RECONSTRUCTION

Almost 4 years after Hurricane Katrina remains way too visible the effects of Katrina in large parts of the city.

One of those areas is a neighbourhood called Lower 9th Ward. Located in one of the poorest parts of New Orleans this area was violently affected by the collapse of one of the barriers that protects the city from the Mississipi river. After the destruction of the buildings most of the inhabitants (amongst the poorest in the city) couldn’t reconstruct their houses from personal savings or from bank loans. So the plots remained abandoned.

There are some non-governmental programs that are trying to find alternative funding options to reconstruct the houses in the 9th ward. The foundation Make It Right is particularly active in the area we visited. Patronized by the movie actor Brad Pitt this organization seeks donors to buy the materials and other alternative ways of helping low income owners to pay for their new houses.

The buildings follow architectural projects from american and foreign architects and must have a high level of energy efficiency and be placed on stilts so they are less exposed to future floods. Materials, colours and the overall looks remind us of the French and Spanish architectural tradition visible in many parts of the city.

On top of the post are images of three new buildings in Lower 9th Ward and below three old buildings in the French Quarter.