This year an organization I co-founded celebrated its tenth year. Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit design services firm, is made up of a network of thousands of design and building professionals willing to lend time and expertise to help those who would not otherwise be able to afford their services....

In pages and pages of press about what's going wrong in Afghanistan emerges a story of hope. Last Thursday marked the official opening of the Skateistan skate park, Kabuls' largest indoor sports facility. Two years in the making, this center is a testament to a group of national and international...

A few weeks ago, I spent a few nights up at Sea Ranch on the Northern California shoreline. I had heard of pioneering landscape architect Lawrence Halprin when I moved to the Bay Area and when the local design community spoke of him, it was as a true living...

The first woman admitted into the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Julia Morgan, designed an astounding 700 buildings during her career. What makes Ms. Morgan's life truly groundbreaking was that she was also California's first female architect.

Morgan discovered architecture from architect Pierre LeBrun, a cousin, and interned with...

This year Architecture for Humanity turned ten. Its mission to provide pro bono design services to communities in need has led to more than 750,000 people living, learning, working or healing in buildings designed and built by international teams of design professionals.

The last 12 months have been spooky....

For the past nine months we've been facing an odd predicament, hiring in a down market. Since the beginning of 2009 we've been taking on about one person a month and are still looking to fill eight more positions. You read that right, eight. I know that will hardly...

I'm not really great writing about politics but found myself in an odd situation of keynoting the same event as Sarah Palin in Hong Kong. I happened to give a talk in Anchorage the day after she spoke at the Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center in Alaska just after...

Something strange has happened over in old Blighty. I'm not sure if the Utopian dreams of the 1960's are making a comeback or if a new movement, one grounded in reality but focused on our future, has taken shape. No matter how cynical you are, you can't ignore one of...

We don't talk about it, we don't even acknowledge it, but the human trafficking of men is alive and well. It's a global issue that affects the service industry, agriculture and the construction industry. In this economic downturn it is getting worse. In the US, the percentage of reported...

During a lunchtime assembly President Barack Obama will announce to students, teachers and parents, "I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms... ...but you've got to do your part too." Fortunately for him, a global network has spent the better part of a year already doing their part.

I thought it was a joke. You know, now twitter has recovered from its Thursday trauma some pranksters start spreading rumors that Paris Hilton would build a $300,000 dog house. Turns out, it's true and she has. They were wrong about the price, it was $25,000 more.

Having...

Last week I traveled with Yele Haiti down to Haiti to see if my organization could provide professional design and building services for a couple of projects on the ground. What I found was a country very different from what was reported in the media or gleaned from...

Throughout the nation car lots are dotted with "cash for clunkers" signs and the auto industry are licking their chops to help get those with rusty gas guzzlers traded in for a slightly more efficient new ride. As the Cash for Clunkers program hits its projected target, and is now...

Today Michelle Obama will host a luncheon at the White House as part of the National Design Awards. Introduced in 2000, this is an official project of the White House Millennium Council and hosted by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

The Cooper-Hewitt and its parent, the Smithsonian, are making design...

Today saw the opening of the 101st National Governors Association meeting in the heart of the Gulf Coast. This pow wow is not only a gathering of governors from across the state but with a bold theme: Strengthening Our Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future. Led by...

At TED Global UK PM Gordon Brown made a rather remarkable speech about bringing the world together through a shared and common goal. Nothing can be more unifying than the improvement of education for all children on this planet.

What began as a simple question two years ago has sparked...

At the Aspen Ideas Festival on Wednesday Secretary Arne Duncan was under the spotlight on his plans to revamp the education system in America. With $100B in play, there is a lot of opportunity to encourage and support innovative educational reform and there was no denying his passion and eloquence...

In honor of Frank Lloyd Wrights' birthday (June 8) Google SketchUp partnered with The Guggenheim Museum to launch a competition to design a simple shelter. By using Google SketchUp and Google Earth you can choose any site and create any basic dwelling (without water, gas or electricity). While...

Today saw the release of HOME, a new film by acclaimed filmmakers Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Luc Besson. What makes this event exceptional is that it is the first film to be released simultaneously in the cinema, on TV, on DVD and via the Internet across the globe. This evening...

Roland Saekow, a product design major at University of California Berkeley just graduated. He, like many students graduating this year, has been involved in pushing the sustainable agenda. He helped to pass the Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) legislation on his campus, which generates $200,000 annually for green projects at Berkeley....