

Sean Griffiths: “Then again, arrogance is not necessarily a bad thing.” (Think Borromini.)

The Zaha Hadid understudy, Fabian Hecker wore a nice suit.

Yeah, “no conclusion was reached” but I could visualize Jencks and Maas engaging on this endless discussion on whether architecture is a political act while sitting on an active volcano. Move people move!

And thanks Cameron. If only for being there and for showing actual architecture work.

And an excellent article here: The Architect’s Dilemma: The Architecture of Excess vs. an Architecture of Relevance

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

An update: Apparently, websites and the press responded quickly to Sinclair’s polemic language so you can find an analytical review of the debate via Treehugger: Cameron Sinclair Lights Fuse Under Zaha Hadid Architects at The Barbican Debate.

The article ends with the question:

Why Fabian Hecker couldn’t have defended his office with the ‘Bilbao effect’ argument and the role that iconic architecture has to play in city regeneration I don’t know.

For some reason I still have on mind not only the Age of Stupid archivist’s musing at the end of the film:

Maybe we weren’t sure if we were worth saving?

but also the Red Army Colonel Kotov, the Stalin-like moustached hero of National Theatre’s recent production Burnt by the Sun, asking his ex-bourgeois in-laws who sip their tea reminiscent of their pre-revolution times of easy living, Puccini and biscuits:

If this life meant so much to you, why didn’t you do anything to defend it?

So God save the Borrominis and Puccinis and Hadids of this world, if only because they cannot defend themselves. And God save tea and biscuits too. After all, isn’t this the life that the young doctor from Nigeria in the Age of Stupid again is aspiring to? Isn’t this what keeps her going during her daily fight for clean water in her village facing the impacts of the climate change that the starchitects and politicians of this world have been blissfully ignoring for so long?

More dialogue here.

Image credits: Fleaheart

I could not resist to post Rem Koolhaas’s tweet (@remkoolhaas):

It’s as if we need the reassurance of Dubai’s demise to restore our own confidence.

And following this, Cameron Sinclair’s comment (@casinclair):

I’m sorry Rem but Dubai’s demise should spell the end of an era of form follows fevered ego. Now is time for an architecture of relevance. As far as Dubai is concerned perhaps it is an opportunity to enact fairer and more humane working practices for those working in the construction industry and to find an architecture of the place not one imposed on it. Zero carbon does not equal zero guilt.

Good times. And to receive this on your live news feed… Good times indeed…

Architecture for humanity. Organización sin ánimo de lucro fundada en 1999 en Nueva York por el arquitecto Cameron Sinclair y la periodista Kate Stohr, cuyo ojetivo es proporcionar servicios de diseño y construcción a aquellos que más lo necesitan a través de diferentes instituciones, ONGs, administraciones públicas, etc. Y es que para ellos el diseño es la herramienta con la que construir un futuro más sostenible, prueba de ellos son sus proyectos en África, India o Nueva Orleans.

http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/

Szeretem azokat az embereket, akik tenni akarnak, és még inkább azokat, akik tesznek is.

Ezt írtam tegnap este a Coca-Colas bejegyzésben. Nos úgy tűnik, azóta újabb érdekességeket találtam.A belinkelt TED video arról szól, hogy igenis lehet változtatni, hogy a szándék és a tudás ötvözésével van esély átlépni a jelenlegi, globális problémákon.

A videoban Cameron Sinclair, egy 32 éves építész beszél az úgynevezett open-source architecture-ről. Ez a fura nevű dolog úgy született, hogy Sinclair és néhány társa elkezdtek olyan terveket készíteni amelyek a természeti katasztrófák által súlytott, illetve egyéb nehéz körülmények között élő tömegek életkörülményeinek a javítását célozták meg. Miután kiderült, hogy a terveik valóban működőképesek, az anyagot közkinccsé tették, így bárki ingyenesen felhasználhatja azt amennyiben segítségére lehet helyi problémák megoldásában.

A video:

Talk – Cameron Sinclair. Open Source Architecture to house the world

see the talk

Interesting comments: Consider the Open Source Community – don’t believe in utopia as all problems are local so all solutions are local. Advocate, Integrate, Implement

issues of governance but need 10 million ideas and 10 million solutions

what is it – it is adaptable, has potential for evolution, developed by everyone, useful to everyone. How to do it – it needs to participatory, utilised – open source ideal = global real time multi lingual workspace. Apply standards – proven ideas that are accessible. To be a conduit – to do so without having anybody profit at the expense of someone else.

