Make It Right: Micro + MACRO MIR Floating House
Make It Right: Micro + MACRO MIR Floating House
1789-1835
N
0.5
1.0
2.0
miles
1682
1718
1762
1722
1722
2.0
A hurricane strikes
the city.
As the city expanded out of its original limits, one of the first new tracts of land to
be added was the Faubourg Sainte Marie, a suburb lying on the uptown side of the
Vieux Carr and separated from it by a broad commons (now Canal Street, New
Orleans main street). The Faubourg Sainte Marie became the American section
in the early 19th century and the hub of most business activities. Other faubourgs
(outskirts, or suburbs) were laid out above and below the two nuclear settlements
and across the river and were finally absorbed into the city by the 1870s.
- Encyclopedia Britannica
1812
1811
0.5
1.0
2.0
miles
A hurricane strikes
the city.
1803
1800
1821
As one of the nations key economic trade ports, New Orleans experienced
a golden age of growth and prosperity through the middle of the 19th
century. By 1840, the city was rated the fourth port in the world and the fourth
largest city in the nation, with a population that exceeded 100,000. Despite this
golden age, the city was not prepared to manage its growth and lacked
New
Orleans
annexes the City
of Algiers.
1830-31
1815
1879
1884
1879 1882
The Army Corps of
Engineers is started.
1893
1886 1888
1895-1920
1899
1897
1893-1915
A large Hurricane kills
over 2000 in Louisiana.
1901
Cypress swamp drained
to create the Ninth Ward
neighborhoods.
ELEVATION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
1.0
approximately 8,000 including 4,000 whites, 2,700 slaves and 1,300 free
blacks. In 1805, New Orleans was incorporated as a city and despite the
numerous dangers and challenges presented by the areas natural geography
and geology, continued to urbanize with development expanding on
high ground adjacent to the Mississippi River.
1800
1794
1788
1794
1780
1779
1779
1776
1740
0.5
miles
laid out by the French engineer, Adrien de Pauger, in a classic eighteenthcentury symmetrical gridiron pattern consisting of 66 squares forming a
parallelogram. Responding to the areas existing natural conditions,
this early gridded development occurred on sites of natural high
ground. In November 1721, New Orleans had a population of 470
people: 277 whites and 172 black and 21 Indian slaves.
Prior to European settlement little over 200 years ago, the area known
today as New Orleans was occupied by Native American Indian populations
for nearly 10,000 years. First visited by Europeans in 1541 when Spanish
explorers discovered the Mississippi River, permanent European
settlement began when the French claimed the territory in 1682.
By the early 18th century, New Orleans city founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne
de Bienville, initiated the first urban development in what remains today
the Vieux Carre. Decreed a city by Bienville in 1718, New Orleans was
1836-1863
0 1
ELEVATION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
10 FEET
MAKE IT RIGHT
micro + MACRO
80% of New Orleans was covered in water, setting the scene for a
dramatic evacuation of its occupants. In the wake of this flooding, 85% of
the citys population was dispersed and 62% of its housing stock
was damaged or destroyed. Subsidence and erosion caused by human
interventions exacerbated the catastrophe, while the uneven distribution of
devastation further highlighted a pre-existing condition of socio-economic
and racial inequality. As of July 2007, approximately 67% of the citys preKatrina population has returned with the lowest percentage of residents
returning to areas, such as the Lower Ninth Ward, which were most
adversely affected by flooding caused by Katrina.
Despite the return of much of the citys population, the future of New
Orleans is uncertain. Two years after the hurricane, the city still suffers
from an extraordinary deficiency in infrastructure and services, neither of
which has been restored to pre-Katrina conditions. Despite the heightened
national and international attention and tremendous influx of concern and
consideration from leaders in politics, planning, architecture, economics,
environmental science, and psychology focused on New Orleans in the
wake of Katrina, the city lacks any coherent vision for rebuilding the city.
14
13
How can we create a vision for a sustainable future in New Orleans one that
recalibrates the citys relationship with its environmental context?
RESIDENCE ASSEMBLAGE
10
How can we articulate a plan for re-constituting New Orleans in a way that is
fundamentally transformative, yet rooted in the long history, culture, and soul of
the city?
B
A
Chassis
Modular Framing
Residence Anchors
INCLUDED TECHNOLOGY +
EQUIPMENT
How can this plan, at both a macro scale and fine grain, respond to the citys
demographic, economic, political, social, historical and cultural conditions and
needs?
1
3
2
3
4
And finally, how can we, as a society, parlay our transformation of one of the most
catastrophic natural disasters to face this nation, into an optimistic and visionary
strategy that intelligently negotiates our relationship with the environment and
serves as a model for communities facing similar challenges all over the world?
