Architecture for Humanity, a California-based design group, works on finding solutions to humanitarian crises. The architect Maurice Cox explaining his designs to residents of Biloxi, Mississippi, where homes were destroyed after Hurricane Katrina. ( Architecture for Humanity/Tracy Nelson )

Humanitarian goals, tech-savvy solutions

By Alice Rawsthorn

Published: March 11, 2007

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Their plan was to create the Open Architecture Network as an online database offering detailed case studies of existing projects, each of which would be ranked by visitors in terms of sustainability, cost effectiveness and innovative use of materials. Designers could also upload plans and construction documents to enable their peers to comment on them, just like the open-source system, in which software developers invite online critiques of works-in-progress. "There are so many great ideas out there, that just need an extra push," Sinclair said.

His wish drew immediate support from the audience at TED2006, notably from Sun Microsystems, which agreed to donate software engineering and servers to the project. Sinclair launched the network last week at TED2007, and it is now live at www.openarchitecturenetwork.org. More than 30 organizations have signed up to post case studies: ranging from Arup Associates, the multinational structural engineering group, to Indigenous Community Enterprises, a charity in Flagstaff, Arizona, that provides low-cost housing for elderly members of the Navajo Nation.

"Hopefully this network will give people a sense of what humanitarian design can achieve," said Sinclair. "Let's hope it's not a case of: 'Be careful what you wish for.' We've wished for something big — now we've got to deliver it."