Book launch: Humanitarian Architecture

HH is happy to promote a book by Esther Charlesworth that looks at the work of a broad range of people aimed at improving the lives of people after disasters. HH was included in the book despite not defining our work as specifically ‘disaster’ related. The editor argued that many of the projects needed to be completed by HH works are the result of ‘ongoing disasters’ – due to poverty, neglect or both.

“Never has the demand been so urgent for architects to respond to the design and planning challenges of rebuilding post-disaster sites and cities. In 2011, more people were displaced by natural disasters (42 million) than by wars and armed conflicts. And yet the number of architects equipped to deal with rebuilding the aftermath of these floods, fires, earthquake, typhoons and tsunamis is chronically short.

This book documents and analyses the expanding role for architects in designing projects for communities after the event of a natural disaster. The fifteen case studies featured in the body of the book illustrate how architects can use spatial sensibility and integrated problem-solving skills to help alleviate both human and natural disasters. The cases include:

Lizzie Babister – Department of International Development, UK.
Shigeru Ban – Winner of The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2014, Shigeru Ban Architects and Voluntary Architects’ Network, Japan.
Eric Cesal – Disaster Reconstruction and Resiliency Studio and Architecture for Humanity, Japan.
Hsieh Ying Chun – Atelier 3, Taiwan.
Nathaniel Corum – Education Outreach and Architecture for Humanity, USA.
Sandra D’Urzo – Shelter and Settlements and International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Switzerland.
Brett Moore – World Vision International, Australia.
Michael Murphy – MASS Design Group, USA.
David Perkes – Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, USA.
Healthabitat, Australia.
Patama Roonrakwit – Community Architects for Shelter and Environment, Thailand.
Graham Saunders – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Switzerland.
Kirtee Shah – Ahmedabad Study Action Group, India.
Maggie Stephenson – UN-HABITAT, Haiti.
Anna Wachtmeister – Catholic Organisation for Relief and Redevelopment Aid, the Netherlands.”