Open Architecture Network

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
July 2, 2008, 6:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us tonight. We are moving along nicely with the design set and want to continue developing the details.

MATERIAL AND RESOURCE RESEARCH (15 minutes)
We have posted a Resource List on Google Docs. Please continue to add resources to this document, including specifications for lifts, panels, raw materials, millwork, hinges, appliances, etc.

We have finalized our materials palette and approach (hooray!)

• Reveal Structure
• Structure as aesthetic
• “How things are created”
• Educational
• Adaptability
• Zen Chaos
• Honesty (materials/craft)
• Contrast
• Natural/Artificial
• Handmade/High-tech
• Skin and Bones
• Frame/Structure and Infill/Wrap
• Collaboration
• Kit of parts (system)
• Hybrid Materials/Assembly

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
June 18, 2008, 6:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us tonight. Thanks to everyone’s participation we are ready to share the Design Drawing Set.

DESIGN DRAWING SET REVIEW (45 minutes)
The goal for this evening is to review each groups’ designs with the intention of finalizing our preliminary design set and prepare it for code review and detail drawings. Please provide a critical eye and feedback to ensure we are prepared for this next step.

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES (15 minutes)
We have posted a document on Google Docs as well as Open Architecture Network that acts as our resource repository. Please add resources to this document, as we will use it when reaching out for sponsorship partners. Examples include, specifications for lifts, panels, raw materials, mill work, cabinetry, hinges, hardware, etc.


AREAS OF FOCUS:
ADA

• Enlarged plans of pluming for bathroom
• Enlarged detail/plans/elevations for kitchen
• Lift resource for staircase
• Lift for platform area

• Lift
• Planel
• Raw Materials
• Framing Material
• Sheet Rock (is there another “green” resource)
• Steel
• Wood (Kirei)
• Cork
• Translucent Materials
• Hinges
• Doors and Hardware
• Whiteboards
• Foam core
• Bike Racks (details)

• Framers
• Furniture Makers
• Mechanical/Electrical
• Painters
• Plummer
• Sheet Rocker
• IT/Technology Expert
• Expeditor
• Contractor

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 6:30pm

Kate Stohr will be sharing her "best practices" for reaching out to the community for in-kind support. If you are unable to attend, then please click on Sponsorship Materials listed under the
File tab.

We are moving this meeting to June 11th due to numerous schedule conflicts.

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Design Review on May 21th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
May 21, 2008, 6:30-7:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us tonight. We have a lot to cover this evening as we are coming to some conclusions with our designs.

DRAWING SET, MATERIAL AND RESOURCE (15 minutes)
Yes has taken the lead in pulling together the drawing set for our project and will need your groups design input so we may share our ideas with a code specialist. Lets spend some time minute reviewing any outstanding items yet to be added to our drawing set and set a deadline for getting this information to Yes for completion.

Where are we with our material palette? What are you currently considering?

DESIGN REVIEW (45 minutes)
The goal for this evening is to review each groups’ designs with the intention of finalizing our preliminary design set and prepare it for code review and detail drawings. Please provide a critical eye and feedback to ensure we are prepared for this next step.

Also, we will spend a few moments reviewing our branding material and begin to discuss how we can best represent this identity within the space and how it supports the environmental graphics and mapping of space.

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 6:30pm

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Design Review on May 7th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
May 7, 2008, 6:30-7:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us tonight. We have a lot to cover this evening as we’ve generated a ton of great work for us to review.

MATERIAL AND RESOURCE ROUND-UP (15 minutes)
Lets spend some time tonight reviewing our emerging material palette and begin collecting resources for each to share. Although we received funding for our project, most of the materials will come from in-kind donations or sponsorship support.

DESIGN REVIEW (45 minutes)
Given the volume of work, tonight we will focus our attention on design considerations for Team 1 and 2, and review the progress from Team 3 and 4 during our next group session.

Current Teams:
Below are the existing teams working on various elements. If you haven’t already signed up for a group then please feel free to find one that works best for you.

