The incredible Kimisagara Football for Hope center is nominated for Educational Building of the Year by Arch Daily, the worlds' most read architecture site. Check out the project and vote here

The center is just one of 20 designed and built by Architecture for Humanity in partnership with streetfootballworld and FIFA as legacy programs from the 2010 World Cup.

(Further coverage by FastCo.DESIGN)

One of our favorite "+" firms, Perkins+Will, announced last week the completion of a new kind of classroom.

The Sprout Space, formerly the PeaPod, was conceived in response to the 2009 Classroom Challenge hosted by Architecture for Humanity and the Open Architecture Network. Meeting criteria in sustainability and innovation, the design won the design competition's Relocatable Classroom Design category.

In other words, the category called for a 21st Century response to the ubiquitous and and underdesigned modular classroom unit. The Sprout Space is an affordable environmental response, designed "from the inside out."

“Where would we be without you!?! The expertise you've provided and the partners you've connected us to have fueled our vision.”
- John Engle, Co-Director, Haiti Partners

“I admire the participatory and collaborative method of Architecture for Humanity. It’s an approach that has impressed a lot of people. We have faith that the project will come off properly.”
- Will Civil, member of Komite Humanitaire de Villa Rosa and resident of Morne Rosa

"Among our students, some may become lawyers, other doctors or architects to help this country, and the first step is this school."
- Wilson d'Or, Headmaster, Collège Mixte Le Bon Berger, Montrouis

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Our third annual update on our long-term post disaster work in Haiti finds the Rebuilding Center continuing its holistic strategy to rebuild buildings, neighborhoods, industries and economies.

A competition to redesign what is perhaps Haiti's most iconic building has cultivated a rich variety of large-scale climate and culture sensitive concepts from across the world. This week the results were announced and the fate of Notre Dame de l'Assomption in Port-au-Prince seems to be sealed.

The Architecture for Humanity Haiti office joined their upstairs neighbors (and periodic collaborators) YCF Group and Italian architecture firm ACRA CONSULTING to submit their vision last month. Although it did not win, their proposal is just too delicious to be kept to a digital drawer.

Haitian news magazine Tele Metropole last month featured the Elie Dubois school, a historic Port-au-Prince campus recovering from the 2010 earthquake. The school's next phase of construction, sponsored in part by Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) and the Interamerican Development Bank (BID), will renew the two-story historic classroom building that dates back to the early 20th Century.

Originally posted on Students Rebuild

As anticipated, the Kitakami Market was inspected on Christmas Day–and provisionally approved! (Provided, that is, that the old temporary market be removed–see below). Everyone at the inspection was very happy about the project, and Ms. Sato is especially excited to get everything moved in by the middle of the month.

With less than a month until the submission deadline (ahem, February 1st), the Guerrilla Green challenge is making headway with spectacular proposals from across the United States - the count is at 40 and growing. We really can't think of a better way to kick off a new year than with brilliant teens working for environmental change within their schools.

With that said, we'd like to spotlight Youth Rock the Rebuild, a group of student musicians who perform to raise money for the betterment of humanity.

The Guerrilla Green Sustainable Showdown, part funded by school rock bands, challenges teens to turn innovative ideas into impactful solutions. We're accepting teen-created proposals through February 1st, 2013.

Guerrilla Green is a growing movement of frustrated young people tired of waiting for sustainable transformation in the built environment. The place they spend most of their time, the school campus, is usually built with little care to future generations and in some cases contain toxins that increase the risk of cancer in students and teachers. As more schools push for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) very few give an outlet for practical and tangible results.

Happy Boxing Day!

We celebrate today* by taking stock of another incredible year of building change around the world. This is the 14th edition of this letter and returning readers will know - grab a mug of tea, a few left over snacks and settle in for our year in review.