While Kate and the Gulf Coast team were putting together last months great write up of all the work happening one year on from Hurricane Katrina, I was fending off baseball bat carrying mosquitoes in South Asia while checking up on projects.

In Sri Lanka we wrapped up our school building initiative, which began in early 2005 and resulted in the construction of five transitional and three emergency schools in Ampara in the east of the island. These structures, implemented by Relief International, helped to bring over 1200 children back to school in an area devastated by the tsunami and torn apart during twenty years of civil conflict. Unfortunately it is this civil unrest that has reared its ugly head and has returned to the island in an abrupt and violent way. It is with a heavy heart that we are stopping all further projects in the East.

However our work is not finished and we continue full speed ahead with our projects in the south. Architect Susi Platt is busy overseeing the construction of community and livelihood centers in Tissamaharama and Moratawa. While in country I got to take part, alongside our partners from the United Nations and the community, in the ground-laying ceremony in Moratawa. The project is situated in a very strong Buddist community and we were joined by four local monks who blessed the building. Also in Sri Lanka Architecture for Humanity Minnesota has community center under construction in Hikkaduwa which, like the UN projects, is set to be completed before the end of the year.

In India I was fortunate enough to arrive just in time for the opening of the Ambedgar Nagar and Lenin Nagar community centers. As the community members were not only active participants in the design process but heavily involved in the construction the level of ownership has to be seen to be believed - and an opening is the place to see it.

In addition to the entire community coming out to welcome us (I've never seen so many people packed in one space), representatives from the implementing parter LEAD, architect Purnima McCutcheon and University of Hawaii grad student Melanie Wong were on hand to help with the ribbon cutting. It was a extremely festive experience which began very early when a large bovine friend of the village visited each new center to do his morning business on the floor, which was very auspicious. This was followed by the ceremonial boiling of milk over a open fire, again taking place in the middle of the buildings. The celebrations went on all day with a formal speech giving where everyone and his uncle got the opportunity to say something to singing and dancing in the afternoon.

Personally the best part of the day occurred after visiting Lenin Nagar center. All the villagers joined us on a procession to Ambedgar Nagar, a nearby village, to join in and celebrate the opening of their buildings. The march was led by all the kids in the village and anchored by a tractor blaring out Tollywood music (the Tamil Nadu Bollywood) to let unsuspecting villagers of our imminent arrival. With the volume on those speakers I'm surprised folks all along the coast weren't expecting us.

More images of all these events will be available this week on our site.

$125,000 matching grant available – help us make it happen!

As many of you know, for months we have been talking about building an open source architecture network to support the work of community designers. Thanks to the TED prize, we are now partnering with Hot Studio and Sun Microsystems to turn the network into reality. This month the Sapling Foundation has made an incredible offer - they will match up to $125,000 to help fund the project.

The network will not only allow designers to share innovative ideas and solutions but will also offer project management tools and create a space where designers, community members, project stakeholders and partners can collaborate on projects remotely.

We're very excited by the potential of this tool to help improve the living standards of communities around the world. We need your help and support in raising matching funds and ultimately developing the network. Even a small donation will go a long way. Think of it as a corporate matching gift program, without having to fill out all that paperwork. Come to think of it, if your company or firm were to match your gift…well you get the idea.

We're also looking for volunteers to lend their time and talents to participate in developing the online tools behind the network.

To donate, visit our website and be sure to let us know that you'd like your gift to support the Open Architecture Network when making your donation.

If you have fundraising ideas or would like to get involved in other ways, contact kari.iverson (at) architectureforhumanity.org

Job Opportunities

Interim Managing Director - Architecture for Humanity
Sausalito, CA

Architecture for Humanity is seeking a Managing Director with five years nonprofit experience to oversee its programs, finances and operations. The candidate we seek will work on a temporary to permanent-basis with an eye towards helping our small nonprofit grow and expand. This is a full-time position based in Sausalito, CA.

