Tradition is an on-going thing. To me, it seems kind of cool that people, 50 years from now, could roll through that neighborhood and be like "Wow, this is different, why are these here?" And somebody could talk about how they sprung out of post-Katrina rebuilding efforts. Post-Katrina New Orleans shouldn't just be about returning things to the way they once were. Nobody would ever argue that way if we were talking about the levies.
I thought the federal flood insurance program requires new houses to be built at least ten foot above the highest tide of the last hundred years. It seems to me that Katrina would've redefined that mark, so hopefully all of their new houses are being built on stilts. That is, if they want any insurance.
As for the NYC architect quoted in the story... I'm guessing Mr Pitt didn't choose one of his designs.
@Magister: All the articles I've read about this "controversy", it's usually the architect who designed Seaside and Celebration(Disneytown) Florida complaining about Pitt and others. He designed a large number of homes, but they didn't give him the entire 9th Ward to redesign. So the integrity of his vision was compromised or some other BS.
The residents seem happy enough, aside from being asked about Pitt all the time by reporters.
@Magister: I don't know about Brad Pitt's houses specifically. But I was reading an article about this recently. And a lot of the houses are being built on what are essentially stilts. And there are a lot of other ideas being floated around to combat the problem. Some people came up with an idea where the houses could float, I doubt they are being used but cool in theory. They are doing a lot of creative things to rebuild in a safer way.
@Cheruth: Most of the east coast is built on stilts because of zoning laws and I'm pretty sure, due to flood insurance requirements.
I know some folks with houses around a hundred years old and back then, at least on this particular island chain, houses were built with plugs in the floor; When the water rises, you pull the plug and the house floats. But, whenever one of them wanted to put another house in the backyard, it had to be built on stilts.
The article mentions a floating house, but the writer doesn't explain the technology. Though I'd assume that it would satisfy flood insurance because if not, then we all could eventually pay.
I've seen the homes in person and yes, they are completely in contrast to the others still standing in that neighborhood (Fats Domino's house is one of them.)
I do think Pitt should be lauded for his efforts, however, a green home can be built in any style. Perhaps he is guilty of forcing his architectural style on this neighborhood, when he could have built homes that blended in with the culture of New Orleans a bit better. But I haven't seen any other celebrities trying to help, or the government for that matter.
@BowlingForDollars: It's not "his architectural style," though. He seems to have called on a number of notable contemporary architects to (I assume) donate their time and skill to designing these homes. As a result, the houses are going to reflect each architect's answer to the design challenge. It's interesting that the story never takes us inside one of these houses, or attempts at all to ground us in the functionality of the architecture. It's just a lazy piece about a few peoples' reactions to the outsides of the houses.
@BowlingForDollars: I'm not sure it's necessarily his "preference," either, other than that it's green/sustainable, weather/flood-resistant, etc.
I just find it funny how some of the critics seem to be acting like this is all some big pose by Pitt and the architects he's working with, as though the architectural answer to this challenge, by several contemporary architects/firms, doesn't qualify as worthy of some amount of respect. Instead, we're supposed to live with an answer like "Well, we can just build them to look like the old houses, but make them green and weather resistant."
But this situation presents a great opportunity, one that rarely arises, in which architects get to come in and ask "What would a purely functional house look like in New Orleans?" They aren't being asked to design gaudy palaces, entirely without regard to practical limits. In a way, these houses, if taken as the summary judgment of the contemporary architects involved with making them, epitomize ideal New Orleans architecture, because they are being designed from the ground up specifically to work for that place. Who are we to thumb our noses just because they don't look quite like anything else around them? How well did all those old houses stand up to the task of, oh I dunno, not absolutely being demolished in floods?
@BowlingForDollars: I'm nitpicking because, by the looks of it, Pitt didn't go to every architect involved in the project and say "I want you to make something that looks kind of like this," but rather let them solve the challenge as they saw fit. So it's not really his aesthetic, or his preference, but the collective aesthetics/preferences of the architects who have worked with the project. These people are modern architects. The buildings look modern. Big surprise.
@skt.smth: Brad Pitt is famous for being an architecture buff. He has had a say in the designs of many of his own homes. He chose those architects because they conformed with his own design preference. A preference he has studied for years. there are other architects building in New Orleans who are far more traditional in style. Andres Duany is just one. Brad Pitt didn't choose them because that is not his own preference.
And there is nothing wrong with that. He saw a chance to combine his passion for architecture with his desire to help rebuild and construct green homes. But he did have an aesthetic in mind and he would never deny it.
@Cheruth: And these architects he happened to choose are at the forefront of sustainable building. Again, he could have chosen a local architect who would design "traditional" New Orleans fare, but at the end of the day, it's traditional fare that didn't hold up to the task. Look at the affordable housing section of the Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company website. Duany may be interested in how residences are situated in urban areas, but I'm not sure I would hire him to make actual residences in innovative ways, at least not if "affordability" is one of the challenges.
I think that, if it's a question of whether or not Pitt said "I need you to make affordable, green, sustainable housing ideal for these weather conditions, BUT they also have to look ultra-modern and quirky or it's a dealbreaker," that most certainly didn't happen.
