It’s been three years since “Katrina Cottages,” the architecturally appropriate alternative to FEMA trailers, were proposed by urban designer Andres Duany following the hurricanes of 2005. Today, the state will break ground on the first set of 42 Katrina Cottages in the Hidden Cove neighborhood of Baton Rouge. It’s been a long haul, with bureaucratic snafus tripping up the project ever since FEMA awarded the $74.5 million grant in December 2006 to Baton Rouge based Cypress Realty Partners.
The Advocatereports that the cottages, which could range from 612 square feet with two bedrooms to 1,112 square feet with up to three bedrooms, will be built with steel framing, fiber-cement siding resistant to rot, mold and termites, and energy-saving windows engineered to withstand 140 mph winds, as well as equipped with energy saving appliances and ceiling fans.
Meanwhile in New Orleans, Duany privately built a pair of modified shotgun-style houses to demonstrate his ideas of blending seamlessly into historic neighborhoods. In touting his work, the Miami based architect took a swipe at actor Brad Pitt, whose Make It Right program and high tech houses built in the lower Ninth Ward put him on the cover of Architectural Digest.
“On the whole, I’d rather be Brad Pitt than Andres Duany, let’s get that straight,” he told the Times Picayune. “But since he’s got that position well-covered, and I’m going to be an architect, I’ll do things people actually like.”
Formaldehyde Campaign Director for Sierra Club written by Becky GIllette , February 03, 2009 - 09:31 am
It may have taken Louisiana longer, but it sounds like far superior housing to the Mississippi Cottages built at a cost of $297 million which are really just trailers made a little cuter. These sound safer, more rot resistant, and more sustainable. However, I would be very interested to know if they are using particleboard cabinets. Those were used in the Mississippi cottages, and some of the cottages ended up having high formaldehyde levels--just like the FEMA trailers. See the article at http://www.propublica.org/arti...ssippi-12.
The Independent needs to ask if these Louisiana cottages are going to be tested for formaldehyde.
Becky Gillette Formaldehyde Campaign Director for Sierra Club www.toxictrailers.com
You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.
In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.
Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The Independent needs to ask if these Louisiana cottages are going to be tested for formaldehyde.
Becky Gillette
Formaldehyde Campaign Director for Sierra Club
www.toxictrailers.com