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comment Making it Right with LEED Platinum
More than four years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, devastating the neighborhood, the city’s Lower Ninth Ward continues to rebuild with strides towards affordable, green homes. Make it Right is the post-Katrina housing initiative, a collaboration of Brad Pitt, philanthropist Steve Bing, Graft Architects, nonprofit Cherokee Gives Back, and William McDonough + Partners. The organization has been working with architectural firms to build 150 affordable, LEED Platinum homes in the area.
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At a recent Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City, USGBC President, Rick Fedrizzi, said it will be “the largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world.” After the announcement, Pitt, Tom Darden, executive director of Make it Right, and Deidre Taylor, a survivor of the hurricane, were recognized and presented with a LEED plaque.
The homes, some of which are already occupied, exhibit a host of sustainable attributes, including solar power, super insulation, tankless water heaters, ground-source heating and cooling, Energy Star appliances and energy-efficient lighting. Additionally, the houses, which are raised 5–8 feet above grade, are designed to withstand storm and flood damage, and include rooftop access, paperless mold-free drywall, pervious concrete, and windows with either impact-resistant glass or hurricane fabric.
Thirteen LEED-Platinum homes are already finished; another 50 storm-resistant houses will be done by the end of the year, reaching a total of 150 by December 2010. Once complete, the project will hold the record for the most LEED-certified homes in one neighborhood.
“The devastation caused by Katrina and delay in rebuilding created an opportunity to turn tragedy into a turning point in home building in New Orleans and other cities,” said Tom Darden, Make It Right’s executive director. “We did not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, but to build homes that were green and affordable, strong enough to weather the next storm and made from sustainable materials."
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