Most of us know the great terror brought upon by natural disasters. Whether it's the impact of flooding water or the crush of rippling heat waves, Mother Nature can be terrifying.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans back in August 2005, its Lower Ninth Ward was one of the most ravaged neighborhoods. Numerous organizations came to aid the stricken victims, and relief charities all over the world were urgently set up.
Soon after the hurricane hit, actor and producer Brad Pitt sought to rebuild the neighborhood, and even relocated to New Orleans. However, he hadn't anticipated what a struggle he would have to go through to restore the region's infrastructure and replenish it with vitality.
He founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2007, and since then, the organization has helped launch environmentally-friendly rebuilding projects in the Lower Ninth Ward. To date, it has built homes for many once-homeless families.
Read on to discover the incredible transformation that the neighborhood has experienced.
What did you think of the effort made to rebuild the New Orleans neighborhood? Let us know in the comments, and please SHARE!
h/t: Daily Mail
On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's 10-year anniversary, we look back at the incredible efforts one man has contributed to save one of the city's most devastated regions.
Since 2006, Brad Pitt had worked tirelessly to rebuild homes in the city's Lower Ninth Ward. The architecture enthusiast has worked with his Make It Right Foundation to construct impeccably designed, eco-friendly, and cost-effective houses for the region's residents.
"We went into it incredibly naïve," Pitt told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "Just thinking we can build homes — how hard is that?" Yet, Pitt was determined to remedy the region's ruin, and, in addition, wished to apply new methods to its reconstruction.
The homes that have been built have a more modern aesthetic — and feature sharper, angular shapes. These homes differ very much in style from the city's traditional Baroque architecture, but the key was to make them environmentally sustainable to live in.
"You do not have to build low-income housing with the cheapest materials that keep families in a poverty trap," he told the Times-Picayune. "Whether that be running up high utility bills or with toxic materials that run up your doctor bills. It doesn't have to be that way."
The process wasn’t hurdle-free. The foundation had to overcome tricky bureaucratic regulations, and other systematic requirements including loan structures, HUD grants, and lot rights.
In the end, a total of 109 beautifully colorful, eco-friendly homes were built. Each and every one of them was designed with the residents’ needs in mind.
"The inhabitants, the families are the ones who designed the neighborhood," said Pitt, who worked very closely with the architects and builders. "They had choices in front of them. They picked the houses to suit their needs. They picked the colors."
The residents could also determine how high they wanted their homes to be off the ground. A few of the most notable features on these houses include: advanced framing, pervious concrete, electrical systems, and solar paneling.
The region has become a local tourist attraction. Pitt even persuaded some of the world's most renowned architects, including Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne, to design the homes.
The cost of rebuilding the neighborhood was $26.8 million, or an average of around $150,000 per home. But the most important thing was that residents felt they could live comfortably once more.
"I drive into the neighborhood and I see people on their porch, and I ask them how is their house treating them? And they say, 'Good.' And I say, what's your utility bill? And they'll throw something out like, '24 bucks' or something, and I feel fantastic," said Pitt.
A lot of the financial support for the rebuilding project was derived from donations and federal loans. And while Pitt has put his New Orleans home up for sale, he has told the paper that he's excited to return and film in the remarkable city.
To see more of the houses built in the district, click here.
Please SHARE the story of this neighborhood’s absolutely incredible transformation.
