I choose to Follow Sergio Palleroni...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Palleroni

Sergio Palleroni is an architectural activist who is Co-founder and Director of the BaSiC Initiative, is a Professor and Fellow of the new Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices at Portland State University. He has been a Professor at the University of Texas, Austin and University of Washington, where in 1995 he co-founded the BaSiC Initiative with Professor David Riley to support the service learning work they had been doing with students since the late 1980s in Mexico and Central America. Sergio earned his professional BArch from the University of Oregon and his MSArchS in History Theory & Criticism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked on housing and community development in the developing world since the 1970's, both for not-for-profit, governmental, and international development and relief agencies such as the United Nations and the World Bank, as well as the governments of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, India, and Taiwan. He has received numerous awards for his teaching and design work for underserved communities, including the National Education Awards from the ACSA/AIA (1997), NCARB (2003 and 2006), and the National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institution and the White House in 2005. His books include: Time & Other Constructs: The Work of Carlos Miijares, co-authored with Rodolfo Santamaria (Escala Press, 1989); Studio at Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities, with Christine Merkelbach (University of Washington Press, 2004); and Teaching Sustainability in Asia (NTUT Press, 2006). In addition, his work has appeared in numerous international magazines and publications including, most recently, Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism, by Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford (2008), Design Like You Give a Damn, by Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr (2006), Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook (2005), and the forthcoming Experiments in Design Pedagogy, by Mao-lin Chiu (Taipei, 2009).

I attended one of his seminars in Barcelona this fall 09 and he really inspired me.

So, I will be following him closely and update you with all his details.

I will be going on a fieldtrip to El kef Area in Tunisia organized by BaSiC Initiative to do some cultural mapping work as in demographic surveys, site analysis, interviews with locals...

the project details are:

Solar Bakery: El Kef, Tunisia
2008 - 2012

We have an exciting opportunity to serve a rural community in El Kef, Tunisia. In the fall of 2008, we were invited to northwestern Tunisia to discuss the potential of serving the rural community of El Kef. The lack of a communal space for training and bringing goods to market has forced villagers to migrate to the city of El Kef (since the late 1980s) without real prospects. We believe the best way to support future economic growth is through a renewed and more sustainable connection between the communitys cultural identity and its most ancient industry. By the end of December 2008, we signed an agreement with La Fondation El Kef pour le Développement Régional (FEKDR) to design and build a small solar-powered bakery, mill and interpretive center. The project's aim is to improve the quality of life in a fragile environment and protect cultural identity.

Inspired by Local History

The lack of a communal space for training and bringing goods to market has forced villagers to migrate to the city of el Kef (since the late 1980's) without real prospects. The province of el Kef has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 42.6% for young women aged 18-29 and 30% for males of the same age group. In an agricultural region rich in wheat, barley, and oats, we believe the best way to support future economic growth is through a renewed and more sustainable connection between the community's cultural identity and its most ancient industry. Our project will focus on the following components:

- Solar bakery (100 sq. m.): a venue to bring goods to market and an activity rural women take pride in.

- Interpretive center (340 sq. m.): a combination of flex space to improve competencies, create opportunities for small cottage industries, and preserve traditions and history as it relates to bread. In addition, the space will serve as a resource center for sustainable approaches and technologies which might help sustain the culture and environment.

Benefits

The project's location in El Kef has the potential to have a positive impact on rural women in the region. The opportunities the project offers can translate into social and economic advantages in one's home village. Women and young girls reinvest about 90% back into their families and communities.