Team 1
Area: Entry (stairs bike rack), Display, Storage, Loft Spaces, Crash Pad
Team: Yes Duffy, Shaine Helsloot, Anna Hallgrims, Annessa Mattson Tiffany Zhang

Team 2
Area: Community: Kitchen, Event, Lounge, Technology (wiring, display, etc)
Team: Elaine Uang, Michael Jones, and Damon

Team 3
Area: Workspaces, Reception, Personal Storage, Collaboration Spaces
Team: Stacy Jed, Stacy Sabraw, Breck Baird, Teri Mey, Lucas Martin, Mark Walters

Team 4
Area: Environmental Graphics & Branding, In-Kind donations, Research resources Storage
Team: Ellen Keith, Kate Stohr, Caitlin Cameron, Cameron Sinclair, Stacy Jed (support), Urban Revision (graphics)

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 6:30pm

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Design Review on April 23rd. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
April 23, 2008, 6:30-7:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us tonight. We want to start by sharing the great news that will be receiving a financial support to begin this project. Through all of your dedication and continued design input, soon we will be able to advance this project to the next phase.

Recap from Last Week
During our last session we continued to review the teams’ design development. We have a ton of great ideas coming together and look forward to collectively carrying these concepts to a final, built space. As a point of reference, below are the existing teams working on various elements. If you haven’t already signed up for a group then please feel free to find one that works best for you.

Current Teams:
Team 1
Area: Entry (stairs bike rack), Display, Storage, Loft Spaces, Crash Pad
Team: Yes Duffy, Shaine Helsloot, Anna Hallgrims, Annessa Mattson Tiffany Zhang

Team 2
Area: Community: Kitchen, Event, Lounge, Technology (wiring, display, etc)
Team: Elaine Uang, Michael Jones, and Damon

Team 3
Area: Workspaces, Reception, Personal Storage, Collaboration Spaces
Team: Stacy Jed, Stacy Sabraw, Breck Baird, Teri Mey, Lucas Martin, Mark Walters

Team 4
Area: Environmental Graphics & Branding, In-Kind donations, Research resources Storage
Team: Ellen Keith, Kate Stohr, Caitlin Cameron, Cameron Sinclair, Stacy Jed (support), Urban Revision (graphics)

Individual teams meet during the week we don't have whole AFH session.

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

C+L is an acronym for… (15 minutes)
We are rounding the corning of deciding the name of our space and would like to share with you our definition and solicit your feedback.

DESIGN REVIEW (45 minutes)
Similar to our last session, we are going to spend a majority of our group time reviewing every team’s design progress and identifying areas of overlap or need for maintaining visual consistency. This is also a time to share resource outlets - be it materials or construction support.

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, May 7, 2008, 6:30-7:30pm

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Design Review on April 9th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
April 9, 2008, 6:30-7:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us today and for spending the extra time last week working in groups.

Recap from Last Week
During our last session we began the review process for the teams’ design development. We have a ton of great ideas coming together and look forward to collectively carrying these concepts to a final, built space. Below are the existing teams working on various elements. If you haven’t already signed up for a group then please feel free to find one that works best for you.

Current Teams:
Team 1
Area: Entry (stairs bike rack), Display, Storage, Loft Spaces, Crash Pad
Team: Yes Duffy, Shaine Helsloot, Anna Hallgrims, Annessa Mattson Tiffany Zhang

Team 2
Area: Community: Kitchen, Event, Lounge, Technology (wiring, display, etc)
Team: Elaine Uang, Michael Jones, and Damon

Team 3
Area: Workspaces, Reception, Personal Storage, Collaboration Spaces
Team: Stacy Jed, Stacy Sabraw, Breck Baird, Teri Mey, Lucas Martin, Mark Walters

Team 4
Area: Environmental Graphics & Branding, In-Kind donations, Research resources Storage
Team: Ellen Keith, Kate Stohr, Caitlin Cameron, Cameron Sinclair, Stacy Jed (support), Urban Revision (graphics)

Individual teams meet during the week we don't have whole AFH session.

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

CREATING THE DRAWINGS… (15 minutes)
We are getting to the point where we need to identify and develop working drawings that will be used to bid out the space and ultimately lead to construction drawings. Lets spend a few moments reviewing this process and pulling together what is needed to make this happen.

DESIGN REVIEW (45 minutes)
Tonight and moving forward we are going to spend a majority of our group time reviewing every team’s design progress and identifying areas of overlap or need for maintaining visual consistency. This is also a time to share resource outlets - be it materials or construction support.

