Architecture for Humanity
| Non-profit organization | |
| Industry | Architecture, International Development, Non Profit, Construction |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA |
|
Key people
|
Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, Co-Founders |
| Revenue | $12,011,838 USD (2012/2013) |
|
Number of employees
|
65 (2012); 0 (2015) |
| Website | Formerly www.architectureforhumanity.org |
Architecture for Humanity was a US-based charitable organization that sought architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brought professional design services to clients (often communities in need). Founded in 1999, it laid off its staff and closed down at the beginning of January 2015.
Since then, the 59 US-based architecture for humanity chapters (which were already operating more or less in a self-sufficient manner even before Architecture for Humanity closed down) formed the Open Architecture Collaborative and vowed to continue. It could thus be argued that despite the closing of the main office, the movement that Architecture for Humanity represented has indeed been strengthened, and not weakened, as it has forced the chapters to operate truly self-sufficiently, and cooperate more directly with the other chapters.
The organization was founded on April 6, 1999, by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr in response to the need for immediate long-term shelter for returning refugees in Kosovo after the region's bloody conflict. After hosting a series of open design competitions, the organization began taking on a number of build projects, pairing local communities with design professionals to develop a ground-up alternative to development and reconstruction.
In 2005 it adopted an "open source" model and became the first organization in the world to utilize Creative Commons licensing system on a physical structure. To date it has worked in 45 countries and over 2.8 million people now live, work, learn, gather and heal in 2,348 places helped by Architecture for Humanity design fellows, chapter members and volunteer design professionals.
In 2006 the organization published Design Like You Give A Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, which chronicles its early history. The second volume, DLYGAD: Building Change from the Ground Up, was published in 2012.
In 2007, Architecture for Humanity launched Open Architecture Network, allowing architects, designers, innovators and community leaders to share innovative and sustainable ideas, designs and plans.
In 2010, Architecture for Humanity acquired Worldchanging.
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