Develop the Components of Language: Screens & Green

In the hot and humid climate of the Gulf Coast, vegetation is dense and shade is important. Many of these examples show how these elements can be combined in an functional and aesthetic way.

Develop the Components of Language: Stairs, Ramps, & Railings

With an increase in elevating homes stairs, ramps, and railings are elements that become important elements in experiencing spaces outside the home. These examples give a variety of materials and aesthetics.

Develop the Components of Language: Courtyard

Develop the Components of Language: Annex Adapter

Develop the Components of Language: House Extension

Develop the Components of Language: Shared Porch

Develop the Components of Language: Street Porch & Wraparound Porch

Develop the Components of Language: Atrium Adapter

Develop the Components of Language: Porch Adapter

Learn from Strategies: Post Katrina Strategies

These examples have addressed the problems of elevating homes by engaging the street level by altering the entry sequence into the house or creating a place for people to be at the street level.

Learn from Strategies: Porches

Porches are an important part of life in the South. The can be public or private and provide a physical or visual connection for neighbors to interact. These examples show how the porch can connect to the street or other houses.

Learn from Strategies: Landscape

In these examples the landscape is part of the entry sequence into the home. Screens and covered outdoor space not optional in this climate and can become the space that connects the house with the street level.

Learn from Strategies: Beach Houses

Beach houses are examples of homes elevated to prevent flooding. These examples show successful because the elevation is an important part of the design. There are intentional uses for the ground floor level.

FEMA Cartoon

Design Approach

Since Hurricane Katrina hit the coast, Insurance companies are requiring elevation to fund rebuilding, and the government has set up a Base Flood Elevation for each neighborhood. Elevating houses is a defensive move made out of fear and compliance. Elevating houses disconnects people from the street and the neighboring houses and leaves an abandoned ground level.

The goal of my project is to create a place for culture and the experiences the culture can provide. The design approach is a process that takes examples of successful elevated homes and transition spaces and applying them to homes on the Gulf Coast. This process is made of five steps which are overall linear, but as new lessons and realizations are made, the process is transparent and the possibilities are endless. The last step is testing the reality of the possibilities.

Cultural Value

The vibrant culture of New Orleans is important to rebuilding the city because it is the basis of social interaction. Rebuilding is expensive, but the cultural value of New Orleans is immeasurable.

“Sufficient cultural infrastructure, knowledge, and material exist for the New Orleans landscape to be able to sustain itself – traditions of literature, decoration, music, food, spiritual life, architecture, inhabiting the land, and on and on are intact.” -Randall Mason

Project Statement

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005. It was the sixth most powerful hurricane recorded in the Atlantic; the strength of the storm and vulnerability of the city left eighty percent of New Orleans flooded for weeks. The diminishing wetlands were a weakened defense, causing almost all of the levees to be breached. In addition, the levees were not built as they had been designed, causing them to break in over fifty locations.

Residents were not allowed back into New Orleans for weeks after the storm, and power and water were not available for many more months. Along with the deaths, the effects of Hurricane Katrina have damaged livelihoods by destroying all the places people live their lives. Slowly the city is being rebuilt, but new regulations and fear of future flooding are causing people to elevate their homes.

Elevating homes brings new social and place making issues to an area that has lost half of its population. My project will provide a series of strategies to create a sense of place and engage the public realm in this new condition. The strategies are desired to be applicable to the variety of elevation heights and densities.
(painting by Terrance Osborne)