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 6:30-7:30pm

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Design Review on March 26th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
March 26, 2008, 6:30-7:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for joining us today and for spending the extra time last week working in groups.

Recap from Last Week
During our last session we had a great set of activities, which included reviewing the final parti, identifying teams and creating material collages. We have created four teams who will take all of our collaborative ideas and begin to design and fit them into the space. If you were not here during the last meeting and would like to join a group then feel free to let us know which group you want to join.

Current Teams:
Team 1
Area: Entry (stairs bike rack), Display, Storage, Loft Spaces, Crash Pad
Team: Yes Duffy, Shaine Helsloot, Anna Hallgrims, Annessa Mattson Tiffany Zhang

Team 2
Area: Community: Kitchen, Event, Lounge, Technology (wiring, display, etc)
Team: Elaine Uang, Michael Jones, Damon, Melissa Mizell

Team 3
Area: Workspaces, Reception, Personal Storage, Collaboration Spaces
Team: Stacy Jed, Stacy Sabraw, Breck Baird, Teri Mey, Lucas Martin, Mark Walters

Team 4
Area: Environmental Graphics & Branding, In-Kind donations, Research resources Storage
Team: Ellen Keith, Kate Stohr, Caitlin Cameron, Cameron Sinclair, Stacy Jed (support), Urban Revision (graphics)

Individual teams meet during the week we don't have whole AFH session.

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

DESIGN REVIEW (45 minutes)
Tonight and moving forward we are going to spend a majority of our group time reviewing every team’s design progress and identifying areas of overlap or need for maintaining visual consistency. This is also a time to share resource outlets - be it materials or construction support.

NAME THAT GROUP… (15 minutes)
We have decided the office and the amazing people who occupy it needs a name to hang their Big Green Humanitarian hat on. Lets spend about fifteen minutes throwing out a few ideas to help support the efforts of Team 4.

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 6:30-7:30pm

Hi All:
Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Material Language charrette on March 12th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity
Office Space Design Charrette
March 12, 2008, 6:30-8:30PM

Welcome
Thank you to everyone for developing our parti. Now the real fun begins!

Recap from Last Week
During our last session, two teams participated in an “Artists and Poets” Charrette, where the artists defined the vision of the parti through diagrammatic illustrations and the poets communicated the vision through conceptual text - resulting in a near complete parti.

Ready, Set, Design….
With the Parti almost finished, we are ready to identify smaller teams who can begin to design specific areas of the space. In order to make this process manageable, we will be breaking into teams of no more than 4-5 people. Each team will be responsible for developing their particular area along with presenting their progress with everyone during our regularly scheduled bi-monthly group sessions.

The smaller teams will need to meet in-between our group sessions, so please select members whom schedule align with yours. Also, moving forward, we will also shorten our bi-monthly group sessions to 1 hour (from 6:30-7:30pm).

Preliminary Design Groups:
Group 1
Area: Entry (stairs bike rack), Display
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

Group 2
Area: Community: Kitchen, Event, Lounge (cord. display w/group 1) Team: Gensler

Group 3
Area: Workspaces, Reception, Tracking System, Personal Storage
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

Group 4
Area: Storage, Resource Library, Loft spaces (crash pad)
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

Group 5
Area: Collaboration spaces (conference rooms)
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

Group 6
Area: Environmental Graphics & Branding
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

Group 7
Area: In-kind, Research resources
Team: ___________, ___________, ___________

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

MATERIAL LANGUAGE CHARRETTE (1 hour)
Tonight we are going to connect with our inner child and create the material language of our space through collage. By utilizing the magazines and materials provided, break into 2-3 teams and collaboratively create a presentation board that visually demonstrates the feeling of the space through materials and images.

We will present these collages with the entire team at end of this charrette, so as always have fun being creative!

NEXT MEETINGS
Small Team Meeting: TBD by teams
Group Meeting: Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 6:30-7:30pm

Hi All: Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Workstation charrette on February 27th. Please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Hi All: Click on Workspace to view images of layout ideas that participants submitted prior to our charrette on February 27th. Thanks again to everyone who offered their suggestions!

Architecture for Humanity

Office Space Design Charrette
February 27, 2008, 6-8PM

Welcome

Thank you for participating in the final round of developing the office space parti!

