AMD and Architecture for Humanity Announce World’s Largest Architecture Prize at TED 2007
3/19/2007

In Monterey, California each year, more than 1,000 thought-leaders from the Technology, Entertainment, and Design industries come together at the TED Conference to learn, dream, and find new ways to improve the world in which we live. At last year’s conference, Cameron Sinclair, founder of Architecture for Humanity (AFH), was awarded one of the coveted TED Prizes, which granted him one wish to change the world. Sinclair and AFH set out to challenge designers to reach beyond the traditional bounds of architecture to develop innovative solutions that improve global living conditions through the implementation of the Open Architecture Network (OAN), an open source online gathering place that brings together architects, designers, and community organizers to freely share blueprints, ideas, and resources for improvement projects.

This year at TED, AMD expanded on this wish and introduced the largest prize in the field of architecture – the $250,000 Open Architecture Prize – which is expected to draw competition from design teams around the world. Each year, a winning design will be selected from a field of low-cost, sustainable design projects and built in a selected community. The first project for the Open Architecture Prize will be an “e-community center,” a centralized building equipped with Internet connectivity solutions designed to enable an entire community to access the transformative power of the Internet.

“For far too long, many great award-winning designs have gone undeveloped,” said Cameron Sinclair, winner of last year’s TED Prize and founder of Architecture for Humanity. “Through the Open Architecture Network and the Open Architecture Prize, we are not only challenging the creative world to design innovative structures, we are going one step further and implementing the winning solution to positively affect thousands of lives.”

The winning design will be built as part of the prize and in alignment with the 50x15 Initiative, helping to make a lasting impact in communities worldwide and push closer to the ambitious goal of connecting 50 percent of the world’s population to the Internet by the year 2015. The creative designs developed in this competition will contribute to the next generation of 50x15 Learning Labs and have the opportunity to positively impact millions of people.

Although there will be only one winning solution, there are sure to be many brilliant ideas brought out by the competition. To ensure these ideas do not go to waste, Architecture for Humanity will make all of the designs available on the Open Architecture Network. At this point, we cannot predict all of the wonderful effects that this design competition will have, but we will be sure to keep you posted. And if you’re a designer, what’re you waiting for? Come change the world with us: www.openarchitecturenetwork.org.