Although he touched down on at least four continents since last week, Cameron Sinclair isn't your average jetsetter. Those frequent-flier miles are for a good cause; as Men's Vogue wrote in May 2007, Sinclair is the founder and "eternal optimist" of Architecture for Humanity, which seeks to bring long-term design solutions to people in crisis, like the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. So when Cyclone Nargis tore through Myanmar on May 2, killing at least 80,000 and displacing 2 million, it was natural for Sinclair and Architecture for Humanity to jump in.

"It appears that the relief effort is either chaotic or hard to see," said Sinclair via email from South America. "However, in every post-disaster situation this stage of the response is always chaotic, no matter who is in charge. It is near impossible to create a smooth process for relief when millions are displaced and an unknown number have died."

Unlike agencies like the Red Cross, Architecture for Humanity focuses on the more nuanced needs -- "integrating disaster mitigation, creating local employment, allowing for skills training and technology transfer," according to Sinclair -- that come with time once the immediate pain of disaster has been salved.

Sinclair says they've raised over $30,000 for Myanmar since their efforts began (donations can be made here). The money will go towards clinics and schools, what Sinclair calls "anchors," that work to restore community more than simple home rebuilding. Workers from AFH will be on the ground by this summer and like most of their projects, plan to stay for two years or more. And they certainly have their work cut out for them. A deadly earthquake struck China just a few days after Nargis made landfall, killing at least 34,000 and bringing renewed attention to the lax building standards that contributed to the devastation of both disasters.

This week, Sinclair's travels will bring him a little closer to home -- San Francisco -- than usual: he flew in to New York City to speak at a responsible design conference as part of Design Week's International Contemporary Furniture Fair Monday afternoon. Given his schedule, it was probably your best chance of catching him in one place for a while. --WYATT JANSEN

READ MORE:
Cameron Sinclair knows that good design can make a difference in the world's disaster zones
Gabriel Orozco finds ecological disaster, guerrilla attacks and astonishing beauty in Equador