During our last session, two teams participated in a Workspace Charrette, where we identified the quirky nuances of our workstyle habits. Four themes emerged from this activity:

• COLLABORATOR: Often working online with their laptops and require little separation between individual and group workspace.
• SEMI-INDEPENDENT: Tend to work at individual desk, frequently need large areas to layout material, and may need space for temporary support.
• SEMI-PRIVATE: Similar to the semi-independent work-style, these folks also need more audio privacy for confidential phone calls or meetings.
• FLOATER: These are the nomads of the group. They find themselves most comfortable working on the floor, in the conference room, or at another person’s desk.

Gamer Alert!

If the AFH office space were a game…what would it look like? The folks from GeoSherpa are here to illustrate the potential of how interactive we can make our “virtual” space.

Pre-Parti

Thanks to everyone who developed a few layout considerations. Please take a moment before breaking into your teams to review these ideas and feel free to incorporate any of these conceptual layouts for your own final parti.

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

ARTISTS AND POETS CHARRETTE (1 hour)

We will present these ideas with the entire team at end of this charrette, so have fun being creative!

Program Elements

The final Programming is complete and posted on OAN. Please refer to Working Documents folder for further details. The Program includes the following areas:

• Entry (Stairs & Bike racks)
• Reception
• Display
• Environmental Graphics & Branding
• AFH Workstations
• AFH University Workstations
• “Green Incubator” Tenants’ Workstations
• Collaboration Spaces (conference rooms)
• Community Lounge
• Event Space
• Kitchen
• Resource Library
• Support (Storage, Printer/Fax Stations)
• Crash Pad
• Model Workshop
• (4)Bathroom (3 w/toilet and sink, 1 w/toilet and shower)

• Acoustical/partitions that are translucent and movable to create more auditory privacy
• “Phone booths” (area to make a private call)
• Breakout rooms for small meetings
• STORAGE

NEXT MEETING

Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 6:00-8:00pm

Hi All: Click on Workspace to view images from our recent Workstation charrette on February 13th. As we are finalizing the Parti, please take a moment to post comments and offer suggestions.

Architecture for Humanity Office Space Design Charrette
February 13, 2008, 6-8PM

Welcome

Lets get started with the semi-final development of our office space Parti!

Recap from Last Week

During our last session, a total of four teams participated in a sketch charrette to begin exploring design concepts that represent our shared vision as well as diagramming the overall space layout. A number of themes emerged as possible solutions to developing the space:

• Consider transformable solutions for common areas through furniture and partitions
• Multi-use, Multi-functional, Multi-level spaces through transformable furniture, partition and loft systems
• Partitions also serve multiple functions (such as a space divider and storage or pin-up space)
• Introduce low-tech technologies for thermal comfort
• Imbed “displays” into space through technology and craft

Areas to Research

Last session we identified a few areas that we would further research:

• Movable/Transformable space
• Suspension systems
• Loft spaces
• Low-tech solutions
• Raw materials/Salvage Resources

TODAY’S CHARRETTE

WORKSTATION CHARRETTE (1 hour)

Break into two teams and define the workstation area for AFH and tenants. What area makes the most sense to place individual workstations in terms of overall flow, natural lighting, private and collaborative space? Consider the other functions of the space and their relationship to the workstations. Use the floor plan as your base to diagram this area.

NEXT MEETING Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 6:00-8:00pm

Hi All: Click on Workspace to view images from our recent sketch charrette on January 30th, and post your comments. We would especially like to hear from folks who were unable to attend as well as individuals from our global community.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this weeks design charrette. Together, we generated a strong collection of ideas and spatial concepts that we will continue to develop and explore as we define our Parti.

...and a special shout-out to Caitlin, Elaine, Mark, and Ramsey for volunteering to further research examples of display systems, nomadic structures, transformable spaces, suspension systems, loft environments, and low-tech energy-efficient solutions.

Look forward to seeing everyone at our next event on Wednesday, February 13th!

Architecture for Humanity Office Space Design Charrette
January 30, 2008, 6-8PM

Welcome

Lets get set for round-three of our office space design charrettes!