Design like you give a damn

A simple mission: “to generate design opportunities that will improve living standards for all” by providing an open-source platform through which ANYone can view, post, share, and adapt sustainable, humanitarian-based, scalable solutions. The idea that designs and all associated documents can and should be shared within the decidedly proprietary architectural industry is truly innovative, and could very well aid in the reshaping of the entire architectural profession into a more socially-focused and responsible vocation. Architecture for humanity; Cameron Sinclair on TED talks//aito

www.openarchitecturenetwork.org

www.cameronsinclair.com

Been checking out these the work of this NGO for a while. Love their work. Basically a global network of architects working with poor communities around the world. And I mean working with, not for, communities. The above is their slogan.

Here’s a PBS documentary on their work in India (I just saw this). Separately the work of architects affiliated with the group in Kenya was profiled on CNN.

Una red social de codigo abierto creada por Cameron Sinclair, un arquitecto que forma parte de una organización dedicada a la arquitectura sin fines de lucro, toma la iniciativa y el desafio de aliviar los problemas generados por la carencia de recursos de gran parte de la humanidad. A continuación algunos datos de este proyecto de alto impacto social.

Qué es OAN?

The Open Architecture Network es una comunidad propuesta por Architecture for Humanity e ideada por Cameron Sinclair en internet con propósitos de salida prometedores, puesto que definen su proyecto como “open source” y su objetivo es mejorar las condiciones de vida a través de un proyecto innovador y sostenible, además de ser catalizadores para ofrecer recursos a los cerca de 1.000.000.000 de personas que viven bajo el umbral de la pobreza. ¿Cómo lo harán? Compartirán ideas de diseños, planos… ofrecerán la posibilidad de que los diseños publicados sean revisados en público (al más puro estilo código libre linux), ofrecerán colaboraciones mutuas y con otras profesiones para mejorar los diseños específicos, gestionarán los proyectos desde el concepto hasta la ejecución, favorecerán la comunicación entre los miembros… y todo esto protegiendo la propiedad intelectual bajo licencias Creative Commons “algunos derechos reservados”.

Quienes participan en OAN?

Arquitectos, diseñadores, ingenieros y muchos más envueltos en un proyecto realmente fantástico para compartir ideas en internet, sin ánimo de lucro, junto a organizaciones voluntarias, agencias gubernamentales para el desarrollo, partners de soporte tecnológico (Sun Microsystems, Hot Studio, TED, AMD…), educadores, investigadores de salud y sanidad etc…

El desarrollo

Hot Studio, un estudio de diseño basado en San Francisco fue el encargado de desarrollar esta red social sin fines de lucro para arquitectos (OAN),  Maria Giudice de H.S dice acerca de OAN: “Hubo una mayor visión que no es sólo acerca de una comunidad, sino del cumplimiento de objetivos discretos para diferentes personas en forma global.”

Un proyecto lleno de valores y principios: un modelo a imitar.

Saludos!:)

Architecture for Humanity and UNICEF are working together to innovate schools and classrooms for children all over the world, scaling architectural innovation to a profound level. As of right now UNICEF and Architecture for Humanity are seeking design and engineering professional to help develop and build a number of educational facilities in West Africa. Their focus at the moment is in Liberia and Ivory Coast, but in the coming months they will look for candidates for Sierra Leone and Guinea. Working in partnership with local communities and the ministry of education, they will design and facilitate the building of two schools that will include alternative energy sources, water reclamation, connectivity, basic services, and play spaces.

In other Architecture for Humanity news, almost $35,000 has been raised for the rebuilding project for Myanmar/Burma since Cyclone Nargis slammed into the country’s southern tip. AFH has spoken with a number of in-country and ex-patriot designers about their strategy for long term rebuilding and have representatives on the ground in Rangoon. Given their available funding they’ve decided to assemble a design team that can focus on the rebuilding of one community that has been devastated by this horrific disaster. AFH is also giving preference to regionally based designers due to the high travel costs associated with getting into Myanmar.

Join hundreds of others and support AFH’s sustainable reconstruction effort, make a donation today by visiting: http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/donate

Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity and recently the Open Architecture Network, was awarded the TED prize in 2006. In his acceptance speech, he talks about housing crisis, HIV/AIDS, natural catastrophes, and how solutions can be designed for saving lives and making them better. How? not by a centralized structure. By a global network of design innovation, based on an open source model.

A model that assumes that every human being is a potential design innovator, every person is an expert in his environment and needs, and the role of the Architect is to bring out that expertise and unleash that potential.

Architecture for Humanity has decided to respond to the Cyclone Nargis that hit the heart of Myanmar (Burma), where government figures have reported 15,000 dead but reports claim it is now 22,000. Currently, more than a million people are displaced, and in the coming weeks many will be moved into makeshift tents and lean-toos.

