Cameron Sinclair

For the past two decades Cameron has worked at the forefront of social innovation, community development and sustainable construction. As a designer he has built museums, educational facilities and implemented community centric urban planning strategies. He has built partnerships and multi-multidisciplinary teams to enable and empower communities in 54 countries, while raising and overseeing over $75M in social impact and humanitarian initiatives.

Currently he is running a number of design projects, including transforming decommissioned weapons into musical instruments and creating architectural interventions in culturally historic locations.

Previously he led social innovation at Airbnb, conceptualizing and developing a range of projects from livelihoods for resettled refugees, rural revitalization in Japan and Jordan, house concerts, addressing systems for nomadic populations and developing marketplaces for traditional craftspeople in Japan. Sinclair was co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, which designed and built schools, health clinics, resilient housing and developed long term sustainable reconstruction programs. He also ran a for purpose design firm for over a decade which was recognized for designing and building schools for thousands of displaced Syrian refugee children.

He is a strong advocate in the power of design as a catalyst for social and economic change.  Sinclair compiled a number of best selling books, is a visiting professor to a number of universities and holds an honorary doctorate of Architecture. Sinclair was a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council, an advisor at USAID and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Sinclair won the TED prize, the National Design Award and a runner-up for UK Designer of the Year. He is based in New York City and Los Angeles and still gives a damn.