Casey Bemis Tulane School of Architecture Thesis Research and Analysis Fall 2013 AHST 5110 Thesis Advisor Scott Bernhard
Above the Flood:
Reassessing Delta Urbanism After Hurricane Katrina
Above the Flood 1 |
Above the Flood Index | 2
Abstract Essay
3 4-13
Precedent Research
15-29
Program
31-32
Site
33-34
Design Documentation
35-44
Annotated Bibliography
45-46
Works Cited
47-49
Index
Above the Flood 3 |Abstract
Abstract Question: How can water management and individual building solutions come together to create a cohesive delta urbanism that satisfies FEMA codes, provides a safer living environment in the low lying areas of the city, and creates a community environment?
Base Flood Elevation: regulations set in flood prone areas to ensure that all buildings will be built at an elevation that has a 1% chance of being met or exceeded by flood waters in a given year
“New Orleans needs more than levees alone can offer.” Behar, Michael, “5 Bold Ideas for a Hurricane-Proof New Orleans.” Popular Science, February 2006.
“A complete thinking of water not as a threat, but as a real estate opportunity.” Kessler, Kristina. “Bobbing Buildings.” Urban Land, May 2006.
The water management system in New Orleans was developed to drain the backswamps and protect the city from annual flooding from the Mississippi River. As the land dried, development spread to areas of the city that were previously underwater. People had a false sense of security that the levees and canals would protect them from any storm. When Hurricane Katrina swept through the city in August of 2005, it was finally understood that the levee system currently in place would not provide sufficient protection for homeowners. The fifty three levee breaches in the city and suburbs caused significant damage and allowed for eighty percent of the city to be inundated with water in a few short hours. Many master plans were made for rebuilding the city after this catastrophic event. Most of the designs were only partially put into action if attempted at all. It became clear that residents were not interested in any radical plans for their city, but would rather rebuild what they had lost in the storm. Unfortunately this would not be possible due to increased base flood elevation requirements in the low lying areas of the city. Since 2005, more than 2,300 homes have been raised at varying elevations depending on how far below sea level their property sits. This number is ever growing and becoming a pressing issue in urban neighborhoods. Since New Orleans was settled in the eighteenth century, the lowest areas of the city have been populated by the poorest communities. The cost of flood insurance for homes that are not raised to the new base flood elevations are increasing drastically throughout the country. Many residents of these impoverished low lying neighborhoods are posed with the issue of raising their homes or moving out due to the increasing flood insurance costs. In addition to the costliness of raising a home several feet in the air, many architectural problems arise from this practice. In some areas of the city, houses are being raised ten to fifteen feet above the ground creating a large void in the urban fabric. In areas where building setbacks are rare, eliminating the ground floor of a structure disrupts the streetscape. In New Orleans, porch culture is an important part of everyday life, but when the porch is raised ten feet above the ground it becomes unusable as an informal gathering space. Community life is threatened with little interaction between neighbors who are sequestered in their individual tree houses. In a city where infrastructural issues are great and little has been done to improve the drainage systems since Hurricane Katrina, the individualized protect of home elevating is important. New infrastructural solutions to the water management system have been proposed, but they do not address the issues of raised homes in their plans. A systematic solution to water management and increasing home elevation needs to be addressed by architects and urban planners.
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Above the Flood: Rethinking Delta Urbanism after Hurricane Katrina Eight years after Hurricane Katrina, designers and citizens are still struggling with how to build a sustainable urban environment in the largely at risk geography of New Orleans. Although many plans have been written and some performed, there are still many issues facing the sustainability of the city’s built environment in this volatile landscape. New Orleans is uniquely situated between two bodies of water: Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. These important geographical barriers set up the city to be one of the most important and successful cities from the time of its settlement as well as one of the most at risk developments in the nation.
History of Drainage Systems When New Orleans was originally settled in the early 18th century, development took place mainly along the river where a natural levee had formed due to annual floods that left deposits of rich soils on the banks of the Mississippi River. As the city grew, settlement expanded along the river following the natural levee where man-made levees were also being constructed. In 1724, the first man-made levee was complete measuring six feet wide by three feet tall. The levee spanned 3,000 feet along the river to protect the city from the floods that occurred in the spring each year. Unfortunately this levee was quickly destroyed by the river and a new one was constructed in its place at a larger scale.1 This began the saga of the fight against flood waters in New Orleans that has plagued the city since its beginnings and is still not over. In the years following, improvements were made to the water management systems of New Orleans. Stronger, larger, and longer levees were built around the entire city and continue to be expanded today. At the time of their construction, most levees were built and maintained by private entities. Plantation owners along the river were expected to maintain the levees in front of their properties and it was in their best interest to do so. Unfortunately not all portions of the levee were built or maintained properly and regular flooding destroyed farm land and rural areas around the city.2 The government slowly realized that a unified water management system was necessary for the city to expand and survive. The New Orleans City Council began taking control of the levees and by 1810 standards were set for the construction and maintenance of the system. After a particularly devastating flood in 1849, the federal government decided that localized maintenance was not the answer for water management and the Swamp
Campanella, Richard. Delta Urbanism: New Orleans. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2010, 27.
1
2
Ibid., 28.
Above the Flood 5 | Essay
3
4
Ibid., 51.
and Overflow Land Act of 1850 was passed. This act handed over federal swamp lands to the local government in exchange for levee building, swamp draining, and the eventual land sales of the swamps.3
Ibid., 74.
In addition to the levees, New Orleans faced many problems due to annual rainfall and the draining of the back swamp for further expansion. Several canals were dug throughout the city to send rain and swamp water to Lake Pontchartrain. In the 1850s, Louis H. Pille, an engineer and city surveyor, proposed and built four steam powered paddle wheels to push water through the canals to the lake. Although somewhat successful, the city desired further drainage efforts to be made. In 1893, the Drainage Advisory Board was formed and in 1895 they presented the city with a new plan for the drainage system that is currently used in New Orleans. More canals were dug and pumps were installed to drain the back-swamps of the city. The newly drained city would eventually be “a victim of its own success.�4 As more people moved into the drained swamps, the system would expand to account for the growing urbanization. This cyclical process of draining and urbanizing continued until areas even beyond the levees protection began urbanization.