If they are going to get involved and make local impact they will need to raise a minimum of $10,000 for an assessment team or a local team with international support. At that point they will see if they can help in the transitional and long-term phase.

If you care about what is happening and you have $10 or more to spare, please donate via the link below:

http://www.cooleremail.net/users/csinclair/2006FullList_Myanmar.html

“I predict that the 21st century will be most effected by a new breed of something we have not seen yet, which is a new form of chapter based organization. Institutions always need to be blown up every once in a while, because even with the best intentions and the great people, new things, you just need ‘new’ to be effective. There’s going to be a whole new breed of organizations like this.”
-Scott Heiferman

When I first heard these words I was taking notes as a relatively new member of the Japan Society staff. Japan Society’s U.S.-Japan Innovators Project was holding its second major retreat in Tokyo and it was my job to capture the overall experience, i.e. atmosphere and important ideas, of the three-day event. Needless to say I was very nervous and anxious to take on one of my first big tasks on the job. I listened and typed and tried my best to record what I could; however, after the retreat I realized nothing really sunk in. There was no time for me to mull over the information that flowed into my ears, through my fingers and onto the screen in front of me. Now, almost six months later I finally got a chance to sit down and go over my notes and transcripts for a purely personal look at what I may have missed. Let me tell you that after re-reading those notes I realized that the wisdom that came out of that retreat was incredible, and I’d like to share some of it with you.

Below is a list of some of my favorite quotes that came out of that retreat, in no particular order:

• “The high cost of the status quo, well basically what I keep writing down in my notes is SQ > C. Status Quo is costlier than a change. Now that’s a huge idea.”
  -Dan Pink
• “You know, I’ve kind of figured out how to go from the bandstand to the board room and make it swing. I kind of figured out a way to improvise through that and think of the balance sheet as a set of changes, and never lose that ability say, ‘Why?’ Why do we have to do it that way? Can’t we have some fun with it and play with it? At the end of the year it’s going to be the same numbers. Why don’t we do it this way? And so we’ve been able to kind of improvise our way through it, and still have fun, and keep it going. I mean, that’s the point, is that without the fun part and the play, oh my goodness, I never could deal with these arts administrators and stuff.”
  -Marty Ashby
• “Start off with the assumption that people are assets, not liabilities, and treat them that way and you will see extraordinary things happen.”
  -Bill Strickland
• “What we need to do is to create these cycles, and allow innovation to be adaptive and not recreated, because we’re wasting so much money in international reconstruction trying to reinvent the same solutions to similar problems.”
  -Cameron Sinclair
• “Knowledge that can be expressed by word is available to anyone; therefore that knowledge is losing its value. However, it has become more important for us to have the tacit wisdom that cannot be expressed by words; for example, intuition, insight, imagination and creativity.”
  -Hiroshi Tasaka
• “I call it innovation acupuncture. The idea is that if you want to create large change, don’t do massive projects and expect a society or a culture to come with you. You have to do these small, little interventions and you put one in and you see if that thing spreads. That little pin makes a huge difference. If it doesn’t that’s okay, we’ll put another pin in. And we’ll keep going until those pins eventually make you feel better.”
  -Cameron Sinclair
• “Money is the raw material of politics. And politics is either the raw material of change or preserving the status quo.”
  -Ann Rutledge
• “I am rich in terms of life, which I believe actually has more value, ultimately. I am not personally wealthy. But that is precisely – that actually gives me an advantage. Because when I’m able to talk with young people, particularly students and my staff, I’m able to say that I am not doing this because I am driven by wealth in the conventional monetary sense. I’m driven by a higher order of things that is more in the range of what this Japan-America conversation is all about. I believe at the end of the day, at the last day of your life, you only have your memories. You can’t take the money with you. So the question becomes to make sure that you have memories that reflect a quality experience and reverence for life.”
  -Bill Strickland
• “We need to examine is what we believe about homelessness and other social challenges…If we think that homelessness is about altruism, then we are comfortable with gestures like giving people money, handing out a bowl of soup. That’s something that makes us feel better. It doesn’t change the situation of someone who’s homeless.”
  -Rosanne Haggerty
• “I’m here to contend that sooner or later, it does not come down to money. Sooner or later, it comes down to people. And you can call me some sort of a hippie freak if you’d like.”
  -Scott Heiferman

P.S. – Check out the August 2, 2007 New York Times’ article Design Steps Up in Disaster’s Wake, by Allison Arieff. The article highlights the struggle of a woman trying to rebuild her and her family’s life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and how Architecture for Humanity came to her aid.