Line Ramstad
Line Ramstad is the founder and director of Gyaw Gyaw, a small nonprofit organization working along the Thai/Burmese border designing and building schools, infrastructure, and communal facilities. The organization’s work elevates education and improves life quality in remote conflict areas.
Using sustainable architecture as a tool for equitable development and a participatory democratic process as a guiding principle, Gyaw Gyaw has completed more than 70 projects for and with ethnic Karen communities since 2009.
Line’s studies in anthropology, architecture, landscape architecture, geography and environmental studies have led to engagement with projects that span multiple disciplines. She has worked on landscape impact assessments in Norway, has contributed to the implementation of a friendship garden in Ramallah, Palestine, was the project leader for Architecture Creates Value Norway, and an author and participant on the Laufen Manifesto for a Humane Design Culture.
By combining her hands-on and long term commitment to Gyaw Gyaw with participation in the global discourse surrounding sustainable architecture, Line is promoting small scale equitable development to a larger audience. Splitting her time between Scandinavia and the jungles of Southeast Asia, she continues to pursue her interest in understanding how the built environment affects humans, nature, and the relationship between them.
Photo by Vincenzo Floramo