Architects Without Borders

Although the immediate need is for disaster relief, there will be a need for technical assistance in the near future. This will include damage assessment, planning and rebuilding. An Architects Without Borders - Seattle board member, Paul Wu, will be meeting with the Deputy Council from the Chinese Emabassy on Monday to talk further about what AWB-S might be able to bring to this process. Paul would like to know what type of interest and capabilities the AWB-S Community has before that meeting.

Please email Paul, paul.wu@pse.com, if you think you might be interested in any aspect of the recovery effort – please be sure to include your availability and any areas of expertise you have that might apply.

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Over a week ago Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar and devastated the region around the Irrawaddy Delta. The recovery effort is under way, but is reported to be hampered by the extent of the devastation and government red tape.

AWB-Seattle does not have any current projects in the area; however, if you know of anyone with connections to groups or NGO’s in the area that could use our assistance please contact our projects email.

Below are some links and resources if you are interested in learning more.

• Satellite photos showing the delta before and after Cyclone Nargis made landfall.
• News from the region: Democratic Voice of Burma, The Irrawaddy, BurmaNet.
• WorldVision and Save the Children are organizations that have established offices and projects in Myanmar before the Cyclone hit and are working to get relief to those in need and to begin the recovery effort. Architecture for Humanity is raising money for long-term reconstruction efforts.

ARCHITECTS WITHOUT BORDERS: OPEN MEETING - MAY 1ST

Pizza, beer, and a good cause - Come join us for an Architects Without Borders Open Meeting. Learn about the organization, hear updates on current projects, get information on our t-shirt design contest, and meet others interested in changing the world through good design. Invite your friends - spread the word!

When: 6 to 8pm. hosted pizza and beer served promptly.
Where: Piecora’s Pizza, 1401 E. Madison Street Map

The 72-Hour Challenge began on Thursday evening at 8p with a few brief presentations from a the coordinators and few Seattle Homeless Advocate non-profit groups: Share, Wheel and Women in Black, along with members of Tent Cities 3 & 4. They expressed needs for dealing with their garbage as well as human waste along with also wanting to address a temporary memorial for homeless that have passed away in King County and Seattle. After much deliberation, our AWB gang chose to work on the issue of human waste. We presented our design thoughts on Friday around 1p, and then spent from then until Sunday at 4p designing, building, and having vast philosophical discussions about issues of poo.  We worked on a whole spectrum of educational issues – from those that may be living in the more remote green belt areas to those inhabiting a slightly more permanent encampment where composting might be an option. Our main built object was a very low-tech, off the shelf kit of parts, no tools required privy. In the end there were 5 groups who presented responses (we were the only non-UW architecture student group!)– 3 toilets, and 2 memorials. The judges had great things to say about all of them, but in the end one of the memorials took the prize. Our greatest reward though was that members of tent city took a keen interest in our privy, and took it away to use just after the winner was announced! We also made some great contacts with several members of the advocate groups, as well as a writer from Real Change that would like to interview the design build team.

For more information:  http://www.designbuildchallenge.org/

AWB Design Build Team:  Akasha Whoorley, Bray Hayden, Dave Helton, Kim Shipley, Matt Ivers, Nate Harrold and Sam Adams

AWB-Seattle has been approached by the Banda Aceh Peace Resource Center to provide concept design for a visitors center and to assist with masterplanning for a peace park to commemorate the 2005 peace agreement between separatists and the Indonesian government and to provide a memorial for victims of the Tsunami and conflict. We are seeking a project leader and a team of 4-8 architects and landscape architects to assist in developing the design. Design of the visitors center will start in March 2008 once a project team is identified. If you are interested and able to commit 8-16 hours in March, please send an email to Owen Richards, orichards@orarchitects.com.

When: Saturday March 15th 2008, 10am-1pm
Habitat will provide lunch
RSVP to Rachael: rachaelm@bergerpartnership.com
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Sick of Drawing?!
Then join a team of AWB’ers for the Design Build Challenge - Displaced Populations Seattle 2008. A 3-day design build challenge where the team chooses a local organization (from a given contact list) with a community design need. The team will collaborate with the organization, prepare a design proposal for review, help fund the design, construct the design and present it to the jury - all in 3 days! The challenge will begin at 9pm on Thursday, March 27th and ends at 5pm on Sunday, March 30th. For more information check out the website: http://www.designbuildchallenge.org/

If you think you might be interested in joining an AWB team please email: elfikes@gmail.com

Last year’s winning entry for the first annual D/B Challenge by Tilt

SR 99 Aurora Bridge Suicide Prevention Fence
Design Charette

When
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Read more »

What if Architects Without Borders - Seattle earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates about a penny per search to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is an online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your designated cause. Hundreds of great stores including Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy’s and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure that Architects Without Borders - Seattle is the charity you support.  Set GoodSearch.com as your home page, or as a toolbar on your browser using this link; it will even remember the last charity you entered for you. Use it at home, use it at work…and be sure to spread the word!