Super Super Super!

Here are some pics from last nights jury review session held at our offices at the Hivehaus!! Great stuff and thanks to the participating jury members! 2nd Round coming next!! (Top Image From Left - Bob Gilleskie, Richard Farson, John Welsh, Susan Merritt, Manuel Oncina, Miti Aiello, Denise Colestock, Sandra Plaza, Sara Lotz - photographer)

Feeling Good!

It always feels good to get emails from individuals who come to us asking for our support. This has been happening a lot for the last couple of weeks and it really shows the motivation and direction of the organization. It is definitely an exciting time! (Upper Pic - Brian and Myself discussing potential collaboration opportunities with Ricardo, an educator of architecture at Madison High School. Bottom Pic - Emily and Sara taking a look at the groovy space of MXD830! We are stoked for the Rebuilding Awareness Event happening on Nov. 5th)

ProjectFIND Deadline Extended to Oct. 22nd!

Submit your projects!

http://www.afhsd-rebuild.org/project_find.htm

Save the Date - November 5th - ProjectFIND Rebuilding Awareness event to be held at Counterpoint located in Golden Hill

an intimate, farm-to-table style neighborhood bistro with a passion for people, pairs artisan cheeses, cured meats, local craft breads and organic fruits and vegetables in ways familiar and delightfully unimaginable, both.

in one of the unique spaces of Mxd830! http://mxd830.com/home

You are all invited! Event Details to follow... stay tuned!

We Need Your Ideas!!

If you're looking for ideas that will inspire your design for ProjectFIND, here are some examples of cool projects happening in other cities! What issues do you think need to be addressed within San Diego? Do you have a vision or idea that can make a difference? Here are examples of projects we have come across in which indivduals have impacted their own communities. Have an idea? Submit your design! http://www.afhsd-rebuild.org/project_find.htm

Park(ing) Day: one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens independently but simultaneously temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. http://www.parkingday.org/

No Impact Project: The No Impact Project was conceived by Colin Beavan following the success of his blog, book, and film, which chronicle his family’s year-long experiment living a zero-waste lifestyle in New York City http://noimpactproject.org/

Kids Vs. Global Warming: Alec Loorz founded Kids vs Global Warming when he was 12 years old after watching Al Gore’s movie, “an inconvenient truth.” Feeling the weight of the global situation and a sense that he could make a difference, Alec felt compelled to tell other kids about the problems we are facing. http://www.kids-vs-global-warming.com/Home.html

Plastiki: The premise of the Plastiki is to build a boat out of recycled plastic bottles and sail it across the ocean to bring attention to the incredible amount of waste that is accumulating in the worlds oceans. http://www.theplastiki.com/

Stay tuned for more ideas.

Looking for some good reads?

If you guys are looking for some good books to read, check out Shadow Cities by Robert Neuwirth who spent his time for 2 years living in squatter communities, also a TED Prize recipient, and Planet of Slums by Mike Davis - tells us hard facts of poverty that dominates the lives of the planet's increasingly urban population within developing countries. Also another great book for this collection is World Changing. Enjoy!

Inspiring Thoughts for the Day!

Just doing some research and thought of you guys! Came across this really cool creative agency called Free Range studios (http://www.freerangestudios.com/) based out of DC, while reviewing Al Gore's website. Really cool work and check out their gallery and branding material - i was highly impressed: basically the work they do is tied into conserving this planet.

"We enable our clients to communicate key messages and empower individuals to transform society through the innovative use of digital media, storytelling, graphic design and strategy. We amplify the impact of our work by inspiring others. We're a team of passionate, wildly creative people who spend our days strategizing, branding and designing so the most important social messages get through loud and clear. We don't just serve the movement for a better world; we're a part of it. Free Range is a socially responsible business that works hard to reduce our environmental impacts and return something positive to our communities"

This is exactly the type of message I am looking to bring across to Rebuild. Hopefully one day - we will find our savvy web designers who can help us modify our current website!

ProjectFIND Registration Open!

Calling all socially responsible designers! We need you to help us find our next project!

