Architecture for Humanity

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When Architecture for Humanity won a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Prize in 2007, contest sponsors awarded it US$100,000 and a wish to “change the world” that project sponsors could help fulfill. For its wish, Architecture for Humanity chose to develop a Web-based network to make it easier for architects, designers, and other volunteers to join with organizers and build critically needed structures.

Sun Microsystems, a TED sponsor, helped Architecture for Humanity fulfill its wish. In the past, the small nonprofit organization had struggled to meet an overwhelming need. Following the tsunami of December 2004, for example, the organization received more than 4,000 e-mail messages a week from people seeking plans for affordable shelters and from architects submitting designs. Some of the attached files exceeded 40 megabytes. “We had to gather the design ideas, get permission from the designers, and forward the information to the person making the request. It was unbelievably cumbersome,” says Kate Stohr, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Architecture for Humanity.

Sun provided the overall design, engineering, Web development, and underlying technology for the solution, the Open Architecture Network. Sun donated two Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers that use the Solaris 10 Operating System and a Sun StorageTek 3511 array, which can handles up to 64 terabytes of storage. The Drupal open-source software used in the solution enables anyone on the network to publish and manage Web content. The database software is MySQL, which is provided with Cool Stack, a collection of common open-source applications that are optimized for the Sun platform: Solaris and Sun servers based on x64 and SPARC architectures.

By extending the open-source model for computing to humanitarian works, Architecture for Humanity hopes to build on its successes. Working with volunteers and other organizations such as the United Nations, Architecture for Humanity has provided housing for refugees returning to Kosovo, for people displaced by the December 2004 tsunami, and for families on the U.S. Gulf Coast affected by Hurricane Katrina. The nonprofit has been a catalyst for building schools, community centers, and clinics in many countries, such as Tanzania, where there is one doctor for every 20,511 people. The The Open Architecture Network also features innovative projects on its Web site, such as the Now House Project in Toronto, Canada,which is turning a 60-year-old house into a net-zero energy home—reducing energy costs to zero and cutting greenhouse gases by six tons each year.

The Open Architecture Network helps Architecture for Humanity to work more efficiently. “Now, when people contact us, we just give them a link to the site,” says Stohr. The organization has doubled the projects it can handle, and its Web site has received an award for promoting sustainable architecture that reduces energy consumption and improves the quality of life.

“We're excited about the future,” says Stohr. She points out that communities can reuse designs created for other areas and the effects extend beyond architecture. “You can support a solar-powered school in Tanzania, for example, and provide children with an education. Not only can you be 'green' and kind to the earth, you can be kind to people, too. And that's a beautiful thing.”