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    What's this?
Brad Pitt's sweet 14
14 new duplex designs from a slew of top architects are announced as part of NOLA rebuilding effort, Make it Right.
Tue, Jul 07 2009 at 11:47 AM
 29

Related Topics:

Green Architecture, Green Building, Celebs, Natural Disasters
The Make It Right Foundation — Brad Pitt’s massive effort to bring affordable, storm-safe, sustainable housing to NOLA’s Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Lower 9th Ward — has unveiled 14 new duplex designs from a global roster of top architecture firms.
 
As I reported in January, the first six houses — out of a planned 150 — have been completed. Since then, more have been erected and are sheltering once-displaced NOLA residents. These 14 fresh duplex designs follow Make It Right's mission to transform the Lower 9th Ward into “a neighborhood comprised of safe and healthy homes that are inspired by Cradle to Cradle thinking, with an emphasis on a high quality of design, while preserving the spirit of the community's culture.” The homes also address issues unique to multi-family dwellings and NOLA including flexibility, affordability, landscaping as a design and energy element, and integration with the street.
 
I’ve picked out my top five favorites designs below with links to the architects responsible. The remaining nine follow. After taking a look, what are your top picks?
William McDonough + Partners (US)
Constructs (Ghana)
Billes Architecture (US)
Atelier Hitoshi Abe (Japan)
Gehry Partners, LLP (US)
 
 
Bildit Design (US)/ BNIM (US)
 
buildingstudio (US)/Elemental (Chile)
 
GRAFT (Germany)/Pugh+ Scarpa (US)
  
MVRDV (The Netherlands)/ Kappe + Du Architects (US)
Waggonner & Ball Architects (US)
 
Photos: Make It Right

The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.

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anonymous
Dave B Nov 18 2009 at 8:50 AM
I am in Australia and we and hundreds of other people from all over the world invested over $30,000.00 each to the Title Connection Trust under the pretense this was all set up by Bradd Pitt. The person we were dealing direct with was Leslie Younger but now she refuses to communicate to any one and the money accounting to Millions has all but vanished, and we have now been told we must get lawyers to try and get some if any of the money back. I find this disgusting that investors from all over the
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world have tried to help and invest in this community and are now being treated like this and it just seams like no one in America even wants to help us unless we pay them ridiculous amounts of money and get told this could take years to go to court and get any if any recovery. If any one can or will help sort this out it would be greatly appreciated as I am not an investor and did not have the funds to just give to some one else for their Xmas fund. If Brad Pitt does ever read this well all I can say mate is it is time to step up to the plate and sort this out fast, as there are hundreds of investors around the world that will now never invest again in any thing with the USA all because of one very bad investment.
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anonymous
Dathan Jul 21 2009 at 1:41 AM

I think all nay says should give the man a little credit and trust that he did his research. I think the experts know what they're doing. There's probably not a most cost efficient solution for protecting the people from flooding.

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anonymous
Josh Jul 10 2009 at 11:49 AM

I have been living in New Orleans my entire life and these designs are ridiculous.
First of all these designs are way too modern and ridiculous looking to fit into the scenery in the 9th ward. Secondly, people in the 9th ward will not be living in huge houses. I mean c'mon lets be honest. The 9th ward is one of the poorest parts (and most violent parts) of New Orleans and they want to throw in these huge modern looking houses. I may seem negative about the whole situation but this is just dumb.

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anonymous
Guest Jul 10 2009 at 11:40 PM

Enter your comments heresond negative,also you are what is dumb,and maybe jealous

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anonymous
Arnold Schwartzme Jul 10 2009 at 2:25 AM

Celebrities need to stop getting their hands involved in things they know nothing about like "thinking"

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anonymous
Terrie Jul 09 2009 at 12:47 PM

I've only been to NOLA once but the best part of it, for me, was the architecture. Why put these horribly modern designs in such a decidedly non-modern area? It looks like a bunch of designers trying to out-wierd each other, and they've succeeded. It's great to build homes there, but why not make them fit in with the homes that weren't destroyed?

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anonymous
Jimi Witt Jul 09 2009 at 11:31 AM

To help with resisting the hurricane winds, there needs to be some designs taking advantage of circular structures. Naturally a round home will hold up against high winds much better than the flat walls that are shown in the designs above. I don't know why the designers aren't taking this truth into consideration.

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anonymous
Jimi Witt Jul 09 2009 at 4:32 PM

Yurts would be a great house design for this area!

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anonymous
Guest Jul 09 2009 at 3:02 PM

because they are architects, not engineers. Slightly to their defense, circular structures are harder to manufacture but I fully agree with your statement.

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anonymous
Guest Jul 09 2009 at 12:56 AM

For what it would cost to make any one of these designs a reality and hurricane resistant you could build 10 houses that would be storm resistant and functional.

These people have been drinking the Katrina flood water!