Americorp Volunteer Position - Architecture for Humanity
Biloxi, MS

To provide support for all aspects of Architecture for Humanity's Model Home project manager's duties, project planning and management, scheduling, estimating, material procurement, coordination with designers and contractors, also assisting with house rebuilding program rehabilitating homes in Biloxi area. Benefits include room and board, education benefit, living stipend and federal student loans deferred and interest paid.

Construction Manager - Hands On Gulf Coast
Biloxi, MS

Hands On Gulf Coast has a unique opportunity for a qualified candidate to lead our volunteer crews in rehabbing and rebuilding homes on the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

For more information on either of these positions please visit the jobs section on our website

Book Signing
Dwell on Design - San Francisco
Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th Street, San Francisco
September 16 2006, 3pm - 4pm
We will signing books at the Dwell on Design conference in the Dwell Sky Lounge. Further information can be found on the Dwell website.

Roundtable Talk and Book Signing
Live from the New York Public Library - New York
September 20 2006, 7pm
co-presented by Wired Magazine
As we enter the 21st century the field of architecture is at a crossroads. From Hurricane Katrina to the war in Iraq, large-scale urbanization, disaster and conflict has destabilized not only our political structures but also the built environment prompting many to question the building practices of the past. Is the role of the architect to create the signature monuments that define and exalt our cultural and economic values? Or, is there an alternative path to building in the world today, one that engages people where they live and work and recognizes that sustainability is not a luxury but a necessity?

Join Cameron Sinclair, Kate Stohr and Cynthia Barton of Architecture for Humanity, editors of the book Design Like You Give a Damn, along with cultural commentator John Hockenberry as they discuss how a new breed of designers is responding to humanitarian crises and rethinking the social and economic future of the more than two billion people currently surviving in sub-standard living conditions. More information can be found at the New York Public Library website.

Lecture
Ashoka Foundation - Washington DC
September 25 2006, 12pm
This will be a small one hour event held at the Ashoka foundation in Washington DC. This will be our only event in Washington DC and the focus of the talk will be on the Open Architecture Network. There are only a few spots for this event so please email cameron@architectureforhumanity.org to get on the list or if you'd like to meet up in the evening.

Lecture and Book Signing
West Coast Green - San Francisco
Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
September 29 2006, 11am

We will speak on day two of the inaugural 3 day sustainable design conference and expo. The talk explore the recent work of Architecture for Humanity in South Asia and the Gulf Coast and the need for innovative sustainable solutions when responding to disaster. More information on the event can be found at the West Coast Green website

Exhibition
Current Projects of Architecture for Humanity
part of A Better World at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center
608 New York Ave., Sheboygan, WI
Until November 5th 2006

Non Architecture for Humanity events

Exhibition
Seeking Refuge in the City - New York
Central Park and Prospect Park
September 15th - 24th
Over the next week Doctors Without Borders will set up a refugee camp in Central Park and Prospect Park in New York, giving New Yorkers a first-hand experience of the realities of refugee life. The organizations aid workers walk New Yorkers through makeshift shelters, vaccination tents, and feeding centers, offering insight on how epidemics, malnutrition, and landmines affect almost 33 million people a day. Through the initiative, the organization hopes to raise awareness and help us all understand the obstacles that keep people in the developing world from getting the medical assistance they need.

Fri 9.15 - Sun 9.17 (9:30am-6:30pm) - Central Park, New York
Wed 9.20 - Sun 9.24 (9:30am-6:30pm) - Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Lecture
Aid, Reconstruction and Development - London
September 29 2006, 7pm
Serpentine Pavilion Gallery, London
Jane Cocking from Oxfam, Prof. Paul Jowitt of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Nabeel Hambi of Oxford Brookes University and Jo da Silva Associate Director of Arup and Senior Shelter Coordinator for the UNHCR will discuss the challenges confronted by architects and engineers in the face of natural disasters, climate change, poverty, population increases and the effects of globalization.

More information can be found at Time Out London