It's difficult some times to related the experience of the Design Fellow. Oliver Kienzi, working on the Kalebuka Football for Hope Centre in Lubumbashi, DR Congo, sheds light on his day-to-day–familiar circumstances for anyone designing architecture in the more technologically-inaccessible corners of the world.

Hats off to our design fellows for doing what they do - some sort of design superheros with laptops and tolerances for humidity, brownouts, and the occasional two-hour bus ride to a cancelled meeting. Design for humanity: easier said than done.

How can designers offer youth a chance to participate in community change? In what ways can youth contribute, and what is the potential impact?

On August 7, the Association of Defense Communities Annual Conference in Monterey was buzzing with conversation and questions about future phases of the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Dozens of American military bases hang on a determination from Congress whether or not to shut down–decisions that will affect the lives of tens of thousands of servicemen and women, and the neighboring communities supporting them.

Architecture for Humanity has joined the conversation.

Call them a "Haitian artist collective." Twenty creatives have been invited through an RFP to design, build and install Civic Art in Schools through microgrants sponsored by the Digicel Foundation and Deutsche Bank.

The Grant program, launched last Summer, engaged local Haitian artists with various schools around the country. A year later, nine schools have become the recipients of art pieces developed by artists in collaboration with the students of the school. They're not all installed yet, but we couldn't contain ourselves to show off the work accomplished to date. The past few weeks have been a flurry of putting wrapped sculptures in truck beds and driving them from artist studios to school courtyards in Port-au-Prince, Léogane, Ceverine, Croix des Bouquets and elsewhere.

Tohoku sees frigid winters that can stop construction, well, cold. It's a reminder to us to adopt the familiar mission to "take full advantage of Summer," in a construction sense. (We'll talk more about winter projects in just a bit.)

The end of July marks the half-way point for the Tohoku construction season, and we figured we could take stock of how our collaborative rebuilding projects are helping the tsunami-stricken region recover. The four featured cast a wide net of methods, materials and the unique conditions demanding their careful consideration.

Starting next week Architecture for Humanity will be showcased at three venues in Venice. The most important of these is the unveiling of the winners of the 2011 Open Architecture Challenge: Unrestricted Access. We are currently recreating a military bunker in the heart of the Future Steps exhibition with an awesome presentation. We will offer prizes for those who post the best photos of them using it in cammo!

Secondly our friends at Studio 427 and Moleskine are launching their 'Better World' symposium with co-founder Cameron Sinclair

Finally we are honored to be a sponsor of the American Pavilion and its show "Spontaneous Interventions", which includes many projects from Design Like You Give A Damn [2] and our local chapters in Chicago and New York. Cameron Sinclair will join a panel discussion on Aug 28th on transforming intervention into long term action.

Illac Diaz from My Shelter Foundation in the Philippines, sends us news on the impacts of flooding in the Philippines. We had worked with Illac previously on the Bottle School project after Typhoon Ketsana.

We made a fundraiser this last Sunday with rock bands and food relief drives. It ended successfully at 2:00 am and I am now recovered and heading back to the office.

There is a severe typhoon arriving tomorrow so we are bracing for the storms again. Tropical storm Haikui has left a death toll of 60 however, there is a larger one looming ahead.

One million people are listed as displaced in official counts but this is probably more as there are many more that prefer to stay in their homes with limited water, food, and lighting than head for already crowded evacuation centers. The problem as in the past is once the storm recedes, the disease started escalating, making the few and limited overcrowded areas less of a long term recovery area.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Architecture for Humanity
press@architectureforhumanity.org

In response to disastrous flooding this week in Manila, the Philippines, Architecture for Humanity is launching a long-term disaster response program to help rebuild and mitigate against similar future disasters in the region.

Bilang tugon sa mapinsalang pagbabaha sa Maynila, at mga karatig-pook sa Pilipinas – inilunsad ng Architecture for Humanity ang isang pang-matagalang programa na makakatulong sa muling pagbangon, at makakatulong sa pagharap sa mga kalamidad tulad ng pagbahang naganap.

On August 6, the Tropical Storm Haikui brought two days of heavy rains that caused massive flooding and landslides throughout the capital city of Manila in the Philippines. Over 800,000 people were evacuated from their homes and 250,000 people have moved into emergency shelters. It is estimated that 2 million people live in informal settlements in high-risk areas along riverbeds that are prone to flooding.

Noong ika-6 ng Agosto, dalawang araw ng matinding pag-ulan ang dala ng Tropical Storm Haikui. Nagdulot ito ng pagbaha at mga “landslide” sa Maynila. Higit sa 800,000 tao ang lumikas sa kanilang mga tahanan, at may 250,000 tao ang inilipat na sa mga emerhensiyang kanlungan. Tinatantiya na may 2 milyon katao ang nakatira sa mga high-risk o mapanganib na mga lugar, malapit sa mga “riverbeds” na madalas bahain.

Read the latest information about the Philippines floods.

Manila and much of the island of Luzon was flooded after an epic 3.24m of rain fell in less than 24 hours, this is following 2 days of non-stop rain. Meanwhile a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit offshore of Lubang; the area is experiencing aftershocks.