When we were in Biloxi last time, we took pics of some of the Architecture for Humanity homes, homes that were built to support families whose homes were destroyed by Katrina. They explain it this way:
The pilot program is unique in that it offers families the opportunity to work one-on-one with architects and design professionals giving them access to expertise and design talent. Using the latest in materials research, disaster mitigation and sustainable building techniques, we see this as an opportunity for architects to help set the bar for new construction in the area. These designs address sustainability not only from a material and energy use stand point but in a community development sense as well. Setting standards of design and construction at such a critical scale impacts the life of the community itself. By rebuilding responsible homes in a devastated community families have a real base for contributing to the reestablishment of their community, rather than just getting by until the next disaster.
Tyler — Porchdog:
About the Porchdog home, in Architectural Record:
The most basic requirement was that the house be able to withstand a Category 4 storm surge. “But it had to do more than that,” says Blackwell, “It also had to maintain the social and urban mentality of the region. The house had to incorporate the area’s porch culture and still be elevated 11 feet off the ground.” Blackwell, who has been quoted as saying that the house he designed for Tyler is “a tough structure responding to a Darwinian moment,” chose to challenge the traditional notion of the Gulf Coast streetscape with this house. He says he’s not a fan of some of the New Urbanist ideas for the region, which, he insists, “want to just put Grandma’s house up on stilts. Such ideas are not offering real solutions to the problem. Where they see houses stylistically [shotgun, ranch, colonial, etc.], as a fixed notion, we see them as an evolution.”
With Porchdog, the last residence to be built in the Biloxi Model Homes program, Blackwell took inspiration from the traditional shotgun house, but turned the type on its head. Or, more literally, cut it in half and stacked it. “We tried to demonstrate an adaptability,” says the architect. “Yes it’s in contrast to its neighbors, but it draws its sources from the region—the region is in its DNA.”
There are a few others, listed at the AforH site. A book about the project is available at blurb here.
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Other items:
Louisiana Modular makes a shotgun, double shotgun, and ‘Treme cottage’ — built to withstand 130mph winds.
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The Telegraph reports that Damien Hirst is going to have 500 ‘eco homes’ built where he already owns 40% of the land that will be developed. Hirst, 46, is said to be “incredibly excited” about the development in Ilfracombe, Devon, where he already has a restaurant, an art studio and several properties.
The properties feature hidden wind turbines in the roofs, photovoltaic solar panels and state-of-the-art insulation.
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The NYT runs a piece on aging modernist buildings, Architecture’s Ugly Ducklings May Not Get Time to Be Swans.
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The Globe and Mail: prefab home by Nexterra for $1.7MM.