The most obvious answer to local volunteering that involves architecture is Habitat for Humanity. This is free, and usually have these in most cities.

Check twice the help needed for Peace Corps though. From what I remember, the closest offerings they have to architecture work is related to civil engineering- builiding drinking wells, agriculture work, and such. Times may have changed though, as this was 5 years ago.

Other than that, you may want to try Red cross, as they do disaster relief for the US and abroad, which would involve building shelters.

thanks nautilaz.

good point about pc, i will try to find out about the exact nature of projects they can involve me in... i noticed on the preliminary application questionnaire there were no direct questions about building, nor was there an option for selecting "architecture" for "educational background" and this did get me a bit concerned.

i am wondering if anyone here knows architects that joined the peace corps and what kind of projects they ended up working on?

have you looked into arch for humanity or arch w/o borders?

How about www.homesforourtroops.org?

My firm was hired by the Red Cross to assist here in Arizona. They have a whole staff in Washington of both architects and facilty managers. My experience was Red Cross is that it remains a fairly well off charity in terms of both financial and professional resources. You may get local experience but there are already fairly extensive resources in house. The YMCA and YWCA are similar.

My point is I would try to do pro bono with a more local, non- national charity- for instance I am volunteering on master planning and assisting with a shelter for abused women and kids here in Tucson- or volunteer with habitat for humanity which has local staffs which by design operate independently of national.

somebody asked...

How can I volunteer in Gaza? - Yahoo! Answers Volunteer opportunities are available in Gaza and the West Bank. ....
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090104150236AAlQdmG - 114k - Cached - Similar pages -

A sublink links to this. but try others... a lot of architects building help needed. if you want...

Americorp pays you while you volunteer. They have community development, disaster relief, affordable housing as volunteer options. You probably wouldn't even have to leave Detroit.

The Michigan peace corp office/representative should be able to tell you what you can do being a licensed architect. I wanted to volunteer after my Barch and found out I wouldn't know enough (seems obvious now) to help architecturally. I also thought alot about how much help I would be to anyone, sometimes volunteering is actually just taking a paying job away from a native worker. But all in all peace corp is mostly a good thing.

good luck.

thanks for all the great suggestions:

- i will keep reporting on how it goes, maybe others will find this discussion useful and maybe other opportunities might surface from this discussion

- i have looked into habitat for humanity and red cross and find that opportunities are not directly architecture related: it's either raw construction labor, fundraising, accounting etc. and never design or architecture... am wondering how the decisions for their designs are made and will attempt this week to dive deeper into the local chapters of this organization to find out...

- i like the idea of americorps, i will look into it

- flipside, thanks for sharing about the pro bono work you are doing with tucson's local chapter of habitat for humanity... that is exactly the kind of project i would like to get involved with... may i ask how you approached them?

- has anyone here ever worked with native american groups, doing pro bono work, how would i go about finding any opportunity with these groups?

Actually I am assisting with masterplanning for a local childrens shelter. I got involved by asking to just help, (they are a fantastic resource to the region) and when they found out I was an architect they asked me to help with master planning, rezoning, interior design of play areas etc- it all just just took off. I asked to be reimbursed for expenses and donated my services.

I mentioned habitat because I have worked with them in 3 cities and each varies a lot. Several chapters I worked with had had rough experiences with architects- they view their mission as providing shelter first and believe this service should be the agenda and not what they view as another agenda of art or personal expression. Some of the chapters over time opened up and design became possible but it always remained secondary to shelter-

Call them up, go through orientation, go in with a team attitude and it is very rewarding. These groups look to promote and groom those who want to help. I found also that if you start out as a laborer- "I just want to help"- this sends a much more welcomed message and can often lead to opportunities more quickly than- I have a masters, eight years experience, four awards and I am here to deliver you.

ooooo-
I was not suggesting that that was your approach but Habitat gets that all the time.
I started by working with their prototype- the design has evolved over time and is very economical in consideration of lack of waste of standard materials and ease of construction by unskilled amateurs. But consider it is evolving- they want it to improve- so you can contribute and their is a role for design

Serial postings- sorry.

Another group to consider assisting with are churches- if you attend a medium or small church approach the pastor and see if there is an opportunity. Even if nothing is currently moving forward you can assist with developing a long term master plan/ zoning assistance and fundraising through renderings.

The larger churches usually retain an architect to fend his way through a large committee/ congregation/ politics but cash is short for the smaller congregations and this can be very rewarding as well for a balance of masterplanning and architecture.

Good luck!
.

oooo, this is a great thread, thanks for posting your question

j, your suggestion would be a good one if it wasn't for the fact that my community service was with a small nonprofit, a regional museum, in a place very far away from Detroit... the woman running that nonprofit died and along with her died the nonprofit...

flipside, thanks for all those awesome suggestions!

I worry strongly about this attitude if you are truly interested in helping others. In fact, there are many things that worry me about this statement, including architectural ones. Do you not think that raw construction, project management, etc have anything to teach you about design? Conversely, do you not think that design opportunities would be evident if you involve yourself through these vehicles? Yikes.

since your in detroit.....

call up the 'detroit hispanic development center' and talk to angie.. shes the head there....i have done work for them/etc..

mantaray:

your comment is most valid and perhaps i was not clear enough when i described my intentions...

i am interested in finding a FIT between what i have to offer and who may need it. i offer architectural design services of someone with about 10 years of experience, i have a passionate interest in earth construction and minimally processed building materials and i am looking to find WHO could use my skills and interests. i am willing to do volunteer work if it can engage my skills and interests...

right now, i am not looking to do volunteer work just for the sake of doing volunteer work... if this was the case, i could just go help a soup kitchen, shelter, etc...

by "raw construction" i meant physical work in construction... due to the toxic nature of materials employed by organizations such as habitat for humanity, things such as vinyl siding, i am not able to do this work as i have chemical sensitivity to many of the materials that these construction projects utilize... this is, partially, why i am very much into this minimally processed "earthy" construction materials.

i do find that design is present in any undertaking and yes, design opportunities become evident in any work... my experiences, thus far, have taught me that it is often more productive to become involved with like-minded groups as this kind of cooperation often builds upon a certain fruitful synergy...

oooo