Environment
Katrina Has Devastating Impact on Architecture
(archrecord.construction.com - 09/01/2005)
By Sam
Lubell
Hurricane Katrina has not only wreaked
untold havoc on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, injuring and
killing perhaps thousands, displacing many more, and crippling
local economies; but it appears to have washed away much of
the area’s architecture, from rich historic buildings
to everyday homes.
Damage figures are still in their earliest
stages, but some insurance estimators have calculated that
claims may reach $25 billion. Due to floodwaters, up to 80%
of New Orleans is underwater, while government estimates say
that tidal surges and hurricane-force winds have destroyed
huge sections of coastal Mississippi towns like Biloxi and
Gulfport.
“This hurricane has caused catastrophic
devastation across areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama,”
said Michael D. Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA).
The toll on significant architecture
appears high. John Hildreth, director of the National Trust
for Historic Preservation’s southern office, has received
preliminary reports from around the region, although he says
that full reports on New Orleans won’t be available until
floodwaters are lowered, which could take up to a month. He
notes that New Orleans’ French Quarter and Garden Districts,
on higher ground, appear to be relatively in tact, but historic
neighborhoods like the 9th Ward, Midtown, and the Treme were
all badly hit. These neighborhoods include some multi-story
French colonial buildings, but many more single story, wood-frame
buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Also badly
hit was the Louisiana State Museum in Jackson Square. “New
Orleans is so rich with historic places,” says Hildreth.
“It’s always to me amazing how extensive the historic
resources were. Even in neighborhoods that tourists have never
heard of.”
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Hildreth adds that the historic districts
of several communities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, including
Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian, have been devastated. Homes
and commercial establishments’ styles include Greek Revival,
Victorian, Queen Anne, and many vernacular styles. Damaged
icons in the area include Beauvouir, Jefferson Davis’s
home in Biloxi, which has seen significant damage, but is
still standing. It has been reported that Mississippi Senator
Trent Lott’s beach home, in Pascagoula, has been destroyed.
The National Trust, the World Monuments
Fund, and a slew of other organizations, including the American
Institute of Architects (AIA), and FEMA, are preparing assessment
teams to head to the area after initial relief efforts are
completed.
The rebuilding effort for such structures
will be challenging, especially considering the rush to build
quickly, says Hildreth. “The lessons that we’ve
learned from other hurricanes and recovery efforts is that
the things that were important before the storm need to be
important after the storm. The city that is reborn is one
that still has its heritage and culture.” Hildreth notes
that the Trust will likely make grants available to supplement
its historic building tax credits.
Still the effort to rebuild well-regarded
buildings pales in comparison to what is faced with the thousands
of other damaged or leveled structures in the area.
“Most of the stuff that’s
on the news it’s as bad or worse than what even the news
is showing,” says Jim West, Dean of the School of Architecture
at Mississippi State University, in Starkville, well north
of the coastal areas. He’s heard word from students with
families in Gulfport and surrounding towns that any buildings
within about a quarter-mile of the beach are almost universally
gone. He wonders if horrible damage to local casinos, like
Harrah’s and Hard Rock, may have been worsened by state
laws requiring that they be built on the river. He also believes
that newly-revitalized towns like Ocean Springs, which have
seen their urban fabric improve significantly in recent years,
are virtually destroyed.
While organizations like the Red Cross
and FEMA are leading the initial emergency response, organizations
like the AIA, The Department of Homeland Security, the Department
of Transportation, the Department of Defense, Architecture
for Humanity (AFH), and Habitat for Humanity are assembling
reconstruction experts for the task.
The AIA’s David Downey, Managing
Director of AIA’s Center for Communities by Design, notes
that the organization’s efforts are still in their very
early stages, and that any focus now should be centered on
the Red Cross and Salvation Army. But eventually, “we’d
like to broaden our work beyond damage assessment and recovery
relief,” he says. “Downey speaks of creating temporary
work spaces, helping with relocation, housing reconstruction,
and “helping people get back on their feet.” The
AIA will also help get local architects back and running,
even providing them with the homes of fellow architects to
stay. Downey adds that the AIA has located local architects
through digital mapping. As of now, no AIA members have been
killed or seriously injured to his knowledge.
“Members in the area are still
quite shaken up,” says Downey.
AFH, which seeks architectural solutions
to humanitarian crisis and brings design services to communities
in need, has already raised $10,000 for the rebuilding effort.
The organization plans to offer design services down the line,
but “I imagine it will take us months even to identify
the kinds of projects we can work on,” says AFP’s
Kate Stohr. Rebuilding, she notes, should be done carefully,
even if people are in a hurry to get homes up. “The question
is what do we leave for future generations? We don’t
want to build shoddy housing that won’t gain in value
or allow people to get out of poverty.”
And while flood management systems have
been under scrutiny in the past few days, another question
is whether buildings could be made in a way to withstand such
natural disasters. “I wouldn’t be surprised if these
states didn’t take significant look at building codes,”
says West. One idea is to make houses with lower sections
that break away in intense weather, such as are often mandated
in Florida. Still, he says, there has to be a balance.“You
could make everybody live in a silo, but I don’t think
we’d be very happy.”
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