Cynthia E. Smith

Salvage Shed


Many families are still crowded into one-bedroom FEMA trailers even 2 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf Coast. The Building Goodness Foundation has been providing relief to these cramped conditions building extra rooms for storage or a living room, even an extra bedroom.
Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, Gulf Coast, disaster, FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, trailers, housing, shelter, shed, space, Building Goodness Foundation, relief, conditions, Mississippi, Pearlington, Brad Guy, Bryan Bell, Sergio Palleroni, materials, demolished, reuse, re-use, Design Corps, Summer Studio, students, community, Matt Abel, tools, storage, Billy Ray Raine, salvage, salvaged, showcase, alternative, solutions, local, immediate, needs

Doing more with less


The Buckminster Fuller Institute has announced an annual award named in honor of the innovator has been described as a “philosopher of shelter”.
Buckminster Fuller Institute, financial, $100000, award, annual, Buckminster Fuller, honor, innovator, problem solving, solution, innovation, limited, energy, appropriate, usage, resource, maximum, positive, impact

Light Filters Water


A low cost UV water filter is making an impact in the field. Mexican non-profit Niparaja teamed with AquaStar and the local Technological Institute on the design of the low cost UV Bucket water filter.
low cost, affordable, inexpensive, UV, ultraviolet, bucket, water filter, impact, Mexico, non-profit, NGO, Niparaja, AquaStar, Technological Institute, disinfection, module, water, lamp, rate, purify, purifying, fabrication, distribution, rural, population, Baja Sur, school, federation, chain store, DICONSA, Mexican, Ministry of Social Affairs, stores, nationwide

Rope Pumps


The show was conceived to begin a conversation and provoke discussion about the broad range of ways various organizations and individuals are addressing the underpinnings of poverty through design innovations. The selected objects tell a story and are windows into the numerous ways these groups are providing direct solutions
Exhibition, Design for the Other 90%, discussion, conversation, address, underpinnings, poverty, innovations, story, rope pump, technology, adapt, water, supply, local, materials, production, repair, profit-based, sustainability, Practica Foundation, Netherlands, Holland, Zimbabwe, Millenium Development Goals, cultural acceptance, simplicity, efficiency, durability, volume, low cost, affordable

Video: In Their Own Words


What is the best way to convey the spirit of the work being done around the world? Footage of the exhibition objects being used in the locations where they are normally used helps provide context.
spirit, work, World, footage, context, Exhibition, Design for the Other 90%, Interview, contributor, Botswana, video, themes, open source, options, leapfrog, technology, economic, impacts, community, buildings, testing, end-user, research, low-cost, affordable, innovations, social enterprise, Humanitarian, entrepreneurship, improved, democracies, calls to action

Full Circle


Though we knew that we may find it tough to ship several of the objects, our registrars and exhibitions department have had to make extraordinary efforts to make arrangements to bring objects from remote areas around the world.
shipping, objects, registrar, Exhibition, remote, locations, Nigeria, Mohammed Bah Abba, Pot-in-Pot Cooler, low cost, low-cost, affordable, refrigeration, Chad, war-torn, alternate, source, explanation, practical action, EF Schumacher, economist, non-profit, NGO, appropriate, technology, poverty, small is beautiful, influence, Humanitarian, local, solutions, demand

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