Can you explain the difference between design and design for good?
Design is about creating spaces for people to enjoy and, of course, creating moments that elevate the spirit. But design for good is devising a program that involves creating better spaces, new jobs and industry and really raises the conversation about how we rebuild. The collaborative efforts in Biloxi, Mississippi—which was heavily affected by Hurricane Katrina—has touched the lives of hundreds of families. We have worked also in Bay St. Louis, Waveland and New Orleans. These communities have benefited profoundly from better, more thoughtful architecture.
Can you define your vision and what shapes it?
We believe that good design should be available for everybody. We all have the right to basic shelter, and architects and designers have the means to create better structures. Our vision is to create better surroundings for people to live, work and play.
What are the global implications of your work?
If you've been here, you know it's been brewing. The friction forming, the glances in sessions, the confused media. Something happened in the air in the last 24 hours and being here has been one of the most fascinating events I've experienced. It's that moment. The one we had when they saw two options emerging - one of an old order struggling to hold the moral center and another that was unwilling to continue with a broken and unjust system. It was not about politics, it was about a moral urgency of now.
A Forum of two futures
I'm sitting on the floor outside the NWA lounge (borrowing wifi access) and waiting for a swift 14 hour flight to Amsterdam. From there I fly into Zurich and take a 3hr train to Davos for the 2009 World Economic Forum. I think I arrive around 10pm Monday night.
Last year I 'snuck in' and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of stuff that actually gets done. Yes the event is teaming with cynical journalists and financial 'experts' but it those at the periphery who are getting on with it. Given I didn't have a pass to attend sessions I lobbied - ie. I sat in the forum lobby and chatted to everyone. psst, that's where the deals are sealed.
Creating an open commons of FEMA, HUD and other agency projects as a mechanism for transparency and innovation in the built environment.
Why become ‘open’?
Every year the United States governments spends billions of tax payers dollars on well intentioned projects in the social sector. This can range from affordable housing, schools and playgrounds to responding to natural disasters. While there are exceptional projects built, there are far more that are wasting funds reinventing the wheel at best or rebuilding failed poorly maintainable unsustainable structures. As there is currently no online resource of all government funded projects it is difficult to know the totals spent in the built environment. From initial research we are seeing numbers in the range of $5-9 Billion in current backlogged projects just inside the US. There is a very, very inexpensive way of accountability that would lead to a huge push in innovation and it has been done before. An Open Source Network.
