Humanitarian Design Is Theme of Design Santa Fe 2011

Design Santa Fe 2011 deals in the theme of “Change Makers,” with the change question going to the social effects of architecture and design as forces of remediation against disasters – and systems thinking on innovation. Cameron Sinclair, cofounder of Architecture for Humanity, and winner of a TED 2006 prize, will be one of two speakers (along with textile designer Susan Lyons) on a panel moderated by Metropolis editor in chief Susan Szenasy this Friday, September 30.

Current international projects of that organization include the country of Haiti and Sendai, Japan. In New York on September 23d Artists for Haiti dot com raised $13.7 million at an art auction to benefit Haiti reconstruction; of which Architecture for Humanity is a participating group. Support for reconstruction in Sendai (see featured map above), is currently in the works, with an orphanage project, elementary school and village reconstruction planned.

Domestically, the Architecture for Humanity website today features projects in cities including New Haven, and Chicago. Active chapter events have occurred during the past several weeks in Austin, Washington, DC, Providence, Boston, Chicago and Detroit.

The Design Santa Fe event occurs Friday, September 30 at the Farmers Market building in the Railyard: Go to: santafeinteriordesignerspresents.com.

Tickets are $85.

Architecture for Humanity’s annual conference on”humanitarian design conference,” Design Like You Give a Damn: Live! occurs October 21-22 in New York. Tickets are $25.

Additional Design Santa Fe events include a  home tour that costs $15. Free is the Design Crawl and a list of the participating businesses can be found here.