You know what? These fucking whiners should shut the fuck up. Pitt is trying to help--no--he *is* helping. If you have an issue with the design, where were you in the planning phase?
@lostarchitect: Thank you! Sometimes people just make me sick. Most of the country spent a few seconds feeling bad for the Ninth Ward for a few seconds and then forgot about them. Brad Pitt has been down there, building home and giving back to the community. Is it possible that the underlying belief is that these houses are too good for the poor black folks who will receive them. Not surprisingly, very little comment comes from the people who will live in these houses. It's easy for some people to sit on their fat ass and criticize, but not so easy to put themselves on the line and do something. I truly hope that Brad Pitt ignores these fuckers and keeps on keeping on.
Brilliant? It goes on for 13,000 words and Fink never explains the case for why the nine deaths she focuses on were murder. I was deeply unsatisfied after reading it.
@Gabriel Snyder: Yeah, I'll cop to jumping the gun. I read the entire thing again--it's fucking long!--and found some things to be unhappy with. That said, getting this kind of in-depth writing out there is important. But did they need it to go through so many people? And could Cook have done it for $350K less? Questions!
@Foster Kamer: Now, I'm not a fancy-pants newspaper reporter, but I don't see how she spent $400K on this story. It's a good story, and it's an important story, but I don't really understand where the costs go. More explanation on how this type of investigative journalism costs so much would be appreciated, really. I don't mean it in a snarky way.
@Jezebabe: They didn't spend $400K on it, per se. That was the NYT estimate if they were to foot the bill themselves, taking into account the prohibitive costs of doing anything with the set of procedural whatnot and edits Times' pieces have in place, what their writers are paid, etc.
stories like this take lots of time -- years if it's one person; fewer months but as many person hours if it's a team
it's not whether blog or newspapers can do this best: it's who has the resources
a brokeass newspaper will no more produce coverage this deep than a blogger sitting at starbux with enough resources to get another latte
time is money, money is time, and the time and money required to support magisterial work like this are in short supply everywhere now -- print, broadcast and blogs alike
the business model pro publica is putting together is an interesting one
i am in favor of any model that puts out work like this, as soon as possible and as much as possible
the value of this piece in particular is enormous
-- real accountability for the failed federal presence, and markers for how to do it right
-- identifying publicly a gap in healthcare emergency services thinking that put the staff as much at risk as the patients: medical academics and planners take note
Blaming GWB for all of the evils of the world is awfully simplistic. Yes, his agencies did not respond quickly enough to provide relief. I seriously doubt that GWB doing a fly over would have positively impacted the situation.
As to the cause, there are a lot of state, local, and federal officials to blame.
As a matter of fact, we know for certain that GWB doing a flyover would in no way help the situation (other than to help usher him and his friends from power).
For what it's worth, whining newspaper editors of the world, this blog item has made me MORE curious to read the full story, not less. Seriously. Think about that the next time you bitch about bloggers "stealing" your work BY FRIGGIN' LINKING TO IT.
Speaking as a person who has lived through many hurricanes, it is impossible for anyone to judge when they have no reference. It is most certainly never the actual storm that is the hell as much as the aftermath. Living without power, water and food for weeks at a time, standing in hours long lines for ice or a MRE and the heat, the unbearable heat. No screens at night welcome the mosiquitos and you are mentally struggling with the loss of all things familiar.
This is my experience, but to be the ultimate caregiver in these condition for such ill folks must have been horrific. Not to mention the clusterf*ck of government bureaucracy at the time, who can forget dubya peering out his Airforce 1 window or his mama quiping to the Houston refugees "The're better off now" or some such nonsense.
Knowing what I know, had I been in that hospital, I would have begged to be put down.
You cannot kill people because you do not feel like carrying them down the stairs or waiting around for someone else to do it, no matter how tired you are or how long the lights have been out and the toilets stopped up.
Perhaps someone could pick up the tab and put her on the torture memo story. Or the banking story.
Or the health care story.
This article, along with Sam Donaldson's grilling of Liz Cheney on ABC today, give me some hope for the future of journalism. (though Sam is going to be eligible for one of those death panels soon, so I guess it's Sheri Fink to save the profession.)
@Hockeymom: yes to all. all of the above. if a fraction of what the established media spends on crap was spent on all those real and serious and important stories, well, we'd have a functioning media then and the basis for an educated, thinking electorate
@Hockeymom: [www.spot.us] is a site, by which Bay Area freelancers propose stories and present a budget in hopes that average people will donate to fund them.
By no means am I saying such things are the answer, but if anyone is interested in donating toward these kinds of stories, a mechanism and model does exist.
There should be a prize for having the huevos to admit the very obvious shit you've been denying for years, like that threat alert confession. A small prize, like a flavorless cookie or a butter sandwich.
It's mistaking the gesture for the genuine, same as the Trojans did when the Greeks came calling inside that Trojan hearse called the `2000 Election.' "They said it was a gift horse! They promised!" The Greeks were not there for civic improvement, however; they came to lay waste to the place. So, good job, all.
