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Friday, August 24, 2012

WORLD ARCHITECTURE/New Orleans


THANKS, BRAD PITT—Well known architect Frank Gehry has designed a home in New Orleans that has been built in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, a residential area near the Mississippi River that was particularly devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The famed architect’s contribution was made through the Make It Right Foundation, which has organized a pool of contributing architects such as Gehry Partners, Thom Mayne, Pugh + Scarpa, Atelier Hitoshi Abe, Bild Design, Billes, buildingstudio, BNIM, Constructs, Elemental, GRAFT, KAppe Architects, MVRDV, Waggonner & Ball, and William McDonough and Partners to design single family and duplex residences for the Ninth Ward.

Make It Right was launched by actor Brad Pitt, architecture firms Graft and McDonough + Partners and Cherokee Gives Back in 2007, two years after the storm, when the neighborhood was still deserted and devastated. The founders invited the high-profile and influential New Orleans, national and international architects to develop affordable, green, storm resistant housing for the community, incorporating the latest in innovative and sustainable design.

Reports have it that Pitt’s foundation is hoping to build 150 homes. Today, Make It Right has built 75 sustainable, LEED Platinum certified homes for Lower 9th Ward families. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, Make It Right is the “largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world.”

Gehry’s design (pictured) features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a rooftop terrace and covered porch areas. In a foundation press release Gehry is quoted saying “…I wanted to make a house that I would like to live in and one that responded to the history, vernacular and climate of New Orleans."

The pink and purple colors were not Gehry’s idea. In fact the LA Times quotes Gehry: "...I love the colors that the homeowner chose. I could not have done it better."

The Gehry duplex’s cheery colors are functional as the cement fiberboard siding is fireproof, rot resistant and hates bugs, plus it’s eco-friendly (made from recycled materials) that gives the place low maintenance appeal.

decay resistant is pink and purple on the other. The pastel colored siding not only offers a cheerful facade, but it's functional, too. Cement fiberboard siding is fire, rot, insect and decay resistant, low maintaince, and made of recycled materials.

Source: http://www.makeitrightnola.org/

Photography on this page: Frank Gehry's project courtesy of Make It Right Foundation

Update: To see renderings of the architect’s designs go to:
http://www.makeitrightnola.org/index.php/building_green/architecture/

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