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What We Do
Inadequate housing makes it impossible for people, particularly vulnerable and at-risk communities, to achieve health.
ARCHIVE Global (Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments) is an award-winning international organization that uses housing design as a key preventative strategy in improving health outcomes in vulnerable communities around the world. Through simple, innovative, and cost-effective built environment interventions paired with community health awareness campaigns, our research has proven that these strategies improve the health-outcomes of our beneficiaries.
Learn more about Our Story.
Housing and Health
- Household materials can host insects that cause diseases such as Chagas and scrub typhus.
- Food stored in unhygienic environments can host life-threatening bacteria, mold, and lead to rodent-borne illness.
- Inadequate access to water and sanitation are a common source of diarrheal disease, hepatitis, and many neglected tropical diseases.
- Dirt floors carry parasites, bacteria, and viruses that cause diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, and neglected tropical diseases.
Housing and Health
- Windows, doors, and eaves are entry points for insects, rodents, and animals, exposing families to vector-borne disease, rodent-borne illnesses, and more.
- Lack of ventilation can exacerbate respiratory infections and the spread of infectious diseases.
- Debris around a home provides a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and hiding spaces for deadly snakes.
- Overcrowding exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases and increases diseases spread through proximity to livestock and other animals.
Housing and Health
- Asbestos, found in many building materials, is known to cause pleural diseases and various cancers such as Mesothelioma.
- Inadequate community resources such as lack of access to markets, and green spaces increase levels of stress, anxiety, social isolation, and reduces mental health.
- Lead can be found in homes’ pipes, paint, or household objects built in the US before 1978, and can cause anemia, kidney and brain damage, and cognitive impairment in children.
- Radon is a colorless and odorless gas found in the ground that reaches homes through contaminated groundwater and dirt floors. It causes physical disabilities and various cancers.
Housing and Health
- Household materials can host insects that cause diseases such as Chagas and scrub typhus.
- Food stored in unhygienic environments can host life-threatening bacteria, mold, and lead to rodent-borne illness.
- Inadequate access to water and sanitation are a common source of diarrheal disease, hepatitis, and many neglected tropical diseases.
- Dirt floors carry parasites, bacteria, and viruses that cause diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, and neglected tropical diseases.
Housing and Health
- Windows, doors, and eaves are entry points for insects, rodents, and animals, exposing families to vector-borne disease, rodent-borne illnesses, and more.
- Lack of ventilation can exacerbate respiratory infections and the spread of infectious diseases.
- Debris around a home provides a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes and hiding spaces for deadly snakes.
- Overcrowding exacerbates the spread of infectious diseases and increases diseases spread through proximity to livestock and other animals.
Housing and Health
- Asbestos, found in many building materials, is known to cause pleural diseases and various cancers such as Mesothelioma.
- Inadequate community resources such as lack of access to markets, and green spaces increase levels of stress, anxiety, social isolation, and reduces mental health.
- Lead can be found in homes’ pipes, paint, or household objects built in the US before 1978, and can cause anemia, kidney and brain damage, and cognitive impairment in children.
- Radon is a colorless and odorless gas found in the ground that reaches homes through contaminated groundwater and dirt floors. It causes physical disabilities and various cancers.
Our Work
Each of our projects focuses on one specific health concern and one specific built intervention to improve the targeted health concern, and encompass research, the design of the built environment, and advocacy. Communities of need exist in both developing and developed countries, and our projects reflect that. Explore all of our Work.
Mud to Mortar
Savar and Dhamrai Upazila, Bangladesh Ekibada: Our Periods Matter
Maina Parish, Mayuge District, Uganda Health and Housing in Haiti
Saint-Marc, Haiti Building Malaria Prevention
Yaoundé, Cameroon Building Sanitation in Idenau
Idenau Municipality, Cameroon Sanitation for Health in Delhi
Aya Nagar, Delhi, India Happy Healthy Households
Brent and Newham, London, UK Breathe Easy Camden
Camden County, New Jersey, United States Active Aging in NYC: Design for Health
New York, NY, USA CHAI Mosquito-Proof Housing in Namibia
Districts of Mashosho, Simanya, Onoonga, Oupale, Onandjamba A, Omatako, Namibia Building out Chagas
Bolivia Healthy Air, Healthy Living
Oromia, Ethiopia
Savar and Dhamrai Upazila, Bangladesh Ekibada: Our Periods Matter
Maina Parish, Mayuge District, Uganda Health and Housing in Haiti
Saint-Marc, Haiti Building Malaria Prevention
Yaoundé, Cameroon Building Sanitation in Idenau
Idenau Municipality, Cameroon Sanitation for Health in Delhi
Aya Nagar, Delhi, India Happy Healthy Households
Brent and Newham, London, UK Breathe Easy Camden
Camden County, New Jersey, United States Active Aging in NYC: Design for Health
New York, NY, USA CHAI Mosquito-Proof Housing in Namibia
Districts of Mashosho, Simanya, Onoonga, Oupale, Onandjamba A, Omatako, Namibia Building out Chagas
Bolivia Healthy Air, Healthy Living
Oromia, Ethiopia
News & Insights
Stay informed with updates, projects, reports, and upcoming events on the ARCHIVE Instagram Feed.
Thinking about our lives post-COVID: Tell us in the comments section below, what changes to built environment would you like to see in the post-COVID world?
Click the link in BIO to read what the faculty of UCLA School of Arts and Architecture have to say about how the pandemic could affect architecture.
#BuildingHealthDifferently
#ArchitectureforHealth
#TBT to 2011, on the six-month anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, ARCHIVE launched the global design competition Kay e Sante nan Ayiti (Creole for Housing and Health in Haiti) to raise awareness of how innovative housing designs can reduce the transmission of airborne diseases such as tuberculosis. The competition was open to all— architects, designers, health specialists, engineers, and students!
The competition was highly successful with 400 registered entries and 200 qualifying designs. 15 judges from 6 continents spent a total of 120 hours to decide the 20 finalists and winners. For more info on the winners: see link in BIO
Today, 10 years later, we continue to raise awareness on the link between housing and health through the Health Through Housing Coalition (HtHC). HtHC is a platform for connecting people from different fields, organizations, and communities to share knowledge, resources, and ideas for adequate and healthier housing. Through interdisciplinary collaboration we unlock the full potential of projects and solutions contributing to building healthy communities around the world.
#buildinghealthdifferently
#Haiti
#innovation
#TB
#AIDS
#housingdesign
#infectionprevention
The effects of COVID19 are disproportionately worse for women around the world. Read @eralic Emily’s blog post on our website to learn about the increased challenges for women created by the pandemic and the importance of prioritizing adequate and safe shelter to alleviate some of these impacts.
Link to blog post in BIO!!
#genderequality
#covid_19
#buildinghealthdifferently
On the Blog
Find out the latest in health and the built environment on our Blog Feed.