11/28/09
If it were up to me, we'd bulldoze anything that isn't historic or commercially necessary and relocate it all to somewhere in Mississippi.
11/28/09
11/28/09
As for the NYC architect quoted in the story... I'm guessing Mr Pitt didn't choose one of his designs.
11/28/09
The residents seem happy enough, aside from being asked about Pitt all the time by reporters.
11/28/09
11/28/09
I know some folks with houses around a hundred years old and back then, at least on this particular island chain, houses were built with plugs in the floor; When the water rises, you pull the plug and the house floats. But, whenever one of them wanted to put another house in the backyard, it had to be built on stilts.
The article mentions a floating house, but the writer doesn't explain the technology. Though I'd assume that it would satisfy flood insurance because if not, then we all could eventually pay.
11/28/09
I do think Pitt should be lauded for his efforts, however, a green home can be built in any style. Perhaps he is guilty of forcing his architectural style on this neighborhood, when he could have built homes that blended in with the culture of New Orleans a bit better. But I haven't seen any other celebrities trying to help, or the government for that matter.
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
I just find it funny how some of the critics seem to be acting like this is all some big pose by Pitt and the architects he's working with, as though the architectural answer to this challenge, by several contemporary architects/firms, doesn't qualify as worthy of some amount of respect. Instead, we're supposed to live with an answer like "Well, we can just build them to look like the old houses, but make them green and weather resistant."
But this situation presents a great opportunity, one that rarely arises, in which architects get to come in and ask "What would a purely functional house look like in New Orleans?" They aren't being asked to design gaudy palaces, entirely without regard to practical limits. In a way, these houses, if taken as the summary judgment of the contemporary architects involved with making them, epitomize ideal New Orleans architecture, because they are being designed from the ground up specifically to work for that place. Who are we to thumb our noses just because they don't look quite like anything else around them? How well did all those old houses stand up to the task of, oh I dunno, not absolutely being demolished in floods?
11/28/09
Clearly, Pitt was the one who chose the designs - thus his style, preference, choice, pick, selection, etc.
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
And there is nothing wrong with that. He saw a chance to combine his passion for architecture with his desire to help rebuild and construct green homes. But he did have an aesthetic in mind and he would never deny it.
11/28/09
I think that, if it's a question of whether or not Pitt said "I need you to make affordable, green, sustainable housing ideal for these weather conditions, BUT they also have to look ultra-modern and quirky or it's a dealbreaker," that most certainly didn't happen.
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
11/28/09
08/30/09
08/30/09
08/31/09
08/31/09
08/30/09
stories like this take lots of time -- years if it's one person; fewer months but as many person hours if it's a team
it's not whether blog or newspapers can do this best: it's who has the resources
a brokeass newspaper will no more produce coverage this deep than a blogger sitting at starbux with enough resources to get another latte
time is money, money is time, and the time and money required to support magisterial work like this are in short supply everywhere now -- print, broadcast and blogs alike
the business model pro publica is putting together is an interesting one
i am in favor of any model that puts out work like this, as soon as possible and as much as possible
the value of this piece in particular is enormous
-- real accountability for the failed federal presence, and markers for how to do it right
-- identifying publicly a gap in healthcare emergency services thinking that put the staff as much at risk as the patients: medical academics and planners take note
08/30/09
We're so fuckity-fucked if mainstream media orgs cannot fund such stories. Deeply and thoroughly fucked.
08/30/09
08/30/09
W.
Bush --- never forget.
08/30/09
Blaming GWB for all of the evils of the world is awfully simplistic. Yes, his agencies did not respond quickly enough to provide relief. I seriously doubt that GWB doing a fly over would have positively impacted the situation.
As to the cause, there are a lot of state, local, and federal officials to blame.
08/30/09
As a matter of fact, we know for certain that GWB doing a flyover would in no way help the situation (other than to help usher him and his friends from power).
08/30/09
08/30/09
This is my experience, but to be the ultimate caregiver in these condition for such ill folks must have been horrific. Not to mention the clusterf*ck of government bureaucracy at the time, who can forget dubya peering out his Airforce 1 window or his mama quiping to the Houston refugees "The're better off now" or some such nonsense.
Knowing what I know, had I been in that hospital, I would have begged to be put down.
08/30/09
You cannot kill people because you do not feel like carrying them down the stairs or waiting around for someone else to do it, no matter how tired you are or how long the lights have been out and the toilets stopped up.
And the people did not "beg to be put down."
Read the story.
08/31/09
08/30/09
Or the health care story.
This article, along with Sam Donaldson's grilling of Liz Cheney on ABC today, give me some hope for the future of journalism. (though Sam is going to be eligible for one of those death panels soon, so I guess it's Sheri Fink to save the profession.)
08/30/09
also:
-- healthcare
-- war
-- the safety net
08/31/09
By no means am I saying such things are the answer, but if anyone is interested in donating toward these kinds of stories, a mechanism and model does exist.
08/20/09
08/20/09
08/20/09
08/20/09
08/20/09