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Service Nation

originn — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:35:48 +0000

Last week, the House of Representatives voted 275 to 149 to pass the Kennedy Serve America Act, following a strong bi-partisan vote in the Senate of 79 to 19. The legislation now goes to President Obama, known for his outstanding leadership for the pro bono movement, in making service a “cause of his presidency,” who has promised to sign it.

This bi-partisan legislation will dramatically expand national and community service opportunities and support a new generation of social innovation. Now, significantly increased numbers of Americans will have the opportunity to improve our communities through service and social innovation.

SERVICENATION IS A CAMPAIGN FOR A NEW AMERICA

An America where citizens unite and take responsibility for their communities and our nation’s future. An America that restores the great tradition of citizen service, and honors the profound sacrifices made by so many Americans who have passed before, from the small band of Founders to the millions who have fought for equality and justice at home, and defended our freedom abroad. ServiceNation is about an America that is ruggedly idealistic, compassionate, and above all committed to the idea of shared sacrifice in pursuit of America’s boldest promise: liberty and justice for all.

The ultimate vision of ServiceNation is an America in which, by 2020, 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today), and that one million Americans will annually volunteer for a year of national service.

To begin to fulfill this vision, ServiceNation – a coalition of almost 200 national and local non-profits, with a collective reach of some 100 million Americans – is working hard to inspire our leaders to expand meaningful community and national service opportunities for Americans of all ages and to invest in scaling proven service strategies to help address some of our nation’s most improtant challenges, from the high school dropout crisis to the need for greater energy efficiency. And we are working to elevate service – which is about giving back to community and country – as core ideal in our democracy.

The ServiceNation Summit and Presidential Candidate Forum September 11-12, 2008 brought together leaders – from then-Senator Barack Obama & Senator John McCain to inspirational volunteers, from business and nonprofit leaders to foundation CEOs – to make service a national priority (More information on the ServiceNation Summit).

On September 27, the ServiceNation Day of Action rallied Americans to work in their own communities and neighborhoods, resulting in more than 2,700 events across the country (more on the Day of Action).

Again, during Inaugural Week 2009, ServiceNation celebrated the power and potential of service through a series of events around MLK Day (More information about MLK Day here).

ServiceNation encourages all Americans to step forward and take the lead in bridging our divides, strengthening our communities, and building a more vibrant democracy. And ServiceNation is now working on building a national grassroots movement for service to help launch a new era of civic engagement and idealism, and make our 2020 vision a reality. It is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people.

More information: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation

Day Labor Station

originn — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:20:45 +0000

Public Architecture, a national nonprofit design organization, has introduced the “Day Labor Station” to advance the debate about day laborers and the spaces they inhabit. A full-scale replica of part of the Day Labor Station goes on view May 4 at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, as part of the museum’s Design for the Other 90% exhibition, which runs through September 23, 2007.

“The plights of day laborers and other underrepresented populations have been of interest to Public Architecture since our inception,” says architect John Peterson, who founded Public Architecture in 2002. “We believe architecture has a great deal to offer to this ‘other 90%’ of the population, which rarely benefits from the services of design professionals.”

According to a recent UCLA/Ford Foundation study, on any given day there are more than 110,000 day laborers looking forward in U.S. cities, more than half of which are hired by individual home owners or renters. Seventy-nine percent of day laborers seek work at informal hiring sites. A relatively small (approx. 65) number of official day labor centers have been established in recent years, but informal gathering sites, such as street corners, gas stations, and home improvement store parking lots, remain the norm. As they are spaces designated for other uses, these sites frequently lack even the most basic of amenities (shelter, water, toilet facilities, etc).

The Day Labor Station was designed in response to the more than 200 (est.) informal day laborer gathering sites across the country, particularly home improvement store parking lots and similar settings. “Our solution is based on the realities of the ways in which the day labor system operates, and responds to the needs and desires of day laborers themselves, as our clients,” says Peterson.

Public Architecture is currently working to locate a permanent site for the first Day Labor Station. Ultimately, the Stations will be deployed across the country. The sustainably-designed structure utilizes green materials and strategies and is meant to exist primarily, if not completely, off-the-grid. The Station provides a sheltered space for the day laborers to wait for work as well as basic amenities such as drinking water and restrooms.

“In addition to day laborers themselves, the Day Labor Station was also designed with other stakeholders in mind, such as major corporations like Home Depot and Lowe’s as well as local businesses and municipalities. Although most of these groups have clear ‘no solicitation’ policies, day laborers continue to seek work and contractors as well as homeowners continue to hire workers on their properties. Our responsive solution is cognizant of these realities,” notes Peterson. “We believe the Day Labor Station presents a tremendous, positive public relations opportunity as well as a clearly needed public service.”

The Day Labor Station is documented online at www.daylaborstation.org.

Scraphouse

originn — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:16:04 +0000

The name says it all: “ScrapHouse”––a green demonstration home built entirely of salvaged material on Civic Center Plaza adjacent to San Francisco City Hall. With walls sheathed with everything from street signs and shower doors to fire hoses and phonebooks, ScrapHouse is a sight to be seen.

Built in conjunction with World Environment Day 2005, “ScrapHouse illustrates the possibilities–as well as the challenges–of green building, recycling, and reuse,” according to architect John Peterson, Founder of Public Architecture, the nonprofit organization that has coordinated the effort.