5
Ibid., 130.
fig 1: current municipal drainage system in New Orleans showing above and underground canals and pump stations all leading to Lake Pontchartrain, diagram by author
The levees and drainage system set New Orleans up for one of the worst natural disasters in the world. As the land was drained and occasional floods were eliminated, the land began to subside due to the decay of organic material and the lack of water in the soil. Before the drainage system, New Orleans was a city above sea level, but by the 20th century, 62% of inhabitants lived below sea level.5 The canals that were originally built at ground level now carry water above rooftops due to land subsidence. Each canal protruding into the city created a weak spot in the levees that would eventually lead to disaster.
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Hurricane Katrina and Rebuilding Efforts On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans. Fifty three levee breaches across the city and suburbs allowed for 80% of the city to flood with between one and fifteen feet of water. Much of this water was not drained from the city for weeks wreaking havoc on the built environment.6 Entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map, and most homes that did survive were severely damaged. Around 70% of all occupied houses in New Orleans suffered damage from the storm. Less than 50% of the population of New Orleans in 2000 returned to the city after Hurricane Katrina. As of 2012, the population had only recovered to 76% of its previous numbers.7
Feireiss, Kristen. Architecture in Times of Need. New York: Prestel, 2009.
6
Plyer, Allison. “Facts for Features: Hurricane Katrina Impact.” Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. http://www.gnocdc.org/Factsforfeatures/ HurricaneKatrinaImpact/.
7
fig 2: map of flooding during Hurricane Katrina, major levee breaches are represented by red dots, diagram by author
In the year following Hurricane Katrina, a “plandemonium”8 occurred in which designers and planners proposed what should be done with the severely damaged city. Official plans included the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s ESF-14, Bring New Orleans Back, the Green Dot Plan, the Lambert Plan, and eventually the Unified New Orleans Plan. The FEMA proposed ESF-14 was a long-term community recovery process that outlined the responsibilities of all levels of government and funding associations for the rebuilding after natural disasters. This plan was not well executed and generally ignored. The next plan that was developed was Bring New Orleans Back. The goal of this plan was to
8
Campanella, 153.
Above the Flood 7 | Essay
Horne, Jedidiah and Brendan Nee. “An Overview of Post-Katrina Planning in New Orleans.” Department of City and Regional Planning (2006).
9
10 Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC. “Action Plan for New Orleans: The New American City.” Bring New Orleans Back Commission.
11
Horne, 6-9.
fig 3: map of Green Dot Plan representing the areas of the city that would be razed and turned into constructed wetlands, diagram by author
create a “sustainable, environmentally safe, socially equitable community with a vibrant economy.”9 This recovery focused on “a flood and storm water protection plan”, a “transit and transportation plan”, a “parks and open space plan”, and a “neighborhood rebuilding plan.”10 A subcommittee of Bring New Orleans Back proposed a radical design in which entire neighborhoods in the most heavily damaged areas of New Orleans would be razed and replaced with constructed wetlands to help with drainage issues and remove people from the most risky geographies. This controversial plan was known as the Green Dot Plan and was quickly criticized and fought against. The response to Bring New Orleans Back was the New Orleans Neighborhoods Rebuilding Plan better known as the Lambert Plan. This proposal was incredibly piecemeal and lacked a legality that would eventually lead to its demise. The final response to the “plandemonium” taking over the city was the Unified New Orleans Plan. Three distinct promises raised this plan above all others: a consolidated document that included plans for all neighborhoods in a cohesive structure, previous plans would be respected to incorporate efforts that were already being made in some neighborhoods, and it was designed and implemented by a non-government entity creating a nonbiased design.11 Although many progressive proposals were made, it was clear that the people of New Orleans really desired to come back to build what they had before rather than take on a radical new city design.
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Issues of Rebuilding Housing Unfortunately due to FEMA’s revaluation of Flood Insurance Rate Maps, rebuilding the city the same as before is impossible. Houses in New Orleans were originally built between three to eight feet above the ground to protect the living spaces from the occasional floods that were a part of life the city. As the levees were built and the drainage system improved, houses moved closer and closer to the ground. Slab on grade structures were built on below sea level ground in the suburbs of New Orleans. During Hurricane Katrina, most of these homes were flooded with several feet of water.12 Even houses built a few feet off the ground were flooded leading to massive payouts in flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) paid $13 billion in claims to Louisiana after the hurricane. This extreme loss in NFIP funds led to the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act; passed in July 2012. The new law has put the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the task of updating all flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs) some of which are over twenty five years old and are not reliable sources for risk assessment for the NFIP. The reassessment has led to increased premiums for most coastal communities. In addition to updating the maps, flood insurance rates are being adjusted to reflect real risk factors for 100 year floods in all areas. In the past, many areas at greater risk of flooding were subsidized by the NFIP so homeowners did not pay the full rates for flood insurance. The Biggert Waters Act is working to eliminate all subsidies by increasing flood insurance rates by 25% annually until each homeowner’s rate reflects their true risk. These changes have resulted in extreme increases in flood insurance for many people, especially if a building does not meet the new base flood elevation (BFE).13 This is causing homeowners to raise their houses anywhere from one to twenty five feet in the air to satisfy these new base flood elevations. A base flood elevation (BFE) is the water level that is expected to be reached or surpassed during a “100 year flood” or the level that has a 1% chance of being met or exceed in a given year. BFEs are determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the form of flood insurance rate maps (FIRMs).14 In the most extreme cases, some coastal communities will not be able to rebuild at all or it will be impossible to sell their existing homes because the new BFEs are so extreme that it is either impossible or impractical to build a house that tall.15 While the practice of raising homes is not new in many coastal communities, raising a building ten feet from the ground in an urban environment creates a new urban landscape that few are currently addressing. While New Orleans does not yet have the inconvenience of having to build twenty five feet in the air, there are still many architectural and social consequences
Silverman, Richard. The History of Building Elevation in New Orleans. Washington, DC: Federal Emergency Management Agency , 2012.
12
fig 4-5(above): raised houses in New Orleans showing void at street level, images by author
Federal Emergency Management Agency , “Flood Insurance Reform Act 2012,” last modified October 09, 2013, http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurancereform-act-2012.
13
“Definitions.” Federal Emergency Management Agency. http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program/definitions.
