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Pitt at the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative in New York in September, where he received an award from the U.S. Green Building Council. Photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage
The FLOAT House, designed by Morphosis Architects and students from UCLA, is the first floating home designed in the U.S. It is meant to serve as both a model for mass-produced affordable housing and a last defense against storms the size of Katrina. It collects its own water and generates its own electricity, and is capable of floating as high as 12-feet on rising and falling flood waters.
The floating home's foundation is a four-foot-high layer of polystyrene foam coated in glass fiber-reinforced concrete. During a flood, this foundation would serve as a sort of raft, all the while containing the mechanisms to generate power for the home and collect rainwater.
The new home designed for Pitt's Make It Right Foundation is capable of rising from its foundation and floating during a flood. Photo: Patrick Dunn-Baker, Morphosis Archtects/AP
Check out the gallery below to see more designs from Pitt's Make It Right initiative and donate to the cause right here.
Make It Right Houses
Brad Pitt's charitable foundation, Make It Right, is building 150 state-of-the-art, energy-efficient residences meant to revamp New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The homes were designed by prominent architects and experts brought together by the Make It Right foundation.
The FLOAT House by Morphosis Architects is designed to break from its foundations during a flood and float.
The homes being built by Make It Right stand next to concrete slabs -- all that's left of houses washed away by a levee break during Hurricane Katrina four years ago.
Angelina Jolie and her children Pax and Maddox visit a Ninth Ward Housing project in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spend time in the Ninth Ward Housing project in the Big Easy.
These gallery, provided by Eileen Fleming, show Rosemary, left, and Lloyd Griffin standing in front of their new home in New Orleans in October 2008.
People attending an open house for a newly finished home lined their shoes up at the doorway in the Lower Ninth Ward. The new home was built by Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation.
One of the first of a handful of homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project holds an open house in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans in October 2008. The Make It Right program calls for 150 homes to be built where levees broke after Hurricane Katrina, letting loose floodwaters that pushed homes off their foundations.
New Orleans resident Gloria Guy in front of her new house, one of 150 planned homes.
In the spirit of celebration that comes with renewal, the Lagniappe House, by Concordia, will feature, at the owner's request, murals, floor patterns and other creative works by Young Aspirations/Young Artists, Inc., a non-profit arts and social service organization whose mission is to provide educational experiences and opportunities that empower artistically talented inner-city youth to be professionally self-sufficient through creative self-expression.
Reader comments (Page 1 of 3)
What about the Misssissippi Gulf Coast where the hurricane actually hit? New Orleans was spared from the hurricane but was flooded afterwards when the levee broke. People in New Orleans were told to leave because this could happen but chose to stay. Alot of people in Ms. had to stay because we were broke from faulse alarms. I get sick of hearing only of New Orleans when it comes to hurricne Katrina. Even in books, magazines, and stories on tv pictures are shown of the Ms. Gulf Coast but they say it's New Orleans. We were ground zero. nothing left from the state of La. to Al.
ReplyYou are so right! Just another problem of media in this country. The focus has always been on New Orleans. From the people who designed the flawed levy, the people dumb enough to stay when warned to the looters who thought a new TV with no electricity was more important than anything else. The media just doesn't care. And doesn't do us any more good. And if they all became as bad and uneducated as some Fox News airings.... then we're in even more trouble. #FAIL
I could not agree with you more...I too am from the gulf coast in MS and after preparing for all the false alarms, we really didn't have the means to pack up and head out. The aftermath was awful, yet all we really hear about is New Orleans! What about Bay St. Louis/Pass Christian and Biloxi/Ocean Springs??!
I agree with you linda.. im from gulfport.. what about us? Im sorry for the loss that N.O. had to bear.. however.. theres other areas that were affected by this storm... The Miss Gulf Coast got alot of damage from it.. Homes lost, Lives lost, Businesses lost. I dont understand how we got so far behind in the media coverage, and with help... But in the same breath,, How happy I am, that celebs wish to donate their time and effort and money, to help rebuilding.. such as Brad Pitt. and Ellen Degeneres........ Awesome.. Keep up the Great work..
