The rise of humanitarian architecture

Extract

I started feeling – and subsequently expressing – that I did not want to be that kind of architect practising that type of architecture, as I had been previously trained. I wanted to work in the villages for the non-rich. I wanted to serve not the conventional but the alternative client, the un-served client: the villager, the slum dweller, the poor, and the marginalised.

Why should architects be involved in humanitarian work and the often-complex projects needed to deal with the recovery of post-disaster emergencies? How can the design profession contribute to the longterm reconstruction processes needed to ensure the effective rebuilding of vulnerable communities after disaster?