14
Jacobs, Karrie. “Stilted Architecture,” Metropolis, July/August 2013, 32-34.
15
Above the Flood 9 | Essay 16
Ibid, 33.
from raising homes in an urban context. During the Mississippi Renewal Forum, a meeting of prominent architects and planners to develop a plan for rebuilding the gulf coast, Gary Justiss reflected on the difficulties of building to the new BFE codes: to be totally honest, we were giving it our best shot, to make [the houses] look as not-ridiculous as possible. I think what we realized was that strategy wasn’t going to work once you get past 12 feet off the ground.16 Although most homes in New Orleans do not need to be raised above twelve feet, increasingly new FIRMs will only create higher BFEs which will result in tall buildings. It is not unreasonable to assume that after the next significant flood in New Orleans, the codes for housing elevations will exceed twelve feet. At the current time, many houses are being raised beyond the BFEs to create an open ground floor for parking cars. This method of design leaves holes in the urban fabric where are house used to be. The ground floor becomes a forest of columns that create a void on the street level. The occupant must ascend a large staircase to the first inhabitable floor which can be problematic for disabled or elderly people. In this case a residential elevator may be constructed, but at a steep price. The architectural fabric of the city is changing and it is the responsibility of designers to adapt to or rethink the city.
fig 6(right): map of raised houses in New Orleans from 2005-2012, diagram by author
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Southern culture incorporates a sense of community much more wholly than other parts of the United States. One part of this community spirit is the porch culture that is prevalent in many southern cities including New Orleans. In the Big Easy, there is even a term for this porch culture coined by residents as “stoop sitting”.17 The stoop has been characterized as the unofficial town hall and community center, a space for informal gathering, and a place for problem solving.18 After Katrina, in neighborhoods that were largely unoccupied, all of the remaining residents would find that one porch that had electricity and would gather there to tell their stories. People saw this practice as a “24-hour group therapy session.”19 Before and after Katrina, stoop sitting has been an important part of New Orleans culture as a way to relax, enjoy life, network, and find out what is going on in the community.20 In architecture, the design of the front porch creates the ideal place of prospect and refuge. Generally one to three feet from the street level, the porch is somewhat removed, but very much still a part of the street scape. The steps to a porch or stoop create an interstitial space between public and private. Occupants feel more at ease from the comfort of their homes, but are still able to participate in the street life going on around them. Raising houses so that the front porch no longer has a connection to the street is detrimental to the stoop sitting culture of New Orleans. This practice creates a removal of informal community gathering spaces and creates a disconnect between residents. Historically the lowest parts of the city were settled by low income populations because it was an undesirable place to live. Although this has changed slightly, many of the lowest neighborhoods in New Orleans today and still impoverished communities. In a time when community culture is so important for the rebuilding of these neighborhoods, taking away the informal community center that the residents are accustomed to can be detrimental.
Norris, Michele, “A New Orleans Stoop: Solace After the Storm,” Summer on the Porch, Web, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story. php?storyId=5618203.
17
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
Hoffman, Will, & Mercadante, Daniel, “Stoop Sitting,”Everyone Forever Now, Web, http://vimeo. com/5526305.
20
fig 7: “stoop sitting”, image from NPR
Design Approaches In order to rebuild New Orleans, importance must be placed on creating a systematic proposal for drainage and infrastructural issues as well as a way to rebuild individual houses to a maintain community culture that allows neighborhoods to thrive. One current approach provides an emphasis on the individual buildings without regard to context or neighborhood cohesion. A second approach only focuses on the infrastructural issues of the city by solving issues in the drainage systems and storm water management. In a few select instances, an attempt has been made to integrate the two solutions to create a holistic approach to rebuilding the deltaic city, although rather unsuccessfully.
fig 8: A House for Patty, GCCDS
Above the Flood 11| Essay
21 “Our Values.” Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. http://gccds.org/values/index.php.
Kessler, Kristina. “Bobbing Buildings.” Urban Land, May 2006. 22
23
“GREATER NEW ORLEANS URBAN WATER PLAN.” WAGGONER BALL ARCHITECTS. HTTP://LIVINGWITHWATER.COM/.
AND
Behar, Michael. “5 Bold Ideas for a HurricaneProof New Orleans.” Popular Science.
24
fig 9: Living with Water Plan for New Orleans by Waggoner and Ball Architects
The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio has focused its practice on rebuilding individual houses to meet the FEMA base flood elevation requirements in extremely low lying areas of the Gulf Coast. Issues with the elevation of the first inhabitable floor of the houses have led to interesting studies in building stilted architecture. In areas where a house is only required to be raised five feet above the ground, GCCDS will generally raise the house a little higher to allow for lower flood insurance rates and to create a usable space below the building. For houses that are required to be ten to twenty feet above ground, an effort to create a functional ground plane is made. Intermediary porches and over-sized stairs are meant to create a connection to the street scape to allow for some community interaction.21 While these houses individualize flood protection, they disregard the context of the neighborhood and act as stand-alone stilted buildings rather than part of the urban fabric. The Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan presented by Waggoner and Ball Architects takes on an urban design approach to solving New Orleans problems. The plan proposes many methods to solve the issues on flooding and increasing land subsidence. In addition to the infrastructure proposals, this plan seeks to present “a complete thinking of water not as a threat but as a real estate opportunity.”22 Urban parks for incorporating storm water drainage and retention not only add value to neighborhoods but help address current flood issues. According to Waggoner and Ball the current water management system’s approach is to “pave, pipe, and pump.” This means that the city does not allow for any pervious paving for water to go back into the ground, but rather it is drained into canals and ditches and then pumped to Lake Pontchartrain. This system is costly and ineffective. Waggoner and Ball propose a new approach to “slow, store and use, and circulate and recharge” water in the city. In order to slow the water from flowing straight into the canals, green roofs, rain gardens, water harvesting, bioswales, an pervious paving can be used to put the water back into the ground. The water that does circulate into the drainage system is stored and used in internal wetlands that double as parks in low lying neighborhoods. Whatever water is left after these uses can be pumped into the lake or external wetlands.23 Michael Behar was right when he stated, “New Orleans needs more than levees alone can offer.”24 This approach creates a more unified drainage system for New Orleans, but does not take into account the neighborhoods in which it would be implemented. The Make It Right Foundation was founded by Brad Pitt in 2007 to build LEED Platinum certified homes in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. The goals of the foundation are to create affordable homes to allow people to return to the
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lower ninth ward, safe housing that will withstand natural disasters, and sustainable building designs to help the environment. The houses were designed by twenty different architecture firms from around the world, so the results are varied in the approach to these goals. This program has been used as a way of testing new ideas for sustainable building in coastal communities. Make It Right encourages innovation and creativity in their designs. David Adjaye and Associates worked to create a sense of porch culture by creating a sort of stadium seating out of the front steps that led to the first floor at nine feet above the ground. Morphosis designed a house based on floating houses in the bayous that is built on a chasis that houses all of the mechanical and electrical equipment. This chasis is able to float off of its base as flood waters rise, guided by two vertical poles that keep the house from moving horizontally. Other firms like Concordia, based in New Orleans, take more traditional approaches of building a raised house with parking below. While all of the houses in the Make It Right neighborhood are different, the foundation has worked to create a sense of community through providing public spaces for the residents. A solar powered playground was built for the children in the neighborhood as well as a skate park which can double as a community center.25 In addition to these small parks, MIR proposed a stormwater management project that would incorporate pervious paving, rain gardens, bioswales, and rainwater collection systems. Most of these elements can be found on a few individual lots in the MIR development, but few have been implemented on a neighborhood scale. In addition to stormwater management, the foundation tried to create micro-farms for urban agriculture which would create a use for the collected rain water and teach people about sustainability.26 Although the intentions for a holistic design approach to delta urbanism are present in the Make It Right Foundations plans, implementation is severely lacking. Currently the foundation has built several world famous houses, but has done very little for creating a community atmosphere or sustainable street design.
