Pitt’s philanthropy: How a film star is helping to build post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

By Jane Muder

Philanthropy helps people re-claim their lives — a concept with which Brad Pitt is intimately familiar. Pitt is heading a massive effort to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, an area that suffered the brunt of Hurricane Katrina damage, and is one of the poorest districts in the city.

The actor has had a passion for the city since filming Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” there in 1994. He’s had a passion for rebuilding New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area on Aug. 29, 2005.

The Make It Right foundation was set up by Pitt to restore New Orleans’ destroyed neighborhoods. Thus far, 150 houses have been commissioned by the foundation, to be built in the 9th Ward.

Pitt’s project kicked off with an awesome, glowing exhibition of pink, trapezoidal houses, illuminated by bulbs that symbolize the lives lost to Hurricane Katrina. The exhibit, called The Pink Project, was inspired by a movie filming session in New Orleans, during which Pitt noticed a bright pink fabric house included in the movie set design. He felt that the house was a symbol of New Orleans’ great potential for architectural renewal following Hurricane Katrina.

Generous, high-dollar donations to Make It Right allow each pink fabric house to be assembled on its frame. The exhibit is a highly visible harbinger of the 150 eco-friendly, sustainable houses to be built in the Lower 9th Ward, enabling New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina to re-claim their neighborhood — and their lives.

In the summer of 2006, Pitt teamed with Global Green USA, an American environmental organization, to oversee a competition in which architectural firms around the country submitted “green,” or environmentally sound designs to re-build NOLA. Pitt sat on a panel of architects who selected the top five designs. The winning piece, designed by Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen, features mixed-use buildings engineered to weather the elements, while incorporating Earth-friendly and recycled materials into the designs.

The 150 houses to be erected have built-in flood protection features, smart solutions to the problem of building habitable architecture in flood-prone areas. Solar panels, “green” roofs, and lightweight concrete or metal construction materials make the homes’ composition unique; all the houses will be built between five and eight feet off of the ground as further security against flooding.

Pitt listened to the voices of New Orleans residents, and began organizing regular building meetings at which they could express their needs and concerns.

The New York Times reported on Dec. 3, 2007 that Pitt planned to unveil the new designs in New Orleans that day. He told the Times that NOLA residents have been homeless for long enough; adding, “They’re coming up on their third Christmas.”

Pitt partnered with William McDonough, who has extensive experience with green architectural planning; North Carolina sustainable development investment firm Cherokee; and Los Angeles architects Graft, LLC on the project.

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin had expressed ambivalence about rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward, a concern that other historians and politicians echo. One of the most impoverished districts of NOLA, this neighborhood has a history of being a crime and drug haven.

Pitt disagreed. He told the New York Times, “If you have this blank slate and this great technology out there, what better test than low-income housing? It’s got to work at all levels to really be viable.”

Green building has become more popular in the past 10 to 15 years, namely because it affords homeowners significant energy savings while building houses that are environmentally sound, both during the erecting process, and in the long term. Global Green, the organization sponsoring the 2006 New Orleans rebuilding contest, has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to develop sustainable low- and mixed-income housing for the Gulf Opportunity Zone, the section of the Gulf Coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The Gulf Zone faces a significant housing shortage, with the scarcity especially evident among low income, would-be renters and homeowners. Real estate prices and rents continue to rise across the Gulf Opportunity Zone in response to this scarcity; meanwhile, some individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina continue to reside in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers with stringent evacuation deadlines.

The Independent reported on Dec. 4, 2007 that healthy and livable low-income housing was a prime political motivator for Pitt’s long-standing interest in the project. He told the UK newspaper that through the post-Katrina re-build, he hoped to offer New Orleans residents better living conditions.

No longer would their houses be built with “the crap materials that give your kids asthma, increase your health bills,” he said, adding “It’s a respectful way to treat people.”

Written by admin · Filed Under Rebuilding Efforts