Ken Smith and Stacey McMahan are familiar names by now in Architectureforhumanityland. Ken, a Design Fellow and Landscape Architect, has worked on a slew of different collaborative endeavors from Headquarters. Stacey is a LEED-AP architect and principal/green studio director at Koch Hazard Architects (Sioux Falls), and recently finished a year-long tour of duty with the Haiti Rebuilding Center directing sustainable design in Port-au-Prince. This week, these two social design superstars are meeting in Accra to participate in a design charrette for child-focused urban spaces for Ghana.

Last year, the Mmofra Foundation launched the Playtime in Africa Initiative, envisioning "a sustainably designed child-focused park and centre in Ghana, which inspires creativity, fosters play and educates through hands-on discovery." The Initiative includes an intensive design charrette building off the Foundation's previous work, a rare published work on play in Ghana, and the ideas of leading designers from around the world. Ken gave a brief introduction (@ 9:25) to this project last March at one of our Design Open Mics.

We are very fortunate to have two representatives of Architecture for Humanity attending these design meetings, and are especially appreciative of Koch Hazard for sponsoring Stacey's participation. We couldn't think of a better two folks to help craft child-focused spaces, and look forward to seeing the project develop in the coming months.