Doctors Without Borders is currently seeking an architect to be involved in the organisation’s global humanitarian missions, which will allow for the design and construction of infrastructure in areas of need.

Applicants are required to have a minimum of two years experience, with the role’s responsibilities varying from feasibility studies and design proposals to management of the construction process, from tender to completion.

Architecture and humanism often go hand in hand. Architects Without Frontiers (AWF) is an Australian organisation intent on designing for the other 90 percent. AWF looks to facilitate the design and construction of health, education and community projects across the Asia Pacific region. The organisation was founded in 1998 by Directors Esther Charlesworth, Beau Beza, and Garry Ormston.

AWF has collaborated with 35 communities to improve their social and physical infrastructure and has implemented 43 health and education projects across 15 countries in that time. In order for the projects to come to fruition, AWF partners with 11 built environment practices (who also fund the organisation’s costs), including SJB, Tract and Hassell, and selects the appropriate firms to carry out the design, costing and construction process.

The architect role at Doctors Without Borders provides an opportunity for an experienced architect to venture into the humanity sphere. 

AWF Director Esther Charlesworth is a Professor at RMIT University’s School of Architecture and Urban Design and the founder of the university’s Master of Disaster, Design and Development (MoDDD) degree, which gives graduates from any discipline, including design, the ability to develop the skills required to work in the disaster management and urban resilience sectors throughout Australia and the wider world. It speaks to the evolution of the architectural discipline, and the desire students hold to design for communities in need.

“It’s not demarcated by ‘north or south divides’ as they say in development circles. I think vulnerability and fragility is everywhere,” Charlesworth says.

“It’s about designing for the other 90 percent. The profession and how we're educated often deals with the needs of the elite as opposed to those who need it most.”

To view the application, click here.