Challenge #1 is drawing to a close and Architecture for Humanity is in the lead with 69% of the votes! Thank you to all who submitted the awesome shadow pictures and voted. For those of you that want to get involved, it's not too late. Join team Architecture for Humanity. Also, stay tuned for Ze's announcement of Challenge #2 tomorrow (can't wait to hear what he has up his sleeve). Funds raised will be used to improve schools around the world.

IDEO, San Francisco, winners of the Urban Classroom Upgrade category in the 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom will present a lunchtime lecture at SPUR, focused on their design for a school in a low income neighborhood in Hyderabad, India. The lecture will highlight the tremendous potential for design and the challenges faced in school design in the developing world. This session will be part of a larger Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom exhibition at SPUR, San Franciscio from January 12 - February 26, 2010. Stay tuned for more details.

Work for Design Like You Give a Damn 2 is underway. Please lend a hand by submitting nominations for projects that highlight breakthrough design solutions with the power and potential to improve our lives and the world. These designs may improve the human spirit, increase awareness of the environment, or respond to areas of need in the world, whether to provide shelter and clean water or address climate change and humanitarian crises. Click here to see the nomination entries to date.

A bold and ambitious public works plan for the Colombian city of Medellín that helped revitalize its poorest neighborhoods and transform what was considered the deadliest city in the world into a vibrant, urban hub is the winner of the 2009 Curry Stone Design Prize. The winner and finalists were recognized at the IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky - view the ceremony online.

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Rain has graced the lands of Central Province in Kenya, transforming the landscape, and the Mahiga Hope Net-Positive Rainwater Court is feeding off the growth. The project is moving swiftly towards approvals in the coming weeks and construction by the first of the year.

Design Fellow, Greg Elsner, worked with the the inaugural class of Mahiga High School to lay out the court design as a preview for a recent site visit by the team from Architecture For Humanity and Mahiga Hope School partners, the Nobelity Project and 50x15.

Thank you to all who submitted the Challenge school survey. We are in the process of researching sustainable solutions for charter schools and working to expand that effort to more innovative ideas in education design. Starting with the charter school model, Architecture for Humanity is exploring sustainable design solutions (as well as financing models) which can translate to private and public schools.

Architecture For Humanity spent the week attending the Sports For Social Change Network Brazil conference in Sao Paulo. While in Brazil, Cameron Sinclair and Michael Jones from Architecture For Humanity joined Mel Young from Homeless World Cup and the team from Nike to meet with potential Community Partners and Architects for the GameChangers 2010 Homeless World Cup Legacy project.

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Yesterday we launched the final 'do a latte good' auction for 2009. Here is your chance to donate to Architecture for Humanity and have a one on one coffee with one of our clients, supporters or employees. It's simple, you bid and 100% of the proceeds go towards improving the living standards of communities around the world.
Until November 12th you can bid on:

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Join Architecture for Humanity in supporting this exclusive Bay Area screening of the documentary 'Visual Acoustics' at the Lumiere Theatre, San Francisco - opening this Friday Nov 6th, for one week only; there is a panel discussion after the Saturday 7:00pm screening. Also showing at Shattuck Cinema, Berkeley.

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Join Architecture for Humanity in supporting this exclusive Bay Area screening of the documentary 'Visual Acoustics' at the Lumiere Theatre, San Francisco and the Shattuck Cinema, Berkeley - opening this Friday Nov 6th, for one week only; there is a panel discussion after the Saturday 7:00pm screening at the Lumiere.

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Architecture for Humanity will be holding a joint happy hour with Catapult Design for staff and supporters of both organizations to meet or catch up with each other, and learn about what innovative new projects are taking place in the field of humanitarian design.

All supporters welcome!

San Francisco artist and architect Candace Silvey invites you to her opening at Andalu Restaurant (16th st @ Guerrero) in San Francisco! She will be showing traditional gelatin silver prints, polaroids, and color inkjet prints of the color squares.

The opening is taking place Monday, November 2nd. Food will be served starting at 5:30, half price drink specials start at 9. And the best part?! 10% of proceeds will be donated to Architecture for Humanity! So get out there and check it out!

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Our good friend Ze Frank has organized a multi-player challenge to raise money for two non-profits, The Nature Conservancy and us (yay). Watch the video and you'll find out how to join in and help us raise much needed funds for improving the state of schools around the world.

Join team Architecture for Humanity

At 2pm local time the Skateistan team opened Kabul's largest indoor sports facility and skate park. The opening commenced with short greetings from dignitaries and followed with a skateboarding demonstration by Afghan girls and boys together with internationally renowned professional skateboarders on the newly built ramps and obstacles.

Congrats to Ollie and the entire Skateistan team for this monumental achievement. Special thanks to Nike and the Gamechangers initiative for helping fund the center.

This month heralded the end of our four years of working in Biloxi. The final home, the Porch Dog by Marlon Blackwell is now complete.

We began work on the Gulf Coast in October 2005 and have implemented, supported and funded projects in East Biloxi, Waveland, Bay St. Louis and New Orleans. In the coming weeks we will write up a full report (and photos by the amazing Iwan Baan) of all the impact made by the organization but most importantly the dozens of firms and thousands of volunteers whose dedication and hard work help build back the coast.

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The online auction ended last night and netted over $2500 for Architecture for Humanity. Funds will be put into our expanding design fellowships programs, allowing us to provide more professional design services to communities in need around the world.

Join us for a festive Holiday party in the new Collaborate space, co-hosted by Architecture for Humanity, Rubicon, Lulan Artisans, Project H Design, Idea Builder, Urban Revision and all of the Collaborate tenants, celebrating the season with sponsors, fellows, friends and family.

The 2009 WISE offers a 3-day open and insightful program featuring 3 major plenary sessions, 20 specific collaborative break-out sessions and a Gala Dinner to address the challenges of Pluralism, Sustainability and Innovation and in order to highlight latest achievements, groundbreaking initiatives and future perspectives in the field of education. WISE is also a 72 hour networking-platform which will provide opportunities to develop international and cross-disciplinary connection

Co-founder Cameron Sinclair and program manager Michael Jones join Mel Young of the Homeless World Cup to talk about their upcoming project in Brazil.

The team behind the Plastiki expedition will discuss what it has taken to build a 60ft catamaran almost entirely from reclaimed plastic water bottles and self-reinforced PET, a uniquely recyclable and relatively unexplored material. They will highlight the research, development and discoveries made along the way.

Nathaniel Corum, Architecture For Humanity will discuss the geodesic cabin design, it’s inspiration and the possible post expedition aspirations.

Price: Free with RSVP to Missioncontrolsf@theplastiki.com
Location: The Plastiki - Mission Control, Pier 45, The Embarcadero at Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94133