Architects Without Frontiers

This event is co-hosted by Boston Urban Salon, Cities@Tufts, and Shareable with support from Barr Foundation.

When registering, please let us know if you will be joining us online or in-person by purchasing the relevent ticket. The in-person event will be hosted at Tufts Medford Campus, Sophia Gordon Hall, Room 100, 15 Talbot Ave Somerville, MA 02144

About the Speaker

Professor Esther Charlesworth works in the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT

University, where in 2016 she founded the Master of Disaster, Design, and Development

degree [MoDDD] and the Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau [HARB]. MoDDD is

one of the few degrees globally, enabling mid-career designers to transition their careers into

the international development, disaster and urban resilience sectors.

Esther is also the founding Director of Architects without Frontiers [AWF] while also being one

of the original founders of Architectes Sans Frontières [ASF] International. AWF is the largest

design not-for-profit in the Asia Pacific region.

Since 2010, AWF has undertaken 63 health, education, and social infrastructure projects in 15 countries for vulnerable communities and has been described by ABC journalist Phillip

Adams as ‘destined to develop into one of the greater forces of good on this battered planet’.

Charlesworth has worked in the public and private sectors of architecture and urban design in

Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Boston and Beirut since graduating with a Masters in

Architecture and Urban Design [MAUD] from Harvard University in 1995. In 2004 she was

awarded her PhD from the University of York (UK).

In 2020, Esther received a Membership of the Order of Australia (AM), one of the highest

civilian awards in Australia, for ‘significant service to architecture, to education, and to the

community of the Asia Pacific region’.

She has published eight books on the theme of social justice and architecture, including,

‘Divided Cities’ (2011), from a research project funded by the Macarthur Foundation in 1999;

‘Humanitarian Architecture’ (2014) ‘Sustainable Housing Reconstruction’ (2015) and ‘Design

for Fragility’ (2022).