Orphanage project on shortlist for Earth Awards 2010
Howard Lake | 18 August 2010 | News
An architectural project to give 50 Thai orphans their own individual homes is in the running for a global innovation award backed by world-leading entrepreneurs. Norwegian organisation TYIN Tegnestue’s Soe Ker Tie Hias (The Butterfly Houses) has been selected from over 500 entries to be shortlisted in The Earth Awards 2010. Architect Andreas Grontvedt Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad will now pitch to top CEOs at an Innovators Summit in London to secure funding to bring the concept to market.
The Earth Awards identify viable ideas from fashion to architecture and consumer products, and matches them with investors to provide a practical solution to improve quality of life.
The Butterfly Houses, finalists in the social justice category, are designed to offer children a more normal situation, rather than the dormitories of many refugee orphanages. They provide individual spaces within a neighbourhood where children can grow independently yet within a network.
Finalists will soon compete in a ‘Dragons Den’ style pitch for more funding from top CEOs at an FT Innovators to Investors Summit on 16 September; selected finalists will also exhibit at HRH Prince of Wales’ Start Festival in London next month.
The Earth Awards Selection Committee is made up of world-leading entrepreneurs, designers and thinkers, including Peter Head, Director, ARUP; Graham Hill, Founder, Treehugger; Sir Richard Branson, Founder and CEO, Virgin Group; Yang Lan, Chairwoman, Sun Television; Ira C. Magaziner, Chairman, William J. Clinton Foundation; and Bill McKibben, writer and environmentalist.
www.theearthawards.org
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.