Joe Kennedy ('90)

 

For the past twelve years I have been intimately involved in creating sustainable settlements in South Africa. In the past two years my efforts to create models of dwelling that could serve the poorest in South Africa have intensified.

In 2003 I was approached by the NextAid organization to help them create a child support center in a rural town outside of Johannesburg called Dennilton. Dennilton is faced with extreme poverty (95% unemployment) and a 40% HIV infection rate. This center, for a group called Youth With a Vision, will eventually incorporate an orphan/elder ecovillage, performance and study spaces, a micro-enterprise element and sustainable food production systems. It is our hope that this center can be the first of many to serve the over 27 million orphans of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.

In November/December 2004 I traveled to South Africa to do initial research, meet my “clients” and co-lead an intensive design session with the children and local community leaders to clarify their needs and desires. Some of you supported this work, and for this I thank you. This trip was intense, exhausting and very successful.

In July I will be returning to co-lead a team of builders and educators to initiate construction of the center. NextAid has purchased a 16-acre piece of land that will be the site of the center. During the 2½ week design/building and training intensive in July we will be developing the design of the center and initiating construction of a house and general purpose space to be used by Youth With a Vision. We will be using local materials such as earth to minimize costs and make the building systems available to the local community. We will be working with a local builder who will be continuing work with the community after our intensive training session is completed. I will also be working for several days with colleagues in Cape Town to develop housing strategies for the crowded townships and informal settlements there.

Additional information and photos of this work can be seen in the NextAid project flyer on line.

Donations are tax-deductible, and can be made to Village Renaissance, my “social profit” institute founded in 2004. If you wish more information about my work with Village Renaissance, please let me know, and I will send you my latest update report.

Thank you,

Joe Kennedy
Village Renaissance
737 Mill Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
jkennedy@newcollege.edu

Update - August 2005

A photo report and video of the July 2005 building project are available from the NextAid site.

 

 

 

 

 

BIO:  Joe Kennedy is co-founder and former director of Builders Without Borders, an international network of ecological builders dedicated to serving the underhoused of the world, with projects to create affordable housing with sustainable and local materials.  He received degrees in Architecture from UC Berkeley and the California Institute of Architecture and teaches ecological design and natural building in the Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community Program of the New College of California in Santa Rosa, California.  He is co-author and editor of The Art of Natural Building (New Society, 2001) and Building Without Borders: Sustainable Construction for the Global Village (New Societ, 2004).  An associate producer on The Straw Bale Solution video, Joe has also produced a grade 6-8 curriculum about ecological design and natural building entitled Homeward Bound. Traveling and consulting around the world, Joe has participated in numerous building and research projects. He co-designed a space station habitability module for NASA ; participated in a National Endowment for the Arts -sponsored ceramic house project: studied ancient stone towers on the island of Sardinia with Earthwatch ; and co-created a site-built earth art project with Japanese artist, Nobuho Nagasawa, in Prague, Czech Republic. In addition he has been a principal designer for the Tlholego Development Project, an ecological teacher-training center for basic needs in South Africa, where he helped build several prototype structures based on ecological design principles. 

Top of Page

Home > Alumni > Alumni Projects > Joe Kennedy