Can we design a slum-friendly city? Himanshu Parikh discusses the evolution of cities and slums, and how a historicist read can lead us to new engineering innovations.

Environment
Healthcare
Housing

52 | A Vision for the Future

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

How do we democratize design? Dr. Silver of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World shares how his groundbreaking design for self-adjusting glasses can address a serious lack of optometrists in the developing world.

Healthcare

55-56 | Designing for the Future, Part 1 & 2

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

How do we democratize design? Diébédo Francis Kéré discusses the origins of his practice, and how good design builds community.

Community Development
Environment

Architecture for Humanity

2013 Prize Winner

Vision Award Recipient

Video

What is the role of architects in communities in need? Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, recipients of the first Curry Stone Design Prize Vision Award, have been committed to social impact design since co-founding Architecture for Humanity in 1999.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster

Centre for Vision in the Developing World

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can design overcome an optometrist shortage in the developing world? Lack of access to eye care professionals is a serious problem in the developing world. Dr. Joshua Silver designed inexpensive eyeglasses that can be self-adjusted to the correct prescription.

Healthcare

D-Rev

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can high quality, low cost medical equipment be broadly available to the world’s poorest? D-Rev, a San Francisco based nonprofit product development company designs and distributes radically affordable, world-class medical products to some of the world’s poorest citizens.

Advocacy
Healthcare

Design for Extreme Affordability

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can social change be taught? Design for Extreme Affordability is a graduate course offered by Stanford University where students are asked to design products and services which will change the lives of the world’s poorest citizens.

Advocacy
Healthcare

Foldit

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can an online puzzle game crowdsource solutions to preventing and curing disease? Foldit is an online game where players contribute to scientific research via an addictive puzzle game. Crowdsourcing is Foldit’s success: the creative problem-solving of thousands of people refines complex computations.

Advocacy
Healthcare

Francis Kéré

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can an architect truly straddle both first world success and community development in the developing world? Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabe architect based in Berlin, Germany, whose work straddles community development in the developing world and award-winning architecture in the first world.

Community Development
Environment

Himanshu Parikh

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

What happens when gravity replaces modern technology as a tool to design urban infrastructure? Himanshu Parikh is an Indian engineer who developed of the concept of ‘slum networking,’ which stems from how the traditional organization of cities was based on natural features such as topography and gravity.

Environment
Healthcare
Housing

MASS Design Group

2012 Prize Winner

Video

Why invest in architecture in resource-limited settings? MASS Designs has worked in over a dozen countries, bringing the value—and power, of architecture to resource-limited communities.

Conflict and Disaster
Healthcare

Mohammed Rezwan

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can design help flood prone communities to function when facilities and resources are under water? Mohammaed Rezwan and his organization Shindulai Swanivar Sangsthata operates a fleet of floating schools, libraries and health clinics that help people overcome the challenges of living in flood-prone northwest Bangladesh.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

Myna Mahila Foundation

CSF Grantee

How can education be supported through design? Myna Mahila Foundation charges women to speak about menstruation and empowers them through education and micro-entrepreneurship.

Advocacy
Healthcare

Orkidstudio

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How do we design with scarcity? James Mitchell and Tatu Gatere are designers and social entrepreneurs at Orkidstudio, a multi-disciplinary firm at the intersection of design, business and social good. Tatu and James discuss their innovative approach to designing the process of social impact design.

Advocacy
Environment

Public Architecture

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can standard design firms be supported in pro-bono work? San Francisco based Public Architecture formalizes pro bono service within architecture, interiors and landscape design. Their flagship program, 1+, supports firms in donating 1% of their time to pro-bono work.

Community Development

Qigong Sensory Training Institute

CSF Grantee

What is the role of parent education in the healthcare of autistic children? Qigong Sensory Therapy is a revolutionary approach to treating autism developed by integrating Western and Chinese medicine.

Advocacy
Healthcare

Sustainable Health Enterprises {SHE}

2010 Prize Winner

Video

Can menstrual pads contribute to economic opportunities for women? 18% of women and girls in Rwanda miss school and work because they cannot afford menstrual pads. SHE developed affordable, locally produced pads that provide sanitary protection and business opportunities.

Healthcare

TAMassociati/Emergency

2013 Prize Winner

Video

How can architecture bring dignity in war-torn regions? Studio TAMassociati is a nonprofit architecture firm recognized for designing healthcare facilities in war-torn areas [...] in partnership with Emergency, an Italian NGO, that provides medical treatment to war victims.

Community Development
Environment

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The Curry Stone Foundation (CSF) is the brainchild of architect, urban planner and developer Clifford Curry, FAIA, and the historical archeologist Dr. Delight Stone, RPA. It was inspired by a shared conviction that design thinking and design actions can—and should, serve those wishing to contribute to community vitality and human dignity. Most of all, we believe that design should be available to those most in need.

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