Cameron Sinclair
Cameron Sinclair
Cameron Sinclairis the founder and principal designer for Small Works, a social impact design and development company which focuses on post-conflict reconstruction and for purpose projects...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth16 November 1973
Cameron Sinclair quotes about
community empowering identity
After two decades of reconstruction work, I want to work on projects that lay at the intersection of cultural diplomacy and national identity - ones that empower local communities to define progress, not have it sanctioned by others.
crush technology broken
When you as a designer design something that burdens a community with maintenance and old world technology, basically failed developed world technology, then you will crush that community way beyond bad design; youll destroy the economics of that community, and often the community socially is broken.
beautiful people world
When you build a beautiful building, people love it. And the most sustainable building in the world is the one that’s loved.
thinking architecture architect
For me, I think the most exciting thing in architecture is the re-emergence of the locally-focused architect.
beautiful dream optimistic
A true architect is not an artist but an optimistic realist. They take a diverse number of stakeholders, extract needs, concerns, and dreams, then create a beautiful yet tangible solution that is loved by the users and the community at large. We create vessels in which life happens.
player world states
Treat the world like a failed state; then you can understand the players needed to fix it.
jobs hate careers
A career is a job you love, right? That's what a career should be. If you're in a job that you hate, you should quit. That's the way I look at it. I'm in a job that I love, so I'm going to make it my career.
country home helping
We often discuss housing refugees, but not how you help return refugees back to their home countries. As a result, in a post-disaster or post-conflict situation, we end up with intractable refugee camps that end up staying for decades.
numbers community hats
I build community. However, I do it wearing a number of hats.
school support important
Success will only happen with Afghans leading the charge, and it is far, far more important for Kabul to create and support a purpose-driven school of architecture than to invite a high profile designer to build.
opportunity practice optimism
Through training, practice, and a deep sense of optimism, architects see opportunities where others only see a void. This has been the driving principle behind Architecture for Humanity since our founding.
focus innovation want
When your focus is social change and not financial change, why wouldn't you want to share that openly? Innovation only succeeds when it's shared.
jobs creating space
Design is about creating spaces for people to enjoy and of course, creating moments where you elevate the spirit, but 'design for good' is figuring out a program that not only creates better spaces, but creates jobs, creates new industry and really kind of raises the conversation about how we rebuild.
design focus architect
If you focus on design, you can call yourself a designer. If you focus on the implementation of your design, you can call yourself an architect.