Okay, so maybe it isn’t such a crazy idea: a house that could literally float in the event of floodwaters. Created by Thom Mayne, this buoyant design was his answer to the challenge of sustainability and passive survivability for the Make It Right Project. After all, the house was built for a part of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward that was as much as 20 feet under water after Katrina following the breach of nearby floodwalls. Despite its unusual properties, the house’s architecture also fits right in with the rest of the neighborhood.
Doug MacCash, The Times-Picayune’s art critic, comments on the house and took this video tour:
Doug MacCash, The Times-Picayune’s art critic, comments on the house and took this video tour:
| Visit architect Thom Mayne's Floating House at the Make It Right Development |
MacCash writes:
Read the rest of “Brad Pitt's architect Thom Mayne designs floating house in New Orleans”.“The architects who designed houses for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right development in the Lower Ninth Ward had to juggle two challenges. The first was how to build the houses high enough so that they would escape floodwaters -- even if they might not withstand the inundation that occurred following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The other was how to preserve the intimate New Orleans-style streetscape where people could sit on their porches and visit with passersby.
Architect Thom Mayne, whose firm Morphosis is based in Santa Monica, Calif., has come up with the most radical reconciliation of the need for height and the need for neighborliness so far.”