fig 10(top): Make It Right houses fig 11(bottom): Make It RIght neighborhood
Make It Right Foundation, http://makeitright.org/ about/.
25
Feireiss, Kristen. Architecture in Times of Need. New York: Prestel, 2009.
26
Reassessing Delta Urbanism It is clear that something needs to be done about flood protection in New Orleans. Individualized flood protection is important but creates a different type of urban fabric that the city has not seen before. In order to preserve community culture and protect citizens from flooding risks, a cohesive neighborhood model must be proposed to alleviate the current issues of New Orleans. This thesis proposes to integrate individualized flood protection with an urban water management system in a low lying neighborhood of New Orleans as an example for rethinking delta urbanism. New infrastructural solutions to the water management system have been proposed, but they do not address the issues of raised homes
Above the Flood 13| Essay
in their plans. A systematic solution to water management and increasing home elevation needs to be addressed by architects and urban planners. There is a better way to raise houses while creating community spaces to replace the informal gathering space of the front porch. The following document details the process of designing an intervention for raised houses in a the urban context of New Orleans.
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Above the Flood
A House for Patty Gulf Coast Community Design Studio
15 | Precedent Research
fig 12: elevation
fig 13: left, fig 14: right, fig 15: below
This house was designed by GCCDS to be built by architecture students during a summer design/build. Opportunities for design were intentionally left in the project to allow the students to make decisions. The house is the first LEED certified residential building in Mississippi. The design of it is based on a dog-trot house with a central covered outdoor space that seperates the public and private spaces of the house. The open space also allows breezes to naturally cool the building. The building is raised 13’ off the ground to satisfy FEMA regulations. The homeowner is an avid gardener and uses the ground floor space as storage and a covered work area.8
fig 16: public v. private and air circulation diagram by author
Float House Morphosis Make It Right Morphosis sought to create an affordable housing prototype for flood prone coastal zones, This idea led to the creation of the Float House for the Make It Right Foundation. This house is built on a prefabricated “chassis” that contains all of the buildings mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services. The chassis is made of polystyrene foam which is then coated in glass fibre-reinforced concrete. The base acts as a raft for the house during floods as it floats vertically on guide posts up to twelve feet. The ability to float allows for the building to be built at 4’ above grade rather than 10’ to preserve the New Orleans porch culture and allow for access by elderly people. The house is almost completely prefabricated and merely assembled on site to take advantage of mass production abilities and to reduce building costs. The house is made of SIPs that are prefabricated and attached to the chassis on site. The chassis was designed to support different housing variations. The house also has the ability to run with a net-zero energy consumption. Solar panels on the roof provide enough energy for the house to function during the day and energy storing batteries are placed in the chassis to provide energy at night. The butterfly roof configuration allows for rain water collection which is stored and filtered in the chassis for use in the house. The house is air conditioned through geothermal heating a cooling.9
Above the Flood
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fig 17: diagram by author; in the event of a flood the chassis floats above the water creating a raft for the house, vertical guide posts hold the structure in place while the house floats safely above the water
fig 18: side view
Above the Flood
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The entire house was built in a kit-ofparts style that could allows for different versions of the house depending on the home owners requests. The house was designed as a contemporary interpretation of a traditional New Orleans shotgun. The colors of the exterior reflect the colorful, playfulness of the houses in the ninth ward. A front and side porch allow for the use of covered outdoor space that is treasured in New Orleans.
fig 20: interior view with some exposed SIPs
fig 19: front view showing front porch and colorful exterior
fig 21: roof view with solar panels
fig 22: diagram of prefabricated parts to assemble on site
Madame John’s Legacy
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New Orleans experienced many significant fires in the historic district of the French Quarter that nearly destroyed all existing buildings. Very few 18th century buildings can still be found in the French Quarter, but Madame John’s Legacy has survived as an example of Louisiana Creole 18th century architecture. The complex consists of three buildings: main house, kitchen with cooks quarters, and a two story garconniere. These builds are located around a courtyard that was used for house work. Galleries on either side of the main house shade the large porches and protect the interior from direct summer sun. The main house is raised up from the street level so that the living spaces are not affected by flooding. The ground floor was used for storage and as a work space for servants. The ground floor is enclosed with brick walls covered in stucco on the street side.11 fig 23: above, historical sketch
fig 24: left, ground floor view into the courtyard showing exterior vertical circulation and ground floor work zone
fig 25: drawing of how the house originally looked
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fig 26: right, diagram by author of living and work space and sun shading; fig 27: left, plan
fig 28: right, street view; fig 29: left, courtyard
If the levee systems had not been built, most of New Orleans would have been built as raised buildings. An expendable ground floor used to be commonplace in New Orleans architecture, and it is slowly becoming the norm again.
