Perhaps it is somewhat churlish to point out flaws when a charity tries to help people and fails.
I suspect that Brad Pitt had the best intentions in the world when he promoted the Make It Right Foundation to build housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. But in rounding up the world’s most famous architects, he hired some of the world’s most incompetent architects—at least in terms of dealing with the unforgiving climate of a city built below sea level in a former swamp.
It rains in New Orleans—a lot. And termites live there—trillions of them. And the fungus? It is surely among us, there.
One quick look at 1826 Reynes St. and any architect worth a damn should be able to quickly conclude that the design ain’t going to work…and it surely did not. This is an embarrassment to the profession, particularly in comparison to the humble “shotgun cottages” and other vernacular housing forms that have survived in the city for generations.
Despite the sagging boards and blackened sheets of OSB, the real rot on display is the Starchitect system, which fetishizes cleverness while ignoring practicality.