Edutopia - August/September 2008 - (Page 30)

Give ’em Shelter: Designer AFH’s Susi Platt collaborated with the nonproﬁt organizations Do Something and Relief International to make a fast, temporary ﬁx for the kids at the Al Hadaya school, in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka. “can be a catalyst for long-term economic, health care, social, and educational improvement.” The last element is particularly relevant. “Without education,” Platt says, “development is only a dream.” From the Wreckage AFH’s relief efforts began with the 1999 Kosovo crisis. With the Balkan’s winter approaching, and hundreds of thousands of refugees returning from exile to bombed-out towns and villages, it was clear, according to Stohr, that “what was needed was not temporary shelter, but transitional structures.” These buildings, AFH theorized, could enable Kosovars to live as normally as possible during the actual rebuilding of homes, towns, and lives. Equally clear was the fact that by themselves, Sinclair and Stohr could not make a dent. Schooled on the Internet, however, they understood the Web’s power as humanitarian “After disaster strikes, schools are critical to making life normal as quickly as possible.” ampli⇒er. Internet-based appeals quickly garnered funds and caught the attention of organizations such as the Of⇒ce of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and celebrities including Bianca Jagger. An AFH-sponsored Kosovo design competition attracted more attention. AFH found itself inundated by more than 200 design proposals from teams in thirty countries. These included several proposals from Serbia, the aggressor in Kosovo, from which the teams of designers took pains to disassociate themselves. Since the Kosovar War, AFH has grown into a force for refocusing design energy toward the vast, architecturally deprived majority of the world’s population. These are the refugees and slum and village dwellers referred to in architect Samuel Mockbee’s therapeutic prescription that “everybody Richard Rapaport is a political and architectural writer who contributes regularly to Edutopia. 30 EDUTOPIA AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2008 COURTESY OF ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY wants the same thing . . . not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul.” One of AFH’s signature projects, done in cooperation with Relief International, is the design and construction of seven “emergency and transitional schools” in Sri Lanka’s 2004 tsunami-devastated Ampara District. When they began, the AFH team was less interested in form HAVOC AT HOME than function. “These To see how New Orleans comes to terms with devastated schools, go to were generic deedutopia.org/after-katrinia signs for temporary schools,” Platt says about buildings she considers “not architecturally valuable.” Value however, exists in the eyes of the numerous beholders. These included Cameron Sinclair, who, when he visited, was delighted that—in AFH fashion—the speci⇒ed roof tiles had been replaced by less-expensive, quieter-in-the-rain, locally procured, and woven coconut leaves. “God is in the details,” Sinclair says about the con⇓uence of design and utility. “In every building, we try to develop architectural solutions in keeping with the needs of that community and with how they de⇒ne beauty.” To match Sinclair and Stohr’s belief in “the connection between good design and human dignity,” AFH has increasingly morphed into an online repository and creative engine for all kinds of give-a-damn” civic design innovations. The group is working with Advanced Micro Devices on an Open Architectural Challenge called 50x15, the goal of which is to design low-cost, sustainable technology facilities through which to provide Internet access to 50 percent of the world’s population by 2015. In every case, Stohr says, “the challenge is to create innovative educational spaces that are healthier, environmentally kinder, and learning friendly.” e http://edutopia.org/after-katrina

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Edutopia - August/September 2008

Edutopia Contents Up Front Feedback Dispatches Sage Advice Ask Ellen Head of Class Cool Schools Design: Building on Disaster What's Next Full-Service Schools In the Trenches Moral Aptitude Serious Gaming Behaveyourself.com Media Is the Message The Way of the Wiki A Match Made in Cyberspace Hail to the New Chief Rise of the Robots Disrupting Class As Others See Us Heart & Soul Pop Quiz: Moby

Edutopia - August/September 2008

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