Linda - where do I even begin? How can you say "People in New Orleans were told to leave because this could happen but chose to stay"? Over 90% of the citizens of New Orleans evacuated - the largest evacuation in US history. Those that stayed behind were primarily the most impoverished (who lacked transportation and money for a hotel room) and the elderly (who either refused to leave a pet behind or feared what would happen if they left their home). And we in New Orleans were also "broke from false alarms", or don't you remember those of us who evacuated to Mississippi in advance of Hurricane Georges (1998) and Hurricane Ivan (2004)?
Your own reply gives the exact reason that New Orleans gets so much attention - "New Orleans was spared from the hurricane but was flooded afterwards when the levee broke." What Mississippi experienced was a NATURAL disaster (hurricane). What New Orleans experienced was a MAN-MADE, ENGINEERING DISASTER caused when the Federally built and Federally maintained levees collapsed due to faulty engineering and maintenance. And don't buy that lie that it was the LOCALS that didn't maintain the levees - the levees in New Orleans were FEDERALIZED in 1965; local and state government agencies were FORBIDDEN BY LAW from any maintenance or upgrades.
This is America in a nut shell. What about me? Im the one who has sufferd the most. Im the one who has been discriminated aginst. Look at me look at me attitude. All of you all just need to shut the hell up !
Linda,
Are you kidding??!! Come on now!! This is a couple that could be like many of the self centered Hollywood so called "A" listers and do nothing for anyone. Why are these comments always so negative? What is it that you say you do for anyone?? Just as I thought.
Chaz
I love how they word this... leaving out the fact that it's becoming common practice to have "floating homes" along flood prone areas in Holland these days.Although here they are pushing the green initiative which is wonderful! But the idea isn't new and Brad Pitt just watched the same Discovery or Science Channel episode I did... only he had the power and money to make it happen here. I hope, though, that the rest of this pathetically, polluting and wasteful county can learn from this. We love to hover the coast lines, but we apparently don't care about anything else. Environment? WTF is that! Pollution? ppbbbphpphpht.
ReplyHe is amazing! Brad Pitt has taken his passion (architecture) and found a place to truly contribute to society. I'm impressed that, while he could be resting on his bank account and attending parties, he chooses to be a positive force.
ReplyI live in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans and I too feel like the city gets way too much attention. Especially, the 9th ward. The 9th ward was a place all law abiding, unarmed citizens stayed away from. These people never cared about their neighborhood before Katrina. Why is so much attention being paid to them? There are lots and lots of hard working, home owners, who had insurance and did everything the way they were supposed to and got totally screwed. The insurance companies paid a third of what they were supposed to. The state said don't sue the insurance companies because our grants will make up your losses. Then the grants were half what they were supposed to be. Then our insurance costs skyrocketed. Lots of problems with the localities when trying to repair homes. Lots of horrible rip off contractors. And the coast of Mississippi didn't just get wet, they got wiped off the map! I have heard so little about their plight.
ReplyNancy - for someone who lives so close to New Orleans, you know so little about the City. The Lower Ninth Ward had the second highest rate of home ownership in New Orleans, just behind the Lakeview neighborhood (an upper-middle-class mostly white neighborhood). And as for being "crime ridden" - you are confusing the Lower Ninth with the UPPER Ninth, on the other side of the Industrial Canal. The UPPER Ninth is gang-heaven, with murders every week. The LOWER Ninth was a middle-class predominantly African-American neighborhood; the national media has painted it as living in the depths of poverty which is a huge insult to those who lived there.
No ads, no negative comments, just a heartfelt "thank you" Brad for being so generous with your time and money. Kudos to both you and Angie for your efforts here and around the world.
ReplyThey have made this type house in Holland for a while. I've wondered why it hasn't been used in New Orleans.
ReplyBecause much of the housing stock in the Lower Ninth Ward was built too long ago for the "floating house" architecture from Holland to have been recognized and used. Much of New Orleans housing stock was built prior to World War II, and 100-year-old houses are almost the norm in many neighborhoods. New Orleans is a VERY old city.
