So, Given the recent news confirming for the public that architects are in a very low risk category for that disease otherwise known as making bank, I'm wondering if anyone here has worked for, started, or been affiliated with an architecture non-profit that was also operating in some capacity as a design studio.
We're not talking AnyCorp or AfH - looking for offices doing design work under the umbrella of non-profits - perhaps Design Corps or Architecture Research Institute fit the bill.
They've gotta be out there, and there have significant benefits - Thoughts?
h1, you might want to check out Bryan Bell's "Good Deeds, Good Design" and Cameron Sinclair's forthcoming book "Design Like you Give a Damn," both of which highlight many nonprofit activities taking place around the world.
Having just spent the summer volunteering for an upstart design/build nonprofit evenings and weekends, I can see now why there are so few people out there who are able to do this type of work as their main living. I have outlined some of the reasons I believe that is the case below.
It's very hard to get funding to set up anything resembling a formal studio. It's difficult to find donors who will understand and appreciate your desire to have the physical space, the equipment, and most of all the time to approach projects similarly to the way they're approached in design oriented firms or the academic environment.
Foundations and individual donors are looking for their monies to be spent primarily on construction...and construction of housing at that. Donors don't percieve anything to be "wrong" with the housing already being built by Habitat and others and so are going to be reluctant to give designers money to "fix" it.
There is also not much understanding among the monied/powerful of the need in poor communities for building types other than housing. Its often assumed that government agencies, municipalities, or just the forces of the free market will build the schools, shops, restaurants, cinemas, community centers, parks, places of worship, and so on that a community needs to thrive. As architects we need to do a better job of breaking down these preceptions.
Universities, in theory, may be more supportive of these types of activities if you can bring them to the table, but unfortunately are MUCH more reluctant to get involved than one might think.
All that being said, I would not trade my experiences for anything. I was able to develop a much deeper, more personal relationship with a group of clients that I ever have been able to in an office setting. That relationship created a trust on both sides that resulted in our having freedom with design decisions I've never experienced anywhere else.
Architecture 401(c)(3)
So, Given the recent news confirming for the public that architects are in a very low risk category for that disease otherwise known as making bank, I'm wondering if anyone here has worked for, started, or been affiliated with an architecture non-profit that was also operating in some capacity as a design studio.
We're not talking AnyCorp or AfH - looking for offices doing design work under the umbrella of non-profits - perhaps Design Corps or Architecture Research Institute fit the bill.
They've gotta be out there, and there have significant benefits - Thoughts?
h1, you might want to check out Bryan Bell's "Good Deeds, Good Design" and Cameron Sinclair's forthcoming book "Design Like you Give a Damn," both of which highlight many nonprofit activities taking place around the world.
Having just spent the summer volunteering for an upstart design/build nonprofit evenings and weekends, I can see now why there are so few people out there who are able to do this type of work as their main living. I have outlined some of the reasons I believe that is the case below.
It's very hard to get funding to set up anything resembling a formal studio. It's difficult to find donors who will understand and appreciate your desire to have the physical space, the equipment, and most of all the time to approach projects similarly to the way they're approached in design oriented firms or the academic environment.
Foundations and individual donors are looking for their monies to be spent primarily on construction...and construction of housing at that. Donors don't percieve anything to be "wrong" with the housing already being built by Habitat and others and so are going to be reluctant to give designers money to "fix" it.
There is also not much understanding among the monied/powerful of the need in poor communities for building types other than housing. Its often assumed that government agencies, municipalities, or just the forces of the free market will build the schools, shops, restaurants, cinemas, community centers, parks, places of worship, and so on that a community needs to thrive. As architects we need to do a better job of breaking down these preceptions.
Universities, in theory, may be more supportive of these types of activities if you can bring them to the table, but unfortunately are MUCH more reluctant to get involved than one might think.
All that being said, I would not trade my experiences for anything. I was able to develop a much deeper, more personal relationship with a group of clients that I ever have been able to in an office setting. That relationship created a trust on both sides that resulted in our having freedom with design decisions I've never experienced anywhere else.
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