Inspirations of the moment - Cameron SInclair

"We believe that where resources and expertise are scarce, innovative, sustainable, and collaborative design can make a difference."

This was a quote that and emotional Cameron Sinclair said at a TED event, when he accepted his TED award. He started out training as an Architect and Designer, and well, joined Kate Stohr to form a nonprofit organization called Architecture for Humanity, where Architects can apply and hone their craft towards humanitarian efforts. as well as a Designer that has changed alot of unfortunate peoples' lives in the past 10+ years. He started with just $700 and a web site and is now offering solutions to housing problems around the world.


He started his speech with a little backstory. He stated that when he studied Architecture, he felt like "the black sheep of the family". He felt that many Architectures believed that when they designed, it was a jewel that they craved for, while in contrast, Cameron believed in a philosophy that I quite share: you design to improve or to create a detriment to the community in which you are designing in. In essence, you aren't designing for the residents or the guy who will use it, but the community as a whole. This quote was the seat clencher (?). That was the quote that had me sitting for the whole presentation. So after pausing the video to take notes, I continue..


He goes more in depth with Architecture for Humanity. He mentions how he started out in 1999 with his response to the housing crisis in Kosovo. With minimal revenue, and a simple website, in a rather short amount of time, thousands of people wanted to join the cause, which in turn led to prototypes and ideas being built. He continued on to mention his projects concerning HIV/AIDS and mobile health clinics in Africa, which led to 500+ responses from 50+ countries. I couldn't really believe it when he said that in 2004, in his more domestic projects, he found people in Montana, Louisiana, etc. that looked far worse than the developing countries he's visited.


With a tug at his jacket, he makes a broad and true statement. In the past 7 years, his experience showed him that there is a grassroots movement going on, of socially-responsible Designers who believe that the world has gotten alot smaller and that they realize that they have an opportunity, not a responsibility, to make a change. With a thousand or so Designers, and a staff of three, all connected through a website, They developed so that they had Advocacy, Instigation, and Implementation. They advocate for good design, not just through student lectures, or public forums, but also disaster mitigation and dealing with public policy. They instigate through the development of different ideas, putting up open-source design competitions. And obviously implementing the work. Doing the job.


Now, whilst this is a graphic design blog, I believe that the world of graphic design is broad. I have many great friends who have graphic design degrees, but work within the realm of 3D Architecture, and environment modeling, myself included at times. So this topic, in my opinion should hit home, not just with Architects, but with Graphic Designers. Scratch that, any Designer. He was a student of design that realized that there were certain parts of humanity that would not go away by itself, and for that, he gets my honorable mention.

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