Due to the increasing amount of volunteers and their interest in helping out with Rebuild, we would like to invite you all to participate in our design competition titled ‘Project Find’. We are challenging all you socially responsible designers and creative individuals who have a vested interest in our community to seek out projects that protect our planet. The core objective of the competition is to inspire, educate and reach out to local San Diego residents and visitors as well as build global, environmental and artistic awareness throughout our city. The challenge is open to anyone or any group of passionate and talented individuals to conceptualize potential socially responsible projects that focus not only on architecture and community building but also on education and social awareness. Projects can range in scope and scale and can include entries related to building design, graphic design, landscape design, interior designer, furniture design, product design, environmental design, etc. The winning entry will be selected by a panel of judges who share an overall commitment to our natural environment.

Detailed information and submittal requirements are posted on our website. For questions or comments, send us an email to rebuild.projectfind@gmail.com or visit our website at www.afhsd-rebuild.org. For press inquiries, please contact Crystal Neff at neff.ca@gmail.com.

Project Find Committee!

It's official!!! Register today! We have lauched our ProjectFind competition and would like to thank each and every person involved in making this happen. Check out the great faces of our ProjectFind committee. We would like to thank each and everyone one of you for your hard work and dedication! (Bottom Image - Clockwise Left- Crystal Neff, Emily Schauermann, Lauren Jolin, Denise Harte Colestock and Sara Lotz)

Project Find Meeting

We got together today with the Project Find Committee - for those of you new to this project, we will be hosting a local design competition that raises awareness on issues of sustainability, education, human and social needs. The intention of the competition is to build global, environmental and artistic awareness in our city through individual or team collaboration. Anyone and everyone is able to participate and it will be up to you to seek out a project that raises further awareness in our surrounding communities - what can you do and how can you do it? Keep an eye out for an email teaser mid August and the launch of the competition is September 3rd! Great stuff team - we are moving right along! (Clockwise Left - Denise Colestock, Lauren Jolin, Emily Schauermann, Crystal Neff)

Great Happy Hour Turnout!

Thanks everyone for attending this month's happy hour! It was a great turnout and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you again! Next month's happy hour is our summer social which has yet TBD - but hopefully we'll make it a good one!

New Fuller Center Project

New project on board! In collaboration with the Fuller Center for Housing in San Diego, we are working with a family in Barrio Logan to come up with a set of plans that will provide a new addition to the home for their handicaap son. The house is quite old, no insulation, cramped living quarters, and old windows. The plans call out for a new bedroom, bathroom and patio space that will be accessible by wheelchair. Stay tuned as we continue to progress! (Brian W. talking with client and image of the house)

OC/SD/SF Tele-Conference Meeting

Good day today - met up with the Orange County Chapter and held a tele conference with the AFH headquarters. We're on a mission to make some magic and make things happen. We have been collaborating with OC and SF to move forward with a competition we will be hosting and launching next spring. As always it's great to collaborate with like-minded organizations. Thank you Mike and Brian for hosting us at your offices!

(Clockwise - Brian Will, Brian Hannigan and Mike Hutaff) - (On Call - Cameron, Elaine and Kimberly!)

Design Innovation Institute Meeting

Today we met with the Executive Director, Calvin Woo of Design Innovation Institute (Dii) and the Board of Directors at their offices in Mission Hills. It was great to hear the dialogue and discussion of their goals and intentions for future projects. We were invited on behalf of Calvin to speak about Rebuild and possible collaboration opportunities. Everyone seems enthusiastic and I believe great opportunities lie ahead. It's all about the 'Power of Design' and the influence we have upon our communities.
(Clockwise: Joel Robasco, Calvin Woo, Theresa Plummer)

Charette Meeting 7/2/09

Today we hosted a charette meeting at Mission Valley library amongst committee members of Rebuild. We discussed key topics including our various committees, programs and education, marketing and outreach. It was great having Jeff (co-founder of Rebuild - now resides in NYC) on board to spice in some excitement and talk to us about his work and our involvement within the organization. As always, a lot of work to do and we continue to seek out individuals who would like to be a part of the team! Good job everyone - lesson learned - we must continue to move forward!

(Photo 1: Gaston Ochoa, Kelly Griepentrog)

(Photo 2: Denise Colestock, Jeff Silva)