Porchdog House Marlon Blackwell Architects
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The Architecture for Humanity Model Home Program works to provide affordable housing for families whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. These houses are built to comply will all of the new FEMA regulations including the new base flood elevation(bfe) which requires many homes in East Biloxi to be raised 11’ off the ground. The new regulations challenge the porch culture of the city and create a new streetscape in the urban environment. The Porchdog House attempts to address all of these issues while satisfying the FEMA regulations. The ground floor of the house is almost completely open with a stoop that serves as a front porch and a stair leading up to the rest of the house. While trying to create a front porch, the archtiect took too subtle of an approach. The three steps leading the concrete pad disappear under the house and create no sense of entry or gathering space. The house itself is pulled back from the street which does not help with the streetscape issue. If the point of the project was to create a new prototype that still achieved these goals, it was unsuccessful. The rear balcony is much more successful as an outdoor gathering space, which could have been useful as the front of the house addressing the street.6 fig 31: massing diagram
fig 30: exterior view of the side of the front and side of the house
fig 32: ground floor plan
Above the Flood
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front
40’
Another issue with the new BFE regulations is the added height to these residential buildings. The existing houses in the neighborhood do not exceed 25’, but building two floors of living space with an 11’ base creates much taller houses than the context. The angle of the roof dipping down to the back of the house is counter intuitive as a solution to this problem. This creates a taller mass at the front of the house on the street while diminishing the size on the back where it is less noticeable. To accommodate for the taller mass of the house, it would make more sense to have the shorter side on the street to create more relevance to the surrounding neighborhood.7
back
30’
fig 33: diagram by author showing elevation differences between front and back of house , the front being less dynamic and taller than the back fig 34: rear view
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fig 35: front view showing stoop and flat facade
fig 36: material diagram
fig 37: section
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Phillis Wheatley Elementary School Charles Colbert The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School was once seen as a shining example of modern architecture in New Orleans. The building was designed to accommodate 800 students on a site usually meant for 1/6th of that many people. In response to this constraint, Colbert designed the building to be raised into the air to allow for a large covered outdoor space for the children to play. To allow for the maximum amount of open ground floor space, the structure consisted of cantilevered steel trusses supported on concrete walls surrounding the central courtyard. The building is clad in glass windows to add to the open air concept of the building and allow for maximum natural lighting. As a result of the raised nature of the school, it did not flood during Hurricane Katrina. The building was minimally damaged during the storm, but controversy about what to what to do with the abandoned building eventually led to its demise. The building was torn down on June 17, 2011.10
fig 38: hands around Phillis Wheatley protest to save the school from being torn down
fig 39
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fig 40: diagram by author showing unobstructed outdoor space provided by different structural systems
fig 41: front elevation view
fig 42: interior of classroom with floor to ceiling windows
fig 43: central stair to classrooms from ground floor play area
fig 44: play area underneath classrooms
Above the Flood
Anglesea Beach House Andrew Maynard Architects
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A long-standing tradition of shacks as nature retreats are disappearing in Australia to be replaced by mansion getaways. This beach house had the need for additional living spaces to accommodate three generations under one roof. The addition is meant to emulate some of the “shack� idea while providing flexible spaces for the family to use as needed. The wood deck was built to connect the house to the landscape. Wooden boxes were plugged into the existing house to fill an useless void in the back of the existing beach house. Flexible sleeping spaces, extra storage, and new bathrooms were added to the house.14 fig 45: before
fig 46: after
fig 47: interior view and diagram by author flexible bedding storage seating
fig 48 fig 49-50: day and night use of space
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fig 51: north elevation highlighting addition by author
fig 52: left, exterior side view; fig 53: middle, glassed in bathroom; fig 54: left, second floor interior view fig 55: ground floor plan highlighting addition by author
Above the Flood
Querini Stampalia Carlo Scarpa
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Carlo Scarpa was asked to redesign this foundation after the ground floor was deemed unusable due to flooding during aqua alta or high water which happens several times a year in Venice. Instead of creating a building that was completely impenetrable by water, Scarpa allowed water to come into the building and fully accepted it. Water enters from the canal through water gates where the floor details allow for water infiltration without harming the structure. Scarpa sought to balance old and new elements as well as water and ground.16
fig 56: bridge highlighting the change in elevation by author fig 58: courtyard fountain
fig 59: waterline detail
The bridge leading to the foundation extends below the usual ground plane in Venice to bring the building closer to the water. Once in the building, the gallery steps down again from the entrance to be even closer to the water.
fig 57: canal entrance
fig 60: plan
Above the Flood
Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan Waggoner and Ball
Precedent Research | 28
The Urban Water Plan proposed by Waggoner and Ball was released in September of 2013. It is a comprehensive plan for dealing with water management in New Orleans at all scale ranging from the individual building to the entire urban plan of the city. The current approach to water management in New Orleans is “pave, pipe, and pump.” This approach creates many problems including: -overwhelmed drainage systems from excessive runoff -land subsidence from excessive pumping -misuse and hiding of water that could be better utilized Waggoner and Ball propose a new approach of “slow, store, and drain.” This approach would be implemented on a number of scales through using canals as green and blue corridors, creating water storage in vacant and under-utilized properties, and retrofitting streets for better water management. The programmatic elements of this project are expansive and comprehensive.1
fig. 61
Living Water System Proposal
Industrial Canal
Lake Pontchartrain French Quarter
City Park
Central Business District
Mississipp River Interstate 10
Audubon Park
Current Water Management System
PAVE
PIPE
ROOF AND SITE RUNOFF
CANALS and DITCHES
STREET RUNOFF
PIPES
fig. 62
PUMP
PUMPS
fig. 63
Above the Flood
29| Precedent Research
Water Management System Proposal
SLOW
GREEN ROOF
RAIN GARDEN
HARVESTING
SUBSURFACE STORAGE
PLANTS
BIOSWALE
PERVIOUS PAVING
EXFILTRATION
IMPROVED CANAL
EXCAVATED BASIN
STORAGE BEHIND WEIR
CIRCULATING CANALS
LEVEED BASIN
INTERNAL WETLANDS
STORE & USE
CIRCULATE & RECHARGE
PUMPS
EXTERNAL WETLANDS
SIPHON (river or lake)
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER
GROUNDWATER PUMP
TREATED WASTEWATER
fig. 64
Above the Flood | 30
Above the Flood
Program Interviews
31| Program
Seth Welty
I approached Seth to learn about his involvement with the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio and their stilted house projects. I went into the conversation focusing the scale of my program at the individual building level, but Seth suggested broadening the scale of the program to either neighborhood or city. The FEMA base flood elevations are here to stay and the houses are going to be raised regardless of design, so the problem lies more within the infrastructure than the individual building designs. It is a systematic problem that needs to be addressed in the city. Seth also brought up how the base flood elevations have much more of an impact on commercial spaces because it removes them from the street which could be detrimental to business. Hypothetically if the base flood elevations changed on Magazine Street and those businesses needed to be raised above the street level, it would create a disconnect between the customer and the business. We also discussed what could be built below the BFE in certain areas. In the Mississippi coastal areas there are very strict codes about what can built because of the high velocity flooding through storm surges. Breakaway walls and hydrostatic vents are very important in building below the BFE.
