DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, September 16 from 12-1:30pm
LOCATION: Stubbins (Room 112), Gund Hall, Harvard GSD
What is the role of architects after war and natural disasters? How might design be used as a tool for social transformation? Can we avoid the ‘fly-in, fly out’ paradigm of many architects now working in the emergency field? This talk will explore these questions through the diverse global projects of Architects Without Frontiers and Charlesworth’s current field research in cities divided by urban conflict and devastated by natural disasters.
Dr Esther Charlesworth [MAUD 1995] is the founding Director of Architects without Frontiers (AWF) and an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT University, Melbourne. Since 2002, AWF has undertaken over 38 health, education and social infrastructure projects in 12 countries for vulnerable communities, and has been described by ABC radio broadcaster Phillip Adams as “destined to develop into one of the greater forces of good on this battered planet”. Charlesworth has published widely on the theme of social responsibility and architecture, including: CityEdge: Contemporary Case Studies in Urbanism (2005), Architects without Frontiers: War, Reconstruction and Design Responsibility (2006), Divided Cities (2009) The EcoEdge (2011) Live Projects (2012) Humanitarian Architecture (2014) and Sustainable Housing Reconstruction (2015).