“ScrapHouse is about much more than the materials though; it’s the product of unprecedented collaboration between local architects, artists, builders, contractors, and engineers,” said Laurence Kornfield, chief building inspector for the City of San Francisco, who pitched the idea to Public Architecture in mid-April. The concept of ScrapHouse was conceived by a local documentary filmmaker, Anna Fitch, who came in contact with Kornfield, and soon after, Public Architecture. Fitch and her company, Building 39 Films, have captured every step of the way for a forthcoming documentary.

Over the course of just six weeks, an eclectic team of volunteers scoured Bay Area dumps and scrap yards, often discovering unused materials with the price tags still affixed. A group of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, lighting specialists, and metal fabricators gave these materials new life and ScrapHouse its final shape. Based on their design, ScrapHouse has all the amenities of a traditional American home: a kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, a deck, and beautifully landscaped yard. The design is intentionally bold: an L-shaped layout, with a mezzanine-level bedroom, and a roof inverted like the wings of a butterfly.

Still, what is most intriguing about ScrapHouse is the creative use of previously discarded materials—most of which were destined for the landfill. On one wall, 500 old phonebooks, stacked vertically, provide both insulation and texture. Another room’s floor is tiled with leather scraps, leftover from upholstery jobs. For landscaping, day-old flowers from local outlets surround the house in hundreds of tiny vases cut from garden hoses, which protrude from the green grass lawn.

Led by Matarozzi & Pelsinger Builders as well as SF Garage, dozens of skilled laborers and other volunteers from around the Bay Area turned out to build ScrapHouse. Collectively, they drew curious stares from German tourists and other passersby. “There’s no such thing as ’scrap labor,’” noted Peterson. “This never would have happened without the leadership and generosity of the professional community, particularly Rudolph & Sletten and Shorenstein construction companies who provided crucial financial support.”

ScrapHouse will be open to the public for four days–10am-8pm, from June 2 to June 5–in conjunction with other events for World Environment Day 2005. After the open house, the house will be disassembled and moved to a permanent location, funds permitting.

“ScrapHouse is the epitome of reduce, reuse, and recycle,” said Kornfield. “We thought it was a perfect way to celebrate World Environment Day, and to show how San Francisco is a world leader in terms of green cities.”

About Public Architecture
Established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 2002, Public Architecture puts the resources of architecture in the service of the public interest. The organization identifies and solves practical problems of human interaction in the built environment and acts as a catalyst for public discourse through education, advocacy, and the design of public spaces and amenities. Rather than waiting for commissions, Public Architecture takes a proactive leadership role by identifying significant problems of broad relevance that require innovative research and design. The organization’s 1% Solution program, through which architecture professionals or entire firms pledge a portion of their time to the common good, aims to mainstream public interest and pro bono practice in the design professions. Please visit www.publicarchitecture.org for more information.

Berkeley Prize Competition

originn — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:51:02 +0000

Through essay writing and a travel fellowship, the Berkeley Prize Endowment educates architects-in-training that the smallest act of building has global implications: that design can and does play a major role in the social, cultural, and psychological life of both the individual and society at large.

The Endowment was established in 1996 in the Department of Architecture, College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley as the result of a generous gift from Judith Lee Stronach. The Berkeley Prize embraces the idea that social ideals are fundamental to making buildings of worth by:

Encouraging and fostering undergraduate architecture students to take a serious interest in how
contemporary architecture may serve social needs.
Encouraging and fostering cross-disciplinary faculty interest for participation in undergraduate
design studios.
Encouraging and fostering the examination of how undergraduate architectural design is taught.

Left to right: 1998~99 BPC Committee; Benjamin Clavan, Wendy Tsuji, Benjamin Clavan, Mike Martin, Karin Payson, Michael Pyatok, Richard Whitaker and Ray Lifchez

Each year, the Prize Committee selects a topic and poses a Question based on that topic. Students enrolled in any undergraduate architecture program throughout the world are invited to submit a 500-word Essay Proposal responding to the Question. From this pool of essays, approximately 25 are selected by the Prize Committee as particularly promising. These Semi-Finalists are then asked to submit a 2500-word essay expanding on their Proposals. A group of Readers, composed of Committee members and invited colleagues, selects five to eight of the best essays and send these Finalists on to a Jury of international academics and architects to select the winners. The Prize is announced, papers submitted, and reader and jury-reviewed all online.

During the past six years, hundreds of students have submitted Proposals and Essays, representing dozens of schools of architecture from nearly 40 countries. In recognition of these efforts, the Prize was the recipient of the 2002 American Institute of Architects’ Education Honor Award. The Berkeley Prize has also garnered international acclaim, not the least reason for which is its complete embracing of digital technology. In partial recognition of this outreach, the 2003 Berkeley Prize Competition was named a Special Event of “World Heritage in the Digital Age,” a Virtual Congress helping to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. (1)

The 2004 Competition established the Berkeley Prize Travel Fellowship. This new Prize recognizes the vital role that exposure to other cultures and environments plays in helping to demonstrate the reality and importance of the social art of architecture. All Finalists for the Essay Competition are invited to submit proposals demonstrating how they would use a several week, expense paid, trip to an architecturally-significant destination selected by the Prize Committee.

Site URL: http://www.berkeleyprize.org