Frontline/World: Stories from a Small Planet

Check out the PBS story online about Architecture for Humanity's work in India, which also features The Global Studio and the design of the SIDAREC Community Resource Center.

The Global Studio on PBS

The Global Studio will be featured for winning the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Africa Challenge on Stories for a Small Planet by Frontline/World on PBS, June 24, 2008, at 9:00 p.m. Airing on the award winning documentary series, Frontline/World, the story is Design Like You Give A Damn profiling the work of Architecture for Humanity. This story will focus on some of AFH's post-tsunami reconstruction in Tamil Nadu, India, as well as the recent AMD Open Architecture Challenge.

Worldchanging

Worldchanging.com published an article about The Global Studio's AMD Open Architecture Challenge Africa project with SIDAREC, Architecture for Humanity and AMD. The article begins,

"The Global Studio, based in Seattle, Wa., took top honors in the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge. The four internationally experienced architectural designers behind the studio (which works exclusively with NGOs and charitable causes) are Stephanie Ingram, Geoff Piper, Matthew Sullivan and Ashley Waldron. Their winning entry will be built with funds supplied by AMD."

Author Julia Steinberger spoke with The Global Studio's Geoff Piper about the design. Geoff stated,

"One of the things SIDAREC really liked about the design was the tower element at the front," says Piper. "They saw that as an icon of SIDAREC itself, and of the community it serves. That tower could be identified with the radio station, which they say is listened to by 600,000 people."

Please see here for the entire piece.

Winner of the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Africa Challenge

Architecture for Humanity and AMD just announced the winners of the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge: Digital Inclusion, a global competition to develop technology facilities for communities in need, from the 50x15 Africa Partner Summit in Cape Town, South Africa. The competition received 566 registered entries from 57 countries. The winners, including one overall competition winner and two regional site winners, were determined by an international review board of jurors comprised of architects, technologists, and community members. The overall competition winner and Africa challenge site winner is The Global Studio of Seattle, WA, USA, for its design of a technology media lab and recording studio for SIDAREC, located in an informal settlement of Nairobi, Kenya. With the construction of this media lab, Lucy Mathai and George Onyango, both founders of SIDAREC, hope their community will become “the next Silicon Valley.”

As the winner of the 2007 AMD Open Architecture Challenge, The Global Studio will see their ideas come to life in the heart of the Mukuru Kwa Njenga settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. With full construction financing made possible with funding by AMD and the 50x15 Initiative the team will collaborate with Architecture for Humanity and SIDAREC, the recipient local community organization, to build their winning solution. The Global Studio’s innovative design will help empower and enrich the lives of thousands of children in the heart of this vast unplanned settlement.