If you were at Clerkenwell Design Week this year, you probably saw these four little huts. They were created by Architecture for Humanity (AfH) to raise awareness of what they do. I have been aware of AfH ever since I’ve had a serious interest in design, and given that their name is fairly self-explanatory, I have some idea of what they do. But this year, I was determined to find out more, so when I met Beth Worth, Trustee of the London Chapter at one of the huts, I grabbed her business card and a week later we were having coffee.
We quickly discovered that, along with a shared love of yellow and numbers(!), we had both come to design seeking something more fulfilling, dabbled in interior design, become disillusioned with cushions and curtains, and found what we were looking for in what I call “design for good.” For Beth, reading a book called Design Like You Give A Damn, led to her volunteering for AfH. It was really inspiring to meet someone who so passionately shares my belief that good design makes people’s lives better.
Beth’s first project was volunteering for the AfH Crisis Christmas project, offering homeless people welcoming accommodation during over the Christmas period. Following the tsunami in Japan she organized a fundraiser – a photography exhibition and auction called For Japan. “We held an open call for photographs evoking Japan and exhibited 100 of the best,” she says. “We sold every single one.”
In 2011, she worked with Cameo Musgrave, a volunteer, designer and maker, to create Love Hut, for Clerkenwell Design Week, and this year they developed that idea further to create four huts, each showing a different facet of the work AfH does. Beth said: “We held a call for volunteers and divided into four groups. The themes emerged fairly quickly: The Water Hut – demonstrating how we use and waste water, The Green Hut – an edible garden, the Textile Hut – using recycled textiles in an architectural context, and the Remakery Hut – an homage to the Brixton Remakery project; a local recycle reuse centre we’ve helped to design.”
Beth talked about AfH’s work in UK, from working with Crisis to provide accommodation for homeless people at Christmas, to the Brixton Remakery, which will transform a disused garage block near Loughborough Junction into a centre for enterprise, training and community projects based on the reuse of waste materials, bringing new life to 200 tonnes of waste materials each year, and providing training and volunteering opportunities, equipping local people with new skills. She also told me about their work further afield providing shelter for people in the wake of global crises like the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and doing so in a way that rebuilds communities and empowers local people, instead of making them dependent on aid. This TED talk by Eric Cesal is a perfect example of the humanity in Architecture for Humanity. What an inspiring cup of coffee – thank you Beth!
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- review :: may design review
- out and about :: house of detention, cdw2013
- out and about :: farmiloe building, cdw2013
- out and about :: design exquis
Drawings by Cameo Musgrave. Photography by Peter Landers.
incroyable. thanks. Wendy Weikel