Richard Campanella
I have been consulting Richard Campanella for help with mapping through a GIS program. We have successfully mapped all of the raised buildings in New Orleans since 2004. The mapping has been helpful for choosing a site in New Orleans as well as for finding a program. Rich believes that while individual house raising isn’t a problem, the clusters of them in the city create a different urban landscape that challenge the current culture of New Orleans. These conversations have focused on program at the building level. The main program idea discussed was creating an affordable intervention at the ground level for these raised houses to integrate them into the community and retain some of the porch culture of New Orleans.
Vincent Baudoin Vincent Baudoin worked for the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio for several years before starting grad school at Tulane. We talked about the issues of access for elderly or disabled people in stilted houses. If a house has to be raised ten feet off the ground, there needs to be a ramp that is over 120’ long. This can be extremely problematic for building design and how the building meets the street. Elevators can be used, but they are expensive and have the potential for failure during a flood. They also cross a gray area in the BFE codes because there technically shouldn’t be any mechanical equipment below the first inhabitable floor. We discussed the potential of removing the porch from the house to create a separate programmatic element for porch culture that is not attached to the individual house. Vincent suggested finding a quantitative way of measuring how problematic stilted architecture is in an urban context. Vincent does not think that a drastic infrastructural change is necessary in solving the problems of raised housing in an urban context, but more clever design solutions at the building level are needed. Porch culture was discussed in detail. What is porch culture and how is it important for a community? If external community spaces were provided would porch culture cease to exist?
Above the Flood
Program
Program | 32
The new base flood elevations in the City of New Orleans are changing the urban landscape of neighborhoods. Houses that are raised significantly create voids in the urban fabric, contribute to a loss of porch culture, and create significant changes in the streetscape. This project seeks to remedy some of these issues through an intervention on a individual house by house basis. Prefabricated modules with varying programs will be placed under existing houses to act as structure to elevate the houses while providing placemaking. The program will include flexible spaces were residents may host events, relax on a hot summers day, store items, or even utilize as an additional sleeping area. Each module has a different program that can be chosen based on the occupants desires. One module is purely a screened in porch. The second is a parking structure with the option for storage space or a water cistern. The third module contains a rain water cistern, and sleeping porch, a breezeway, and an off-grid bathroom. Any of the modules can accommodate the stairs that would lead from the first floor to the existing house. Sustainable features like stack ventilation from the modules through the existing house could be added on a case by case basis. The interventions are to also include water management systems that allow for residents to live more harmoniously with water. Bioswales, pervious paving, and rainwater storage are important parts of this new water management approach.
Modules -Screened Porch -Sleeping Porch -Off-Grid Bathroom -Parking -Rain Water Cistern -Storage -Breezeway
TBD by site selection 440 165 88 440 36 44 187
-Stack Ventilation Shaft -Balcony -Drainage Gardens
TBD by site selection 40 132 60
External
Total:
1,632 sqft
Above the Flood 33| Site
Site Selection
New Orleans Flood Zones
fig 66: diagram by author based on maps by Richard Campanella
During Hurricane Katrina, low lying areas around New Orleans were inundated with flood waters from broken levees and extreme rainfall. These low areas are located away from the river towards the middle of the city and closer to the lake. After Hurricane Katrina, people in these neighborhoods began to elevate their homes to satisfy the FEMA base flood elevation codes and to protect their home from rising flood waters. One area in particular, the Hollygrove Neighborhood, is an interesting intersection of high flood waters and a concentrated area of raised houses. Hollygrove has an important porch culture that defines the neighborhood community and is threatened by increasing housing elevations. The neighborhood also presents an urban condition to study the architectural and social consequences of the base flood elevations.
Above the Flood Site | 34
Hollygrove Neighborhood The Hollygrove neighborhood was originally part of the Town of Carrolton which was annexed by the City of New Orleans in 1874. Hollygrove was not settled until after 1858 when a new drainage system was installed. Prior to this system, the neighborhood was largely swamp land. To this day Hollygrove falls between 8 and 10 feet below sea level causing major drainage issues during heavy rainfall. A passenger rail line used to run through the middle of Hollygrove, but was abandoned and eventually removed in 2001 when the Sewerage and Water Board added an underground canal along the original tracks to help drainage in the area. Unfortunately flooding is still a major issue in the neighborhood and many houses are being raised to combat the problem.
fig 67(above): Hollygrove neighborhood with topography and raised houses
fig 68: circulation around and through Hollygrove
Site Selection Criteria: - located in neighborhood with relatively high BFE - underprivileged neighborhood in need of community spaces to replace lost porch culture -area with a precedent for raised houses
Above the Flood
Design Documentation
35| Design Documentation
Problems create space for junk to collect
Individualized flood protection
void in streetscape no connection to the street pushed house away from street edge to accommodate stairs
creates views from upper floor allows for vertical expansion
Advantages FLood Insurance Costs
$12,810 $4,270 $427 $0
$30,000
3’ above BFE $29,490
$14,100 $1,410
The higher a house is above the base flood elevation, the less flood insurance costs. When a house in a AE flood zone is raised to the base flood elevation, flood insurance costs decrease over one hundred thousand dollars in the span of thirty years. The cost of raising a house is insignificant compared to the savings one would receive from raising the house. The economic advantages are clear as raising houses would save significant sums of money.
