Design Like You Give A Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises

Edited by Architecture for Humanity, a grassroots non-profit organisation that creates opportunities for architects and designers to assist communities in need, this book is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrates the power of design to improve lives.

Design Like You Give a Damn offers a history of the movement towards socially conscious design and showcases more than eighty solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, healthcare, education, access to clean water, energy and sanitation.

The book is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organisations charged with rebuilding after disasters and engaged in the search for sustainable development. The variety of projects presented here is terrific, and as every one is placed in context the reader can learn a tremendous amount about the humanitarian possibilities of architecture. Fascinating and inspiring.

Featured Reviews

Reviewed by Samuel Carpenter, Book Buyer, RIBA Bookshops

From emergency shelters to progressive planning projects, DLYGAD showcases the brighter, constructive side of humanity in the face of trauma. The book stemmed from a project by the group Architecture for Humanity, originally founded to try and ameliorate the housing crisis in postwar Kosovo, and has a potted history of both the group and 'humanitarian design' in general. The real meat, however, is in the thumbnail sketches of mobile health clinics in South Africa, social housing in Belfast, Shigeru Ban's Paper Log House in Kobe, the Aquacube water purifier in Banda Aceh, and many, many more, including experimental and prototype designs. Inspiring and essential reading.