Architecture for Humanity

Architecture for Humanity represents the finest of the new breed of architectural leadership, employing architectural skills and directing them for the larger good. - Editor in Chief of Architectural Record, Robert Ivy

The organization was founded on April 6, 1999, by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr in response to the need for immediate long-term shelter for returning refugees in Kosovo after the region's bloody conflict. After hosting a series of open design competitions, the organization began taking on a number of build projects, pairing local communities with design professionals to develop a ground-up alternative to development and reconstruction.

In 2005 it adopted an "open source" model and became the first organization in the world to utilize Creative Commons licensing system on a physical structure. To date it has worked in 45 countries and over 2.8 million people now live, work, learn, gather and heal in 2,348 places helped by Architecture for Humanity design fellows, chapter members and volunteer design professionals.

In 2006 the organization published Design Like You Give A Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises, which chronicles its early history. The second volume, DLYGAD: Building Change from the Ground Up, was published in 2012.

In 2007, Architecture for Humanity launched Open Architecture Network, allowing architects, designers, innovators and community leaders to share innovative and sustainable ideas, designs and plans.

In 2010, Architecture for Humanity acquired Worldchanging.

Stohr departed the organization in May 2013 and Sinclair followed in October 2013;. Clark Manus was made interim Executive Director before being replaced by Sam Hartwell. In 2014 former studio director Eric Cesal became Executive Director.

The staff was laid off on January 1, 2015, and the organization's San Francisco office was closed down. Among the causes for its closure are its inability to raise adequate funds after the novelty of its mission was no longer appealing. Another factor cited is that humanitarian shelter design was not considered a fundamental human right.

As a result of the TED Prize the organization worked with Sun Microsystems and Creative Commons to develop the Open Architecture Network, the first open source system for supporting sustainable and humanitarian design and architecture. This network includes project management, file sharing, a resource database and online collaborative design tools. A beta version of the site launched on March 8, 2007, at the 2007 TED Conference. It has garnered over 27,000 members and 5,000 projects. In late 2010 a version of the network was created as a mobile application that is showcased in the Museum of Modern Art.