Recap from Last Week

During our last session, a total of two teams participated in a quick Vision Session to explore the commonalities of both Tenants and AFH. Together we found a number of characteristics that we can use as inspiration for today’s sketch charrette:

• We are a group of non-profit and for-profit organizations focused on sustainability, green design and the building of humanitarian communities as it relates to architecture and design
• We identify as being open, energetic people who thrive on collaborating with others and ethically doing good for our community
• We perceive ourselves as collaborators who share ideas and pride ourselves in “walking our talk” while creating tangible results
• We believe our work is changing lives by bringing great ideas and people together to generate innovative solutions
• Our clients are people in need, socially conscious designers, as well the global community of “like-minded” individuals
• Our ideal workspace would be open and flexible while still providing designated/ownership areas
• We are not just a local space, we are a global community
• We want our space to reflect our clients, our work and the innovative products and communities we produce and support
• We want the space to speak to the values of integrity and trust
• Functionally each space needs to serve multiple uses…be efficient
• Our space currently is calm and serene (creating a Zen Chaos)…it lacks personality or a connection to what we do or who we are

Areas to Research

Last session we identified a few areas that we should further research:

• Multi-use spaces: Thoreau Center, Public Architecture, other examples of multiple-groups working under one roof, with similar values
• Industry experts: Artists, Industrial Designers, Technology Experts, Gamers, Young Tech.
• Exhibition spaces
• 3D of Projects

TODAY’S CHARRETTES

CONCEPTUAL SKETCH CHARRETTE (1 hour)

Break into teams of 4-5 people and begin to brainstorm how the ideas from the vision session can translate into the space. Consider mapping out the overall floor plan, or identify one section of the space and begin to sketch out your ideas.

We will present these ideas with the entire team at end of this charrette, so have fun being creative!

Program Elements

The final Programming is complete and posted on OAN. Please refer to Working Documents folder for further details. The Program includes the following areas:

• Entry (Stairs & Bike racks)
• Reception
• Display
• Environmental Graphics & Branding
• AFH Workstations
• AFH University Workstations
• “Green Incubator” Tenants’ Workstations
• Collaboration Spaces (conference rooms)
• Community Lounge
• Event Space
• Kitchen
• Resource Library
• Support (Storage, Printer/Fax Stations)
• Crash Pad
• Model Workshop
• Bathroom (3 toilet and sink, 1 toilet and shower)

NEXT MEETING Wednesday, February 13, 2008, 6:00-8:00pm

Architecture for Humanity Office Space Design Charrette
January 16, 2008, 6-8PM

Welcome

Lets get set for round-two of our office space design charrettes!

Recap from Last Week

After touring the space and sharing the general program, a total of five teams participated in a quick design charrette to explore the process for this project. Everyone shared a lot of great ideas, including:

• Creating an overall vision/guidelines
• Together develop a parti, then break out into groups
• Identifying ambassadors to connect team activities
• Look at the big picture: How does the space tell the stories?
• Define the infrastructure and create flexibility within the space
• Build public and private spaces
• Identify the overall theme: What do ALL of the tenants have in common?
• Engage the community
• Create open flexible spaces that create synergy among the tenants
• Consider ideas that bring “life” to the space: Plants, music, comfy chairs
• Consider dividing space by task/program
• Materials represents sustainability and/or AFH projects

Process Overview

As we prepare to “open source” the office space design, we have begun to develop a process for providing an opportunity for everyone to have a “voice”. Although the general Programming for the space will be defined by AFH, consider your role to be both designer and client. This is just as much about being the community’s space as it is an office space.

The process will be broken into five phases: Pre-Design, Design, Budgeting, Documentation and Installation.

During the next few sessions we will continue to work as an entire group to research, explore and share ideas to define the project’s Parti. Once completed, we will then break into smaller groups to complete the design, budget and documentation. These groups will continue to research best practices and identify resources, as well as leveraging the talents of each team member. Because we will be meeting less frequently as an entire group during this time, the Open Architecture Network will be our source for sharing our progress.

Perhaps the most exciting and final phase of this project will be fabrication and installation. Together with the support of trained professionals, we will build our design! This will be a great time to get design students involved, so they can gain first-hand experience of construction.

