Happy return for Sinclair

After what fellow blogger Mel Starrs described yesterday as “a funny old week” involving a range of heated discussions it was refreshing to hear from a man of action. Step forward then Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, who gave a lecture last night at the RSA. Sinclair’s work, which was described by RSA chairman Luke Johnson, who also presented him with a medal for achievement, as “astonishing and exemplary”, was the centre of attention this time, which again was refreshing. Last time he was back to his home city in the Spring he got himself embroiled in a rather ugly spat with Zaha Hadid.

Hearing Sinclair’s story – from South London to San Francisco and from a bedroom evening venture to within a decade a global charity and tea (or whatever you drink there) at the White House – and Johnson’s description was no hyperbole. This guy is pretty amazing and he also come across as amusing, self deprecating as well as passionate and driven. How annoying is that?

Anyhow there were quite a few highlights from the lecture, some of which were captured on Twitter. Having the audience of largely young designers in the palm of his hands he urged architects to dedicate some time to the kind of work that his organisation has excelled in, ie. exporting ideas and expertise globally. “I would urge every single designer to spend four hours of you time to impact on other people’s lives” he said. A few main themes to emerge from that stood out for me:

• The American example: Sinclair powerfully drew out his organisation’s work in the southern states in the face of Katrina. As Sinclair was at pains to highlight poverty is not usually that far from our doorsteps in the so-called developed world. He desribed the “criminal neglect” from the Government in responding to the crisis and how Architecture for Humanity actually listened to people affected by Katrina.. and then acted. This is in contrast to those that present wildly ambitious masterplans for area, which rarely if ever lead to change. “If you elevate expectations in communities then walk away it’s worse than if you don’t turn up in the first place”. Sinclair is an arch doer and realised that in order for his organisation to make things happen it needed to get cash before fancy designs. “Ghandi said Be the Change. he was wrong: you have to be the Bank”. This approach allied with and open approach that brought together architects directly with the clients – the residents – bore remarkable fruit. Pretty much all of the East Biloxi was rebuilt without Government money, Sinclair explained. All this through a bottom approach to development, design and construction.
• Openness and agility: Sinclair is a self confessed geek and that has fed through to his organisation’s work, in particular with it’s Open Architecture Network site. It’s heartening to see some of the principles that you hear about – collaboration, open source, community-driven ideas – actually happening.
• Sustainability is survival: The title of his lecture, so not surprisingly a theme that Sinclair came back to. Sustainability means a lot of things to a lot of people for Sinclair it is absolutely integral to his clients. That could be adaptation to climate change that is happening now, to creating houses that are truly affordable in terms of upfront and operational terms for residents.

So all in all inspiring stuff. As many of us get increasingly gloomier about future prospects, whether that is economically, environmentally or socially, we need more Cameron Sinclairs.

Related posts:

1. A happy customer How going green can make savings for housebuyers ...
2. Return of the green belt debate ...
3. Shock Brutalist Loves of a Sustainabile Icon ...
4. Net curtains – the return ...
5. Open House does its bit ...