Esther Charlesworth is the founding Director of Architects without Frontiers
[AWF] and also one of the founders of Architectes Sans Frontieres [ASF]
International. Since 2002, AWF has undertaken over 42 health, education and
social infrastructure projects in 12 countries for vulnerable communities and
has been described by ABC radio broadcaster Phillip Adams as ‘destined to
develop into one of the greater forces of good on this battered planet’.
Esther is also a Professor in the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT
University, where she founded the Master of Disaster, Design and
Development degree [MoDDD] and the Humanitarian Architecture Research
Bureau [HARB].
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 from Harvard University
in 1995. In 2004 she was awarded her PhD from the University of York (UK).
She has published eight books on the theme of social justice and architecture,
including: ‘Divided Cities’ (2011), ‘Humanitarian Architecture’ (2014)
‘Sustainable Housing Reconstruction’ (2015) and ‘Design for Fragility’ (2022).