Architectes de l'Urgence

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This was the best lecture I witnessed in attendance of the 2009 AIA convention in San Fransisco. The weekend was packed with lectures, expo, vendors, representatives, architects, students and San Fransisco. The following lecture was an explanation of the projects of Emergency Architects. This idea/firm is spreading around the globe. I had the chance to see the presentation and hear Q & A. The team is a collaboration across a number of continents. Much like Architecture for Humanity the teams devote themselves to assisting communities in developing countries. However, they do not limit themselves to merely developing countries. The premise is to devise, invent, educate, and develop techniques in areas requiring disaster relief. The disasters do NOT have to be geologic disasters. They point out inequities of existing UN, UNESCO, RedCross relief systems and devise solutions, often working with the local populations. Sometimes this results in architecture, but more likely it results in learning and education. The prominent issue that I gathered was that disaster areas need an open method of communication and and open mind to educate the local communities. The answer was NOT merely a 'super architectural' solution. An example being that a UN school had been built and while that was a helpful structure the community had NO teachers and therefore was in existence unused currently helping no one.

4 main disaster relief points learned from presentation of president Patrick Coulombel

1. provide know-how
2. transfer know-how
3. identify construction
4. implement sustainable techniques for specific population/region

The discussion and examples of architecture did a fantastic job of addressing the varying disaster relief efforts. More could have been discussed in regards to how the foundation works, is funded ( a question posed & answered), the politics of disaster relief architecture, collaborations with other pursuits/firms/agencies etc, and how to continue involvement in this process. I have since googled and looked on TED for more on this group. Most of the information resides on their websites. I would like there to be discussion regarding this topic. It was a very focused topic throughout the convention. The AIA should post soon all the lectures and their respective information. AIA seminar info

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