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anonymous
MIchelle Smith Jul 08 2009 at 10:19 PM
Being a New Orleanian and a designer, I like the 1st design the best. Almost all of our houses are raised, elderly residents or not. Just a good rain can bring on street flooding! Our houses must be raised, and Katrina showed us they should be raised even more. And saying things like it shouldn't be rebuilt shows ignorance. If that is the case, then the same goes for San Francisco, New York, the entire state of Florida, etc. We all have our issues. Flooding is New Orleans'. We're a quaint
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little drinking town with a little hurricane problem, so the saying goes. We also have a severe lack of parking. Most NOLA residents do not have the luxury of their own parking space, so it is nice to see the parking area underneath. The lot sizes here are also very narrow. The average shotgun house, the most common type, is usually 10-16 feet wide. Double that if it is a duplex, or 'double' as we call them. Several of the designs look a bit too wide for the average lot size. Wind , solar, water collection and reuse should all be part of the designs, but I can't tell from the pics if these are being utilized to their fullest potential. While the Japanese are amazing at doing so much with small tight spaces, I would like to see as many local people and products utilized as possible in the actual production. That way it helps not only the new residents in these homes, but all the people that make it possible on our long road to recovery. Lastly I would like to say that Brad Pitt has gone above and beyond for the people of Nola, using his celebrity to help keep attention focused on the region. And we need all the help we can get. To all the people that have bad things to say about him: What have you done for NOLA lately? The designs are modern, but I think they can work nicely in NOLA. It is impossible to build them like they used to, and I personally do not want faux old architecture. To me that would be a bastardization of the jewels that genuine. Juxtaposition is a beautiful thing, people!!! It allows you to appreciate each for what they truly are.
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anonymous
Guest Oct 12 2009 at 11:17 AM

I couldn't agree more with you statements or sentiment. NOLA must contine to grow and evolve like any other place and not be so myopic in its think - esp. about architecture and design.

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anonymous
future nola resident Aug 26 2009 at 12:12 PM

everyone who says modern design doesn't belong in new orleans because it doesn't fit with the vernacular that exists needs to take a drive to laurel and arabella streets. it isn't raised but it's a gorgeous expression of how designs can be true and progressive at the same time.

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anonymous
The Laughing Mi... Aug 23 2009 at 2:03 PM
I thought this comment was concise, pragmatic and human as well as visionary-so of course I agree. Although I am not crazy about the designs themselves (so far) I applaud the idea of them. I do think that there should be a historical nod to the current soundings. Perhaps they could create stylistically similar homes/cluster communities ( long porches/raised houses) but with a modern flair. I think this is a very intriguing and possibly pivotal time in New Orleans. Where this chaos there is opportunity
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and this could revitalize the city. Re: Brad Pitt -I simply admire the man. He could have been a self indulgent twat who never learned to act and who took from everything around him. Seems to me he made pretty good on giving back to a community that he obviously feels empathy for. WTF do you people want? For him to give away all of his wealth, renounce Hollywood and wear a hair shirt to prove he cares about something aside from his public image? The guy lives and created his own life and reality and it seems like a pretty decent one.
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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 6:51 PM

The fact that your building is required to be built on on stilts 10' above ground should tell you that you its a bad idea to build there.

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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 8:43 PM
i live in north biloxi (mississippi); my neighbors who live on the water were required to have their homes rebuilt even higher than they were before...i dont know why, because they won't help anyway. if another storm like katrina comes through, it will just rip the house right off the stilts (which i saw in many of the homes in my neighborhood after katrina). most of them it just looked like the wind/water "picked up" the house right off the stilts and set it back down on the ground right next to
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the sets of stilts.
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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 6:31 PM
I admit I stumbled upon this and am comming from a different angle. I am into Green building, pasive solar, and Sustainable designs. I don't see much of that there. Let's make it right needs to, do it right the first time. These need to be green design with local deisgns and products. They also need to incorporate Sustainable energy implementations that are apropriate for the area. Solar, wind, water collerction and reuse, smart building materials, etc. For more information and feedback, fell free
.... More
to contact me at.Engineer10122@gmail.com
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anonymous
Jack Jul 08 2009 at 6:02 PM

It's not for the average poor family, it's obvious at this point. Why? Because Brad Pitt is in the story.

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anonymous
justjohn Jul 08 2009 at 5:56 PM

This is silly. For the cost of a single one of these homes to be built, you could probably build four average homes.

Quality sustainable design is a much better investment.

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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 5:50 PM
This is good I guess, by why can't they just be normal? It probably would have been cheaper to design normal houses too. I live lafayette, in south louisiana, and I can't speak for the people of the ninth ward but I would've wanted something more traditional and beautiful...aka New Orleans architecture. I looked through the architect's sites and of the U.S. locations, 4 are located in NOLA and 5 are in Los Angeles. These houses should be in Los Angeles, and he should have only used design firms
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from S. louisiana, or at least from the gulf coast, cause isn't that was this is about, helping that area, not Japan? But still this is a good thing and helping lots of people, and I am being cynical, so I keep up the good work.
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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 5:37 PM

So basically your saying that god forbid the 9th ward gets flooded again, it would be better for people to drown in the flood waters then walk up a few stairs? That makes no sense...

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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 5:33 PM

I agree with some of the other comments here: while stylish, these houses seem very out of character for the area. It seems as though sometimes designers design to please themselves rather than the inhabitants and I wonder if they even gave much thought as to who was going to be living there and where they were to be built.

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anonymous
Green Sugar Jul 08 2009 at 5:32 PM

Pitt may look good fly-fishing and cradle-to-cradle thinking makes sense, but these are crazy!!

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anonymous
Hannah S. Jul 08 2009 at 5:12 PM

These houses all look so modern and a little weird. Why can't he just build normal looking houses, instead of Jetsons houses?

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anonymous
Guest Jul 08 2009 at 5:08 PM

As a founding member of Furnishing For Hope, I have been to the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish to help the residents furnish their homes. While the homes are stylish, they are not practical for the area. Forget the stigma associated with the Lower 9th ward, the homes are out of place with the other homes in the area that are being rebuilt by other organizations. A true waste of resources.

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