Whoa----does egg ROLL come with that? Great idea, float houses could become the coastal homes of the future. Instead of folks remaining trapped on rooftops of stationary abodes rescuers could wait till several crash into one another and the pick off those to be rescued en-mass. OR-HOW DO YOU STEER THIS THING? Just kidding folks! I really commend Brad Pitt and the UCLA team for watching Discovery Channel and coming up with 'their' innovative solution. Soon - all along most coastal regions and flood plains this technology will become mandatory-within the next decade polar melted ice cap waters will increase sea levels dramatically-does not matter what US politicians try to say-the evidence is already here. Now one more thing, if your house is floating in Hurricane force winds around 100 MPH-will a raft be a good thing to have? Just sayin--------
ReplyThe houses are great, Brad is to be commended. But why are they so ugly?
ReplyIt's good to know he's doing something other than bad acting & having illegimate children.
ReplyBrad and Angelina's kids are as legitimate as anyone else's. In a democracy everyone can live by their own inner standards as long as they aren't harming others and since marriage is made in the heart and soul, it is clear this family is loving, nurturing and well off enough to protect the kids from whatever is out there.
If you actually understood what you are talking about, you would know that they (and MANY other couples) have declared that they will get married as soon as EVERY citizen has the same access to the same constitutionally mandated civil rights everyone else has!!! This is a movement/statement of conscience which is growing in the USA because people know it is wrong to scapegoat any group just for not being mainstream and as boring as the rest of the sheep who worship a Jesus who, by ALL accounts would never have excluded any of God's creation from participating in living...
YES.. GOD MADE THEM TOO.. IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN GOD YOU KNOW NOTHING IS HERE EXCEPT BY HIS DIVINE WILL... plus.. "Vengeance is MINE sayeth the Lord!" That means, " butt out of my other children's lives" as far as I can see. This is what genuine democratic freedom for all looks like. You can pursue your own happiness BUT so can everyone else. And this baffles me completely.. how can any christian not know Jesus exhorted us to help out and care for each other PARTICULARLY those in need.
Something I am forced to notice over and over is that those same people who condemn others according to their own stringent morals usually turn out to be the EPITOME of lying sanctimony. I may not like someone or disagree with them on everything there is, but I don't believe it is my business to try and stop others from having a nice time and having fun their way... just leave me out of it is all I ask.
FYI- everywhere on the globe where same sex marriage has been enacted, experts have gone back repeatedly to poll other residents to learn how gay marriage has affected their lives and you know what?? Not one person could say it changed or affected their lives in any way at all. Zilch! Nada! Uh uh! Nothin'!! Did not harm or even get noticed by the rest of their communities. That includes in america. The only people it impacted were those who deeply desired to sanctify their commitment and whose kids couldn't understand why their parents weren't married like other parents and are also deprived of many things (like respect) without that license. It helped them immeasurably.
Are you one of those people who think gay parenting means the kids are supposed to suffer too? Because it harms them emotionally and financially too.It seems that you are unaware of the over 1,300 LEGAL rights and protections automatically conferred on "legal" spouses or what that means in a real life. All humans are human!! All have feelings and the same basic needs. A REAL christian doesn't hate on any level. Love the sinner hate the sin creates the exact same effect as hating the sinner like poison .. and that is the truth.
Somehow these homes do not seem to enbody ANY part of new Orleans. They will look like to poor people who got an ugly handout.
ReplyIts hard to believe 4 years later and New Orleans is still, what I would call a disaster area. Why hasn't our Government gone after the insurance companies, and forced them to pay the homeowners to repair and rebuild their homes? Homeowners pay for insurance, yet it seems when disaster hits, and a homeowner files a claim. The insurance companies find any and every excuse possible to either deny, or reduce the amount of payout to the insured, on a claim.
ReplyIt seems the rebuilding of New Orleans is totally dependent on public donations, and the goodwill of of others. As opposed to the responsibility of the insurance companies, who made billions writing insurance policies.