$42,300 $0
$30,000
BFE
$9,500 3’below BFE
$95,000
Above the Flood
Design Documentation | 36 circulation difficulties not accessible by handicap loss of porch culture
loss of private backyard
sectional potenial covered outdoor space
parking potential
$172,190
1 year flood insurance premium 10 years flood insurance premium 30 years flood insurance premium
“New Orleans needs more than levees alone can offer.” -Michael Behar
cost of raising a house
$142,700
$285,000
“A complete thinking of water not as a threat, but as a real estate opportunity.” -Kristina Kessler
Above the Flood
37 | Design Documentation
Cistern/Storage
Parking
Modules and Kit of Parts Structural Modules are placed under houses to elevate them while provide place making. Each module has a different program and can support either the stairs to the upper floor or a second floor balcony. The kit of parts includes solar panels that can be used to power a pump to move water from the rain water cistern to the off-grid bathroom. Helical pile foundations remove the need for the many piers it usually requires to raise a house.
Screened Porch
Solar Panel
Pump
Helical Pile Foundation
Sleeping Bathroom Breezeway Porch Cistern
Upper Porch
Stairs
Above the Flood
Existing House
Raise House on Cribbing
Design Documentation | 38
Construction Sequence houses below the base flood elevation are in danger of major flood damage
houses are raised temporarily on cribbing similar to traditional house raising methods
Drill Helical Piles and Pour Pile Caps
Place Modules modules are trucked to the site while helical piles are drilled into place, these piles eliminate the need for piers reducing costs significantly
modules are place on helical piles and are prepared to act support for the house above
Lower House
Set Stairs and Railings house is lowered onto the modules and steel beams are slid out to support the stairs and porch
stairs, porches, and railings are placed on the support beams and the house is complete
Above the Flood
39 | Design Documentation
Plans
Flood Protection
Above the Flood
Design Documentation | 40
Removable Screen Ceiling Panels
ceiling panels allow for easy acces to mechanical systems below the house while providing a barrier to the exterior
Secondary Customizable Structure
steel beams are welded to imbeded steel structure in concrete shell to provide lateral stability while allowing for custom placing depending on needed support for house above
Steel Railings
flood proof steel railings lighten the heavy concrete structure while
Screen Doors
allow air but not bugs to pass through the enclosure
Recycled Wood Screen
screens made from recycled wood provide sun shading, natural ventilation, and act as a hydrostatic vent for the enclosure
Concrete Shell Structure
concrete shell provides a flood proof structure to the support the house exterior walls are separated by outdoor space to avoid interior walls
Drainage Garden
a lush drainage garden is provided for overflow from the rain water cistern
Helical Pile Foundation
four helical piles support each module eliminating the need for a sea of columns
Above the Flood
41 | Design Documentation
Module Views
Application Matrix
Above the Flood
Design Documentation | 42
Above the Flood
43 | Design Documentation
Sustainable Features
solar panels provide electricity for water pump and other electrical equipment in the event of a power outage stack cooling allows cool air from the ground floor breezeway to circulate through the house water pump pulls water up from the cistern through the house to the off-grid bathroom in the module
narrow modules allow for cross ventilation to cool the screened porches rain water is filtered and collected in a cistern built into the module drainage garden allows overflow from the cistern to more effectively enter the ground
FFlood lood C Condition ondition
Dry Condition
Above the Flood
Design Documentation | 44
Above the Flood
45| | Design Documentation
Above the Flood
Design Documentation | 46
Above the Flood
47| Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Adams, Vicanne, Taslim Van Hattum, and Diana English. “Chronic Disaster Syndrome: Displacement, Disaster Capitalism, and the Eviction of the Poor from New Orleans.” American Ethnologist 36(2009):615-636 Disaster capitalism essentially allowed private companies to go into damaged neighborhoods and tear down properties without the owner’s permission. This system of “recovery” led to what the 9th ward looks like today which is almost completely demolished. Colten, Craig E. “Vulnerability and Place: Flat Land and Uneven Risk in New Orleans.” American Anthropologist 108(2006):731-734. The poor populations of New Orleans live almost exclusively in low lying areas of the city, while more affluent groups live on the highest ground. Prone to flooding, most of these areas also didn’t have a working evacuation plan for residents without individual cars. This created an extremely vulnerable population when Katrina hit the city. FEMA. Advisory Base Flood Elevation of April 12, 2006. Accessed September 8, 2013. www.nolacitycouncil.com/docs/resources/2006ABFE.pdf. This presentation given to the City of New Orleans explains the new FEMA base flood elevations and how they will impact new construction and repairing of older buildings. All new construction or substantially damaged repairing of existing buildings must be raised three feet from the grade no matter where they are located. The presentation also explains where buildings will need to be raised about this three feet elevation. Each lot is evaluated on an individual basis depending on where it falls in relation to the sea level. Glavovic, Bruce C. “Sustainable Coastal Communities in the Age of Coastal Storms: Reconceptualising Coastal Planning as ‘New’ Naval Architecture.” Journal of Coastal Conservation 12(2008):125-134. This article addresses all sides of creating a successful coastal community in the face of natural disasters. It takes a holistic approach to solving the problems New Orleans faced before, during, and after Katrina. Political, physical, social, and economical factors played into the catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina. All of these things should be addressed in order to create a sustainable city in this area. Jacobs, Karrie. “Stilted Architecture.” Metropolis, July/August 2013. As FEMA’s base flood elevations have risen in many areas that flooded during Hurricane Katrina, the landscape has begun to change. Architects are struggling with what urban areas will look like when the houses are raised to ten to twenty feet in the air. How will this affect the street accessibility in places where street life is vital? While some designers have approached the issue, it still seems unresolved. Make It Right. Accessed September 7, 2013. www.makeitright.org. The Make It Right Foundation has taken on the task of rebuilding residences in the lower 9th ward. Many famous architects have designed these houses, but it still seems unclear what the solution is to the base flood elevations. While some simply resorted to raising the houses on concrete piers, Morphosis decided to create a house that will literally float during a flood.
