Veritas et Venustas

Classical Architecture Handbook online

THE ICA&CA has put some pre-publication chapters online here.

Katrina Cottages @ Lowe's

AT ONE OF TODAY'S EVENTS commemorating Hurricane Katrina's strike, Governor Barbour cut the ribbon for a small square with twenty Katrina Cottages in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The concept was born at the Mississippi Renewal charrette last October, and the cottages are now produced and sold by Lowe's. The architectural establishment criticizes New Urbanism, falsely calling it an elitist movement for the rich, but it is the New Urbanists who have produced more than paper schemes since Katrina. (And who other than a small, esoteric elite wants those neo-modern paper schemes?)

The Katrina Cottages may be part of a trend that will revolutionize affordable housing in America. Some new ones are here (vote for your favorite). I hope to design some more urban examples for New Orleans.

Download the Lowe's press release
Mississippi Renewal Katrina Cottage press release

In the news:

USA Today
Mississippi Sun-Herald
San Diego Union-Tribune
Nation's Building News
GulfLive

One Year Later

I'm in Miami, where Tropical Storm / Hurricane Ernesto has canceled Tuesday's and Wednesday's classes. There are better ways to show solidarity with Mississippi and Louisiana. Some might say teaching in Miami in August and South Bend in January is backwards.

Ernesto might not be a hurricane if or when it gets here, but after the hurricanes of the last few years, no one is willing to take a chance anymore. I've just come from the local Publix, where I bought canned goods I don't want, like pork and beans and ravioli "with meat."

May we not suffer the trials and tribulations of the citizens of the Mississippi Gulf, New Orleans and southern Louisiana: the living there have endured more than anyone should have to endure. We remember the dead, and hope to honor their memories in the rebuilding of their communities.

God bless the quick and the dead.

“My Ego Trip”

“Miss Brooklyn ... I call my ego trip,” Frank O. Gehry, Starchitect (What's Good For Starchitects Is Good For the World)

Quote of the Day

Sometimes I Feel Like I'm The Only One Trying To Gentrify This Neighborhood
By Eli Kearney
August 23, 2006 Issue 42•34

When I moved into this neighborhood, I fell in love right away. Not with the actual neighborhood, but with its potential: It's affordable, there are nice row houses all around just waiting to be filled up by my friends, there's lot of open space to be exploited, and plenty of parking. Plus, this area has got a great authentic feel and, with a little work, it could be even more authentic. Perfect, right?

So why am I the only one doing anything about it?

via Curbed

Miami

I'M IN MIAMI for three months, teaching a design studio at the School of Architecture at the University of Miami. More later.

Brooklyn

At this stage in planning and development, as long as the city's planning method is to react to the proposals of developers like Ratner, rather than leading the way with form-based codes that suggest form, character and mass, New York City will get few proposals which "use current demand and popularity as an opportunity to remedy a neighborhood's "deficiencies" ... and make such neighborhoods more resilient and less likely to lose popularity in future down times."

(from an earlier post on Atlantic Yards)

Under Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, New York City has used pro-active planning in several parts of the city. Particularly along the waterfront, where some citizens think the Department has been too pro-developer in its upzoning, while others like the results. But the  Atlantic Yards process has been a reactive one,and it has clearly favored the developer's bank balance over the making of a good city. In the University of Miami studio, we will use the form of the city and the neighborhoods to code and design a better city. We hope that the residents of Park Slope and Fort Greene will like the results.

Download the description of the Brooklyn studio.