Design Like You Give a Damn
Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises
Architecture for Humanity (AFH) brings relief to communities affected by natural and manmade disasters through the provision of basic shelter. Their 2006 book, Design Like You Give a Damn, is a call to action aimed at members of the design professions, community activists, and policy planners. AFH founder Cameron Sinclair signs copies of the book with the words, “Let’s build a better world.”
The organization’s projects can be found in areas affected by the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, in parts of the southern USA destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and in war-torn countries all over the world. AFH is involved in innovative projects to address the fallout of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and it supports creative answers to the plight of homeless people in western countries.
Sinclair and his wife, Kate Stohr, edited the book with assistance from several contributors. Design Like You Give a Damn showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions for basic shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy and sanitation. Some of these are projects under the AFH umbrella, others have been included because they represent ingenious responses to shelter problems.
Shelter as Architecture: Housing for the Soul
Samuel Mockbee, mentor to Sinclair, is quoted as saying, “Everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor … not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul.” AFH is in the business of designing and erecting shelters for the soul for thousands of people. Its reach is painfully small, as Sinclair readily acknowledges; one in six people globally has inadequate shelter or no house at all, and that figure is projected to rise to one in three by 2020.
The book illustrates a variety of projects to demonstrate the diversity of possible responses to humanitarian disasters. From safe drinking water solutions that can be manufactured almost anywhere, to the design of a soccer and wellness initiative for communities affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, the editors emphasize that the best solutions are sustainable, deceptively simple and community-based.
Collaborative Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Design
AFH uses design competitions to solicit innovative solutions for socially conscious architecture. The competitions generate cost-effective ideas for housing and social programs. Collaboration between diverse disciplines and practitioners is a hallmark of AFH’s approach, and a way to achieve sustainable results. The organization also acts as a fundraising conduit to support implementation of winning designs.
If there is a problem with the book, it is that the neophyte reader may feel overwhelmed by the sheer mass of solutions. There is no index; the reader must carefully peruse the table of contents, whose descriptions of projects are often cryptic. “Hopi Nation Elder Home: Red Feather Development Group” does not indicate that this is a straw-bale project suitable for construction by volunteers.
The final, policy section is the weakest link, perhaps a reflection of the state of policy worldwide regarding basic shelter provision. A project that hands out sleeping bags to Baltimore’s homeless highlights the plight of those without shelter in America’s cities, but it does little to educate the reader about policy alternatives.
Profusely illustrated, Design Like You Give a Damn is a bargain at $35.00. Rich in potential and actual solutions to the shelter crisis, it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of design in the 21st century.
Design Like You Give a Damn
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