The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than three billion people—nearly half the world’s population—do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded.
Design Like You Give a Damn is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organizations charged with rebuilding after disaster and engaged in the search for sustainable development. It is also a call to action to anyone committed to building a better world. |
Read an excerpt
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![]() "Architecture can save lives"—Newsweek "Design Like You Give A Damn screams its message in its title. Good design is not a luxury, but a necessity."—The Scotsman, July 15 2006 "Anyone pursuing a greater sense of design for people (emphasis here) should read and own this book as if it were their passion’s guiding light."—Intern Architect "Thank you for putting together such a work of encouragement, optimism and knowledge!"—Leila Diana Behjat "A book that is lovely in every sense of the word.. …makes clear just how much talent is currently going to waste designing McMansions. "—Bill McKibben, New York Review of Books November 16th, 2006 "Heavy on context and images, light on celebrity names, Design Like You Give a Damn is a bracing reminder that there’s more to architecture than museums and posh private homes. Instead, the founders of the group Architecture for Humanity round up 77 nimble solutions to real-life problems: There are fiberglass domes for the homeless of Los Angeles, a schoolhouse in Burkina Faso with an arced steel roof that insulates the clay brick classrooms below — even a water pump in South Africa that is powered by children playing on a merry-go-round. Truly inspirational. "—San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, November 19, 2006 "…a 336-page love letter to architects worldwide who provide pro-bono design services to communities that have survived war, government oppression and natural disasters. It’s also an antidote to apathy. "—Leilani Labong, 7X7 San Francisco, October 27th, 2006 read more "Focusing on disaster relief and inexpensive design solutions, this book documents an ideology that justly promotes the global demand for innovation as well as a return to fundamental problem solving. "—Zachary R. Benedict, Young Architects Forum Book Review, December 21st, 2006 read more
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FEATURING WORK BY: |
Habitat for Humanity Northern Ireland |
Michael Rakowitz RBGC Architecture, Research & Urbanism Red Feather Development Group Relief International Roots of Peace Roundabout Outdoor Rural Studio Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman SENSEable City Laboratory Shelter Architecture Shelter For Life shelterproject Shelter Systems Shigeru Ban Architects Shrinking Cities Sphere Project Strong Angel Süd-Chemie Swee Hong Ng Technical University, Vienna TechnoCraft theskyisbeautiful architecture UNHCR World Conservation Union World Shelters |
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Founded in 1999 by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, Architecture for Humanity is a grassroots nonprofit organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises. Through design-build programs, competitions, educational forums, and partnerships with community development and relief organizations, Architecture for Humanity creates opportunities for architects and designers from around the world to assist communities in need. Where resources and expertise are scarce, innovative, sustainable, and collaborative design can make a difference.
![]() FRONT COVER: left, Rufisque Women’s Centre, Rufisque, Senegal, Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects, photograph courtesy Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects; right, Baninajar Refugee Camp, Khuzestan, Iran, shelters built with Super Adobe system created by Nader Khalili, photograph courtesy UNDP. |
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