Program Elements: The final Programming will be sent to everyone next week, but the following areas will be addressed:

• Entry (Stairs)
• Environmental Graphics & Branding
• Community Space
• Event Space
• Work Settings
• Conference Rooms
• Support
• Kitchen
• Program Areas
• Display

VISION SESSION (1 hour)

Break into teams of 4-5 people and begin to explore and answer the following questions as they relate to the commonality of both Tenants and AFH (30 minutes):

• WHO WE ARE AS A GROUP?
• Our Culture
• Our Image
• Our Philosophy
• Our Values
• Who are our clients?
• What is our brand?
• What makes us unique from other groups?
• What is the ideal workspace? And, what does it say about us to our team, our clients and our community?
• What is currently working in the space? What doesn’t work?
• Who can we learn from?
• What resources should we research?
• What will define this project as a success?
• What are our objectives?
• What are our challenges?

CONCEPTUAL IDEAS (1 hour)

Break into NEW teams of 4-5 people and begin to brainstorm how the ideas from the vision session can translate into the space. Consider mapping out the overall floor plan, or identify one section of the space and begin to sketch out your ideas.

We will present these ideas with the entire team at end of this charrette, so have fun being creative!

NEXT MEETING

• Wednesday, January 30, 2008, 6:00pm

Hi all,

In addition to the session we did last week (results of which will be posted here) on the mission and values we want to express in our space, we're also working with the communications team at Branditecture to develop stronger communications strategies for Architecture for Humanity. Hopefully they will be able to partake in the design charrettes for the office, but in the meantime i wanted to share with you what came out of that brainstorming session.

In a nutshell: Architecture for Humanity is a smart, sexy, world-savvy, 28-year old professional, woman with a personality that is a cross between Sambo Mockbee and Calatrava..... We'll fill you in at the next charrette.

You can take a look at the white boards and post-its that came out of that in the "Mission and Values" set that I have just posted to the files section here. Cheers, kas

Office Space Design Charrette
January 3, 2008, 6-9PM

Today's Agenda:

• Introductions /Sign Up Sheet
• Space Walkthrough
• Intro to the Open Architecture Network
• Discuss Design Goals and Work Plan
• Identify Groups/Schedule

Introduction
What’s happening at Architecture for Humanity in 2008?

Overview
Our new home is in the South of Market district of San Francisco. Located on the second floor of an old commercial building, we have nearly 5,000 square feet of open plan office space. As with everything we do, our goal is to make our new offices as open as possible to architects and designers interested in engaging communities in need and volunteering their time and their talents to those who might not otherwise be able to access their services.

The space will not only be the headquarters for AFH, but will also house a workshop, pin-up space, a community design studio, meeting rooms, exhibition space, and yes, a bar.

Our Tenants:
This is a lot of space for a small organization. So, we're sharing it. Our current tenants include:

• Green Building Consulting (1-2)
• GeoSherpa (1-2)
• Inhabitat (1-2)
• Lulan Artisans (1, drop-in)
• Urban Revision (4-5)

• Develop a space that promotes synergy among AFH, tenants and visitors)
• Transform the space into a multi-functional community workspace)
• Create opportunities for meaningful community and design collaboration)
• Select environmentally sensitive materials and products)
• Use local materials and labor where ever possible)

• What is the Open Architecture Network?
• Why are we using it to support this project?
• How do you log in and join the team?

Charrette Phase 1-5

PHASE 1: Define the process and desired outcome. Who are the key stakeholders, outreach plans, schedules, roles and responsibilities, and the preparation plan?

PHASE 2: Research and Conceptualize. Time to roll up our sleeves and get dirty. Over the course of a defined period of sessions, we will work collaboratively to gather information and work in small teams to design key areas of our space.

PHASE 3: “The best plans are made by many hands”. The design teams have established and defined their ideas and will then present these developments and continually revise them in response to the flow of input from participants and other teams.

PHASE 4: Solicit In-kind Donations and Sponsorships. As we identify the materials and furnishings we plan to use in the space, Architecture for Humanity will contact manufactures to seek sponsorship and donations.

PHASE 5: We will not only be designing our space…we get to build it too. Once we've finalized a design approach we will begin building out the space. Some elements may be built/installed by volunteers, other elements we will need to bid out to contractors/sub-contractors.

Next Meeting:

• Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 6:00pm