It seems an obvious, rational, and humane thing to wish that every human on the planet had a dignified place to live… a safe place to call home. To end the global housing crisis, we need homes for one billion people in a working lifetime. It is impossible for a person to flourish without decent shelter, and it will be impossible for a civilization to prosper unless it can dependably provide humane housing to live in without ruining the planet we live on. Housing is likely one of a small number of rate-limiting steps to the incredible future we dream of and want.

How can architecture, design, robotics and be in service to humanity to address housing needs? Can there be a universal solution for accessible, affordable housing that is beautiful, dignified and meets the needs of those who lack access?

If shelter and housing are that important, it’s time we treat it that way. It’s time we attack the problem just as energetically as we’ve attacked other human challenges in the past. We need a moonshot for affordable housing.

This is a time for global architectural, design, and the building community to come together with all the creativity, energy, passion, and focus they can muster to design the homes and the future that humanity wants… one where dignified, beautiful, and sustainable homes are available and accessible all over the world.

The vision of a home with construction costs under $99k has inspired and motivated city planners, developers, officials and others for decades. And yet conventional approaches to design and delivery have repeatedly come up short and produced underwhelming results. Advanced technologies provide advanced opportunities, and we need to begin aggressively exploring them together.

Join ICON CEO Jason Ballard and special guests Bjarke Ingels (BIG), Michelle Addington (Univ Texas) and Sarah Satterlee (Mobile Loaves & Fishes) as they ignite a call to action on the future of accessible housing and share visions that could change the way we design and build for our global community.