Green Daily

I've known about Brad Pitt's sustainable housing project in New Orleans for quite some time. First there was the sustainable design architecture competition and then a bunch of pink structures popped up in the Lower 9th Ward. I went down there over the weekend to see what it was all about and get some pictures.

Brad Pitt's Make It Right program begins in the Lower 9th Ward next to one of the levee breaches. This is the neighborhood that was shown so prevalently on the news; first with people on roofs and once the water receded, we saw houses on top of cars. The current plan is to build 150 sustainable homes over 14 square blocks where homes were so badly damaged that there was little choice except to demolish them.

While funds are being collected to assist landowners in financing these homes, a new exhibit has been created to let the former residents know that they have not been forgotten. The exhibit entitled, The Pink Project, amounts to large blocks covered in fabric and scattered over the barren neighborhood. Pink was chosen by Pitt as a color of promise and it contrasts greatly with the brown earth below and river nearby. After the exhibit is removed, the pink material will be recycled into bags and sold to benefit the project.

The actual installation looks haphazard; a roof piece might be placed next to a block resembling the main part of a house. Once enough money is raised to build a house, the roof gets attached. There are ten complete "houses" thus far. The entire exhibit resembles a life size Monopoly board. Mixed among the "houses" are viewing platforms where you can climb up for an aerial view of the neighborhood and grasp the entire project.


From on top of the platform I did see a great deal of promise but while walking on the ground I couldn't shake the feeling that I was walking on a grave site. There are still squares of concrete foundation poking out of the ground where houses once stood. The grass is long dead and the trees have yet to recover. Two residents sat outside of their respective FEMA trailers (the only two in that neighborhood) watching the cars and people pass.

Three trailers on the site house architectural designs for the development. Because the lots in New Orleans are so narrow and long, the houses somewhat reflect the architecture of the area but they are indisputably modern. Energy saving concepts include encouraging vines to grow along well-placed metal structures to shade windows and solar panels will be installed as well. There was little information about the actual materials that will be used but I hope to get an answer to that on future visits.

There have been a lot of promises made about the future of New Orleans but it's the private money that has made the biggest difference so far. Brad Pitt's efforts to build affordable, sustainable housing are welcome and applauded.