Sustainable houses for the lower 9th ward in New Orleans

Graft’s proposal for housing in the Lower Ninth merges metaphorical abstractions of traditional and modern architecture, driven with the purpose of capitalising on the more successful components within each as a means with which to generate a more robust whole.Their proposal positions itself from the starting point of a traditional New Orleans housing typology, the shot gun house, which is abstractly represented through an expressive, almost exaggerated, gable roof and generous front porch.

The fluidity of the relationship between home and community, the provision of areas designated to interaction with neighbors and friends, is truly one of the things that make the Lower 9th so incredibly special, and the architects felt it important to pay homage to this. Through progression of the project, the house is coupled with modern affordable sustainable amenities.

The transition of the short section of the house reflects the progressive transformation, until finally arriving at a representation of contemporary modernism, expressed at the rear of the home, vis-a-vis the iconic flat roof, commonly associated with the apex of modernism.This resulting flat roof space offers the opportunity to program a safe haven; a space designed to aid in life safety by providing a strategy for passive survivability.