Make It Right Project: More than a Celebrity Soap Box

Name a political or social justice movement, and you’re likely to spot a handful of superstar backers on the sidelines, wielding their social clout for the good of the cause. In the 1960s Ray Charles refused to play segregated gigs in support of the Civil Rights movement. In the 80s it was (Sir) Bob Geldof’s Live Aid concerts, raising funds for starvation relief in Ethiopia. By the 90s, any celebrity worth their designer wardrobe had appeared on a controversial PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” billboard. Now a phalanx of celebrities have rallied around Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth, while US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama is naming Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johansson, George Clooney and Stevie Wonder among his superstar retinue.

And then there’s the Make it Right project (MIR). In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which effectively razed New Orleans in 2005, the Make It Right project aims to rebuild the city’s once culturally abundant (yet structurally vulnerable) Lower 9th Ward, using safe, durable, affordable, ecologically sustainable, architect-designed housing. More than three years later, residents have neither the money nor the spirit to rebuild their area.Wetlands and barrier islands once protecting the city have eroded, and scientists predict that as climate change becomes more prevalent, so too will more frequent and severe storms. MIR is a realisation that Hurricane Katrina, though devastating, has provided an opportunity for innovation: a chance to make things right by remaking it, and making it better. The initial project goal is to have 150 homes built, each on a budget of US$150,000 per house, and funded solely on public donations.

The Make It Right project is undeniably a Hollywood heavyweight. The whole venture was inspired, founded, planned, supervised and largely sponsored by Brad Pitt (yes, that Brad Pitt). The initial Pink Project fundraising component – a “hybrid of art, architecture, cinema and media” – saw a symbolic huddle of bright pink huts take over the hurricane impact zone, and raised US$10 million, in part thanks to an A-list of donors, from Cruise (Tom) to Winfrey (Oprah) via Hawn (Goldie), Nicholson (Jack) and Streisand (Barbra). Major sponsors of the main rebuilding project include the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund (that’s Bush Senior, and Bill Clinton, ‘platinum’ donors at over US$750,000), comedian Will Ferrell, and fashion doyenne Donna Karan. Big names and big money.

But there’s something different about Make it Right. Something that might go unnoticed in the Hollywood gossip pages, but may nevertheless tickle the fancy of Specifier readers. Pitt’s celebrity-powered architecture competition managed to reign in a who’s-who of New Orleans, US and international firms: celebrity architects, all specialising in innovative, ecologically responsible housing design.

And so thirteen firms have each come up with a new home design, each based on the four guiding principles of safety, affordability, sustainability and high design quality. Harder to address was the challenge of restoring the downtrodden spirit and distinctive yet storm-battered identity of the neighbourhood. Designing an architecturally flamboyant show village would have been missing the point. The architects were given a crash-course in the local building typology and also undertook extensive consultation with the local homeowners, to formulate designs that remained true to – but also improved on – their pre-storm homes. The result is a catalogue of aesthetically distinctive yet liveable dwellings, united by their environmental and social sensitivity, as well as their A-list architectural backing.

Touted as specialists in innovative design supporting and enhancing the residents’ existing lifestyles, New Orleans-based Billes Architects was a perfect candidate for the MIR project. Their design combines simple schoolhouse charm with many ‘green’ hallmarks: broad eaves, high ceilings with fans, and room for a Prius in the drive.

Also from New Orleans, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple’s design is seriously edgy, from the patterned shadow-grille on the front facade, to the timber-laminate walls and funky tiled benchtops within. But the firm also has an underlying commitment to the cultural and natural environment of New Orleans, and they have framed the architectural heritage of the Lower 9th Ward within a future-oriented, ecologically sustainable mindset.

Concordia Architecture’s contribution, with its Queenslander style and open planning, is ideal for the low-lying topography, where storm surges can (and did) sweep away homes in mere seconds. Trahan Architecture offer the last of the ‘local designs’ – and perhaps most aesthetically impressive. Based in nearby Baton Rouge, which also bore the full brunt of Hurricane Katrina, Trahan are famed for their angular roofs and gallery-like interiors and here have produced a zen-like yet down-to-earth home, with an elegantly draped roof dipping to the ground like the wing of a grey dove.

Four of the winning firms are based elsewhere in the United States, having adapted their own regional styles to suit the Lower 9th Ward. BNIM Architects in Kansas City, Missouri, have designed a raised cottage-like home, providing the outdoor living space often overlooked in higher density living. Morphosis shows its Californian roots with a sunny yellow beach-house, typical of the firm’s determination to avoid a fixed building style, aiming instead ‘to surprise and inspire’. Also hailing from California (Santa Monica) Pugh + Scarpa Architecture’s vision involves a basket-weave timber lattice facade on the outside, and a spacious, summery split-level interior. It’s impressive, considering that like all the MIR designs, space is limited. Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Kieran Timberlake Associates has taken the ‘green’ concept to heart, with a charming compact home encased in vine-covered trellis (albeit for the rooftop solar panels).

It’s a look revisited in the offering from Shigeru Ban Architects, perhaps the biggest international archi-celeb involved in MIR. An otherwise uber-minimalist design, wears a skirt of vines, concealing the stilts that are essential to any lasting Mississippi Delta home. And SBA certainly know what they’re doing when it comes to ‘relief architecture’, having provided shelters for victims of earthquakes in Kobe, Japan (1995), Turkey (1999) and India (2001) as well as working with the UN to develop similar shelters for Rwandan refugee camps. The SBA design is simple in the extreme, but the remaining international architects have given the project more than enough imagination and international flavour. Self-described “design-socio-economists” Constructs LLC, based in Ghana, see architecture as a means of engaging economic development, so it’s no surprise their villa has a congenial global-village feel. GRAFT, though founded in Berlin, Germany, also has offices in Beijing and Los Angeles, which would explain their blending of West-Coast casual ambience and classical form. The UK’s Adjaye Associates’ solution is a fun little box, its topside transformed into an extra living space, which is sheltered by a raised solar panel roof. And because nobody said that affordable, green, charitable housing had to be dull, MVRDV decided to take the ‘creative’ theme and run with it: one of their homes looks like it has already endured a disaster, snapped in two at the middle, leaving one end tilting precariously skyward. Another is raised metres off the ground atop a single arm-like pillar. Inspired by the local Shotgun-style homes, it’s not all fun and games: MVRDV are a Netherlands-based practice, and they know the benefit of keeping a home off the ground and above the floodwaters.

At the time of writing, builders were scheduled to begin ‘making it right’ in June 2008, depending on the strength of public donations. And considering the power of the celebrity soap-boxes – in Hollywood and in the architecture world – it’s unlikely that the call for donations has gone unheard or unanswered. +

1 Morphosis shows is Californian roots with this sunshine-yellow beachside house. 2 MVRDV's design is as practical as it is comical: the catastrophic angle keeps the home above rising floodwaters. 3 International and multidisciplinary by nature, GRAFT combined a casual ambience with more conservative forms. 4 The verdant theme is cntinued in Kieran Timberlake Associates' design by the addition of decorative balustrades and timber battens. The project organisers hope to restore and improve the aesthetic integrity of the area, as well as its environmental performance. 5 UK-based Adjaye Associates design creates an additional rooftop semi-outdoor living area, sheltered by a roof of solar panels. 6 Shigeru Ban Associates' design is typical of their ultra-minimalist approach, but the firm is more than experienced when it comes to 'relief' architecture. 7 Trahan Architects have extensive expertise in church, academic and public architecture, which is evident in their gallery-like Make It Right home design.

IMAGES courtesy of Make It Right