Green ArchiTEXT

Make It Right: The Houses That Pitt Built

It was move-in day earlier this month for six Lower Ninth Ward families - thanks to Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, and an unprecedented drive to built back green.

ALL PHOTOS: Make It Right Foundation

It’s a big, big moment for Pitt. For New Orleans. And for sustainable design. Thanks to designs by Billes Architecture, Concordia, Graft and KieranTimberlake Associates – and the support of millions around the world – It even landed Brad and his MIR Project on the cover of Architectural Digest – and rightly so. Renee Peck of New Orleans’ Times-Picayune noted the significance of it all in her blog:

“Brad Pitt's Make It Right houses in the Lower 9th Ward have stirred a lot of talk -- not only because of their megastar backer, but also for their futuristic designs and cutting-edge green components, such as rain gardens and solar cells.

Most people either love 'em or hate 'em.

…

Against this backdrop of 21st-century thinking, Pitt seems to understand the sense of place and tradition that defines New Orleans and its neighborhoods. It is a place, he realizes, where people want front porches. ‘New Orleans has its own mind, its own thing," he is quoted as saying. 'It has a real spirit. It's the most authentic of all American cities.’”

Read the rest of “Make It Right creator Brad Pitt promotes a new movie and an old city – New Orleans” here.

What Green Architecture Really Means

   IBN, The Netherlands
   IMAGE: Behnisch Architekten

Architect David Cook of Behnisch Architekten takes a turn in flavorwire at describing why sustainable design/green architecture should be more than the sum of its parts: buildings for people, buildings for the planet:

“Increasingly misused in architecture, the term sustainability is in danger of becoming a mere label. In man’s relatively short occupation of the Earth, we have succeeded in acutely threatening its future and our habitat. However, we now appear to be gaining a common understanding of the urgency of these matters. Perhaps, for whatever reason, we have finally reached a “tipping point,” where we cannot remain in denial. For us sustainability is less a political issue than a humanistic issue; for qualities are just as important as quantities and a “sustainable,” or indeed “green,” architecture must not solely focus on environmental constraints or pre-defined performance criteria, but also celebrate the wealth and diversity of nature.

Buildings can only be spoken of in sustainable terms if they suit their purpose and are efficient to operate. Otherwise they consume unnecessary resources, are a burden to the owners and risk premature replacement. The process of design requires the consideration of the whole life cycle cost of a building, both in terms of economics and environmental impact; for buildings with a design life of 60 years, the cost of ownership and operation actually far exceeds the cost of construction. Therefore the design approach for any new construction should seek to maximize the efficiency of the building fabric in order to conserve resources in future operation. For us, sustainability in architecture is really about acknowledging the diversity of patterns of use and promoting the wide range of quite subtle, often conflicting, qualities in our built environment. In each project we seek to adopt design strategies which recognize that the building’s occupants and their response to their immediate environment as an integral part of these systems.”

Cook and his U.S.- and German-based partners are certainly as well qualified as anyone to address sustainability. Behnisch Architekten has designed some of the greenest built spaces on earth: The Genzyme Center near Boston, the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN) in The Netherlands, and RiverParc in Pittsburgh.

Read Cook’s full essay, “What Green Architecture Really Means“, here.

Genzyme Center, Cambridge, Mass., USA
IMAGE: Behnisch Architekten

LVA, Lubeck, Germany
IMAGE: Behnisch Architekten