Sun is putting its technology and belief in open source to work for a new cause - to build a collaborative website for architects who want to use design to improve living and housing standards around the world. The site is the Open Architecture Network, and the idea for it came from Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director and co-founder of Architecture for Humanity.

Architecture for Humanity began in 1999 and become a non-profit organization with a global reach that encourages architects and designers to seek architectural solutions to humanitarian crisis such as the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast and the tsunami in India. Architects, designers and community organizers can collaborate on ideas and share resources for projects in areas like these affected by natural disasters or other hardship.

Sinclair was awarded a prize for his work, the TED prize which is awarded for Technology, Entertainment and Design innovations that positively impact life on Earth. Only three prizes per year are awarded. The awards are backed up with funding up to $100,000 to make that innovators "wish" come true.

In 2006, Sinclair was awarded this year’s TEDPrize, and his Wish is to develop the Open Architecture Network. That's where Sun Microsystems came in.

Sun and Sinclair recently unveiled the Open Architecture Network, the first open source online community to improve housing and living standards globally. The network is built on Sun Fire servers running the Solaris 10 OS and Sun StorageTek storage systems which manage Architecture for Humanity's large amount of designs, product specs and databases of funding opportunities, resources and case studies. The Sun-built solution enables multilingual collaboration in real time. Projects can be tracked and reports made for funding agencies and governments. Sun's involvement in the project is part of Sun's Share the Opportunity initiative, a global effort to help promote participation in social change.

"Sun believes that sharing and collaboration among communities is essential for solving the world's most pressing problems, like sustainable housing for people in need," said Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, senior vice president of brand at Sun. "To build Architecture for Humanity's new Open Architecture Network, we brought the concept of open source in technology to architecture and design. Sun is pleased to lend its open source expertise and technology to a cause that stimulates innovation and builds community while helping participants from across the world grow and prosper."

Examples of the work that Architecture for Humanity are involved in include a medical clinic and school to train nurses in Ipuli, a small village in Tanzania. [...read more...]

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