MagazineMay 2022 Editor’s LetterAD’s Editor-in-Chief unveils what’s in store for the May issue

By Amy Astley

April 12, 2022

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The AD/New Story community in Titanyen, Haiti. Mission of Hope

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“This new house is a gift from God. This will be permanent. This will be my land. In my name. For my family. And that is freedom.” —Paul Farius, a resident of the AD/New Story community

A home of one’s own: It’s a universal dream, but one tragically and unfairly out of reach for so many human beings worldwide. The editors at AD produce features on the most inspiring residences imaginable, yet even as we feel privileged to share the fantasy with our readers, we as a team comprehend how many people are in need of comforting shelter, and we strive to help where we can.

Cover star Kacey Musgraves at home in Nashville.

Lelanie Foster

Christine d’Ornano’s daughter Inès with surfboard. 

Matthieu Salvaing

In 2017, AD teamed with the Atlanta-based nonprofit New Story to raise $650,000 to build a new community in Titanyen, Haiti, for families still displaced by the 2010 earthquake. The design world—and especially the illustrious members of the AD100—immediately understood the mission and rallied to support this epic project. We are so proud and happy to share the miraculous result in this issue: 100 houses constructed from the ground up using local labor and materials and now providing security for so many long-displaced Haitians. As you read the words of journalist Carly Olson, a former staffer who has been instrumental in shepherding this ambitious undertaking from its earliest days, know that AD remains committed to such transformational opportunities. We are just getting started!

 A view of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda.

Iwan Baan

The kitchen in a Lyford Cay house with interiors by David Netto. 

Gieves Anderson

Speaking of design making a difference, AD also pays an exclusive visit to the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda in these pages. Fossey, who may have single-handedly saved the mountain gorillas from extinction before her untimely death, has been a hero of DeGeneres’s since childhood. The Fossey Fund staff previously worked in cramped and makeshift quarters, but now, thanks in part to support from DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, they enjoy a state-of-the-art 12-acre complex designed by MASS Design Group and dedicated to gorilla conservation. Every home really is a labor of love.

With AD100 designer Ken Fulk at an AD/New Story Fundraiser he generously hosted.

Drew Altizer

-Amy Astley, Editor in Chief, @amyastley