12
11
7
8
9
1
10
11
12
13
14
NEW ORLEANS
1855
SOLAR SOUTH
1916
1992
1982
1965
1985
1982
1879
1960
1974
1983 1969
SITE PLAN
CHASSIS
HOUSE EVOLUTION
preparing New Orleans as a whole for a safer and healthier future. This
macro-scale vision entails a radical, but gradual, return of much of the
flooded areas to nature as wetlands and parklands with the simultaneous
restoration of the city to its original high ground status.
Areas of the city that were settled prior to drainage of the regions wetlands,
which ushered in the development of low lying areas, would be intensified.
These historic areas of the city are naturally located on higher ground
and are connected to the economic engines of New Orleans future and
the cultural traditions of its roots.
The phased strategic plan delineating green spaces and urban zones is based
on our analysis of the areas of extreme flood damage, estimates of returning
population, and locations of existing and proposed infrastructure and
services, transportation, parks, and thriving economic and cultural activity.
Gradual depopulation and restoration of wetlands would follow a
carefully considered and phased implementation plan:
Phase One: Respond to the immediate needs for safe and healthy housing
through rapid deployment of the MIR floating house prototype
throughout the Lower Ninth Ward, in the Eastern wetlands areas, and in all
high risk areas as needed.
Phase One will allow a significant percentage of the displaced population
to return safely to a home with minimal dependence on infrastructure
and services. With the introduction of a new housing prototype and the
Cradle to Cradle approach to living, residents can begin to experience
a more direct and productive relationship with nature and broaden
majority of which are located in areas that sustained the worst flooding. Significant percentages of property owners who have sought aid from this program are opting for buyout
WETLANDS RESTORATION
rather than rebuild, indicating a trend toward relocation. (Louisiana to buy 19,000 ruined
PHASE 1
90,000 PEOPLE
N
in 49.4
1864-1920
1921-1949
0.5
1.0
2.0
0.5
miles
1905
1909
1923
1915
1906
1903
1927
1928
2.0
But the people cannot have wells, and so they take rain-water. Neither can they
conveniently have cellars or graves, the town being built upon made ground; so
they do without both, and few of the living complain, and none of the others.
- Life on the Mississippi, 1883 Mark Twain
Lakefront levee is
raised to 12ft.
1.0
2.0
1961 1964
Some 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast region were blanketed by federal
disaster declarations an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom
-U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2005
1986
1969
1969
1974
1985
wetland areas. In 1950, the population of New Orleans had grown to 570,445.
In 2005, prior to Hurricane Katrina, the population of the Greater New Orleans
area reached 1.4 million with 485,000 residents located within city bounds.
Lakefront levee is
raised to 18ft.
1965
1957
1956
1950
1948 1950
0.5
miles
1947
1923 1926
1.0
miles
In the wake of the Civil War, New Orleans municipal debt limited the city
from making sorely needed municipal improvements. Therefore, in the
last 20 years of the 19th century, New Orleans made limited progress.
Between 1840 and 1900 New Orleans dropped to 12th place in
national rank of most populated cities. Despite this lull in prosperity
and amidst less than ideal conditions, the citys population increased to
nearly 290,000 by the end of the century.
1950-2005
1998
2005
1988 1995
Holy Cross neighborhood
is added to the National
Register of Historic Places.
2005
Hurricane George. Approximatly 14,000
take shelter in the Superdome. Outages
leave 260,000 without power.
SC 02
SC 01
SECTION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
ELEVATION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
ELEVATION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
T.O. HEADER
EL. 12-0
WS
SECTION
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
m O r p h o s i s
2007
3
2
1
2
3
4
Bedroom
Kitchen
Dining
Living Room
FP 01
FLOOR PLAN
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
0 1
10 FEET
FINISH GRADE
EL. -3-0
Power In / Solar
Power In / Propane
Power Distribution
RCP 01
2
N
0 1
10 FEET
2
5
1
3
2
1
pumping valve
6
3
2
POWER EQUIPMENT
1
2
AIR HANDLING
EQUIPMENT
1
2
3
4
5
PV Panels
Charge Controllers
Deep Cycle Battery Array
LP Generator
LP Tanks
LP Emergency Tank
WATER EQUIPMENT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Solar Collector
Rainwater Collector Tank
UV Water Filtration
Potable Water Tank
Solar Boiler Module
+ Tank
Greywater Filtration / Storage
Waste Water Tank
RP 01
ROOF PLAN
SCALE: 1/8=1-0
PHASE 2
10 FEET
CITY DENSIFICATION:
CITY DENSIFICATION:
CITY DENSIFICATION:
15,000 PEOPLE
WETLANDS RESTORATION
2
N
0 1
30,000 PEOPLE
WETLANDS RESTORATION
PHASE 3
20,000 PEOPLE
WETLANDS RESTORATION
PHASE 4