Above the Flood
Annotated Bibliography | 48
NOLA. “Rules for Rebuilding.” Accessed September 5, 2013. http://www.nola.com/katrina/pdf/041206_flood_zones.pdf. This map shows the ground elevations of New Orleans neighborhoods and how they will affect the base flood elevations imposed by FEMA. It points out what areas are required to build at what heights around the city.
Above the Flood 49| Works Cited
Works Cited
Andrew Maynard Architects, “Anglesea Beach House.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.maynardarchitects.com/Site/houses/Pages/Anglsea_House_1.html. ArchDaily, “Porchdog House/Marlon Blackwell Architect.” Last modified February 06, 2011. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/109657. ArchDaily, “The FLOAT House - Make it Right/Morphosis Architects.” Last modified August 02, 2012. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/259629. Baudoin, Vincent. October 17, 2013. Behar, Michael, “5 Bold Ideas for a Hurricane-Proof New Orleans.” Popular Science, February 2006. Breunlin, Rachel and Helen A. Regis. “Putting the Ninth Ward on the Map.” American Anthropologist 108(2006):744-765. Cadwell, Michael. Strange Details. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2007. Campanella, Richard. Delta Urbanism: New Orleans. Chicago: American Planning Association, 2010, 27. Campanella, Richard. October 11, 2013. Dutch Dialogues. Accessed September 3, 2013. http://dutchdialogues.com/. Federal Emergency Management Agency , “Flood Insurance Reform Act 2012,” last modified October 09, 2013, http://www.fema.gov/flood-insurance-reform-act-2012. Feireiss, Kristen. Architecture in Times of Need. New York: Prestel, 2009. Frearson, Amy. “The Nest by a21studio.” Dezeen Magazine, June 1, 2013. http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/01/the-nest-by-a21studio/. Gilmer, Maureen. Living on Flood Plains and Wetlands: A Homeowner’s Handbook. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1995. “Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.” Waggoner and Ball Architects. http://livingwithwater.com/. Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, “A House for Patty.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.gccds.org/projects/biloxi/_houses/patty/patty.php. Hoffman, Will, & Mercadante, Daniel, “Stoop Sitting,”Everyone Forever Now, Web, http://vimeo.com/5526305.
Above the Flood Works Cited | 50
Horne, Jedidiah and Brendan Nee. “An Overview of Post-Katrina Planning in New Orleans.” Department of City and Regional Planning (2006). Jacobs, Karrie. “Stilted Architecture,” Metropolis, July/August 2013, 32-34. Kessler, Kristina. “Bobbing Buildings.” Urban Land, May 2006. Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, “Madame John’s Legacy.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.crt.state.la.us/museum/properties/madame_johns_legacy/. Make It Right Foundation, http://makeitright.org/about/. Norris, Michele, “A New Orleans Stoop: Solace After the Storm,” Summer on the Porch, Web, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618203. Plyer, Allison. “Facts for Features: Hurricane Katrina Impact.” Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. http://www.gnocdc.org/Factsforfeatures/HurricaneKatrinaImpact/. Regional Modernism: The New Orleans Archives, “Phillis Wheatley Elementary School.” Last modified March 29, 2008. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.regional-modernism.com/2008/03/. Silverman, Richard. The History of Building Elevation in New Orleans. Washington, DC: FEMA, 2012. Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC. “Action Plan for New Orleans: The New American City.” Bring New Orleans Back Commission. Waggoner, David. Waggoner and Ball Architects, “Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.” Last modified September 2013. http://livingwithwater.com/reports/. Welty, Seth. October 16, 2013. Wheater, Howard S. “Flood Hazard and Management: A UK Perspective.” Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 364(2006):2135-2145.
Above the Flood
Images Sources
51| Works Cited
fig 1-6: images by author fig 7: Norris, Michele. “A New Orleans Stoop: Solace After the Storm.” National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5618203. fig 8: Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, “A House for Patty.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.gccds.org/projects/biloxi/_houses/patty/patty.php. fig 9: Waggoner, David. Waggoner and Ball Architects, “Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.” Last modified September 2013. http://livingwithwater.com/reports/. fig 10-11: Make It Right Foundation, http://makeitright.org/about/. fig 12-16: Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, “A House for Patty.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.gccds.org/projects/biloxi/_houses/patty/patty.php. fig 17: diagram by author fig 18-21: ArchDaily, “The FLOAT House - Make it Right/Morphosis Architects.” Last modified August 02, 2012. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/259629. fig 22-29: New Orleans, “Madame John’s Legacy.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.neworleansonline.com/directory/location.php?locationID=1268. fig 30-37: ArchDaily, “Porchdog House/Marlon Blackwell Architect.” Last modified February 06, 2011. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/109657. fig 38-39: Stock, Francine. Flickr, “Regional Modernism.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxno/. fig 40: diagram by author fig 41-42: Ardoin, Emily. Emily Ardoin Photography, “Phillis Wheatley Elementary.” Last modified September 25, 2010. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://emilyardoinphotography.com/category/phyllis-wheatley-elementary/. fig 43: Vogel, Brad. Preservation Nation Blog, “A Modernist Masterpiece at Grave Risk in New Orleans.” Last modified May 10, 2011. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://blog.preservationnation.org/category/modern-architecture/page/9/ fig 44: Miller, Frank. The Times Picayune, “Historic Phillis Wheatley Elementary School Torn Down in Treme.” Last modified June 17, 2011. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2011/06/historic_phillis_wheatley_elem.html. fig 45-55: Andrew Maynard Architects, “Anglesea Beach House.” Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.maynardarchitects.com/Site/houses/Pages/Anglsea_House_1.html. fig 56-60: 3six0 Architecture Blog, “Presence & Absence: Carlo Scarpa, Querini Stampalia, & Water.” Last modified July 23, 2009. Accessed September 30, 2013. http://www.3six0.com/blog/2009/07/23/presence-absence-carlo-scarpa-querini-stampalia-water/. fig 61-64: Waggoner, David. Waggoner and Ball Architects, “Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.” Last modified September 2013. http://livingwithwater.com/reports/. fig 65-72: images by author fig 73: The University of Texas, “Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection.” Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/louisiana.html. fig 74-75: diagrams by author
Above the Flood | 51