Floating House Makes Debut in New Orleans

(AP)  A house capable of floating atop rising floodwaters made its debut Tuesday in New Orleans alongside more than a dozen other homes built through actor Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation.

Called the FLOAT House, the unique home aims to answer the challenge posed by the Big Easy's flood risk, starkly illustrated by the rising waters of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"I wanted to float it down the Mississippi River to New Orleans," architect Thom Mayne said with a chuckle while in New Orleans for Tuesday's event. Instead, the home was shipped in pieces from Los Angeles, where it had been constructed on UCLA's campus.

The dwelling was designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Mayne, a professor at UCLA. Mayne said it's the first of its kind to be permitted in the United States.

It is long and narrow like the traditional New Orleans shotgun home and sits on a raised 4-foot base. It also has a front porch. But the home is contemporary in design, with sharp angles and energy efficient features like solar panels and a roof designed to capture and recycle water.

"You have to build a house for the environment, for the reoccurrence of hurricanes, but it can also be energy efficient," Mayne said.

No one lives there yet, but a family could buy the home and move in as early as next month, said Tom Darden, executive director of Make It Right. The group says it went through the local zoning and permitting channels before erecting the 1,000 square-foot, two-bedroom house on the site.

Residents must qualify through the foundation to be eligible for the floating house or other homes being built by Pitt's group. They must have lived in the Lower 9th Ward before Hurricane Katrina struck the area in August 2005.

Mayne said the Morphosis floating house technology was developed and is in use in the Netherlands, where architects are working to address rising sea levels expected with climate change.

In case of a flood, the base of the house acts as a raft, allowing the home to rise on guide posts up to 12 feet as water levels rise. In the Lower 9th Ward, which saw some of the worst flooding in the city during Katrina, floodwater reached as high as 12 feet.

"It's amazing," Darden said. "Our goal is to be as innovative and eco-friendly as we can be, and the FLOAT House is certainly technology designed for this climate."

The home's base is a high-performance chassis made from polystyrene foam coated in glass fiber-reinforced concrete. It houses the essential equipment to supply power, water and fresh air.

While not intended for occupants to remain inside during a hurricane, the structure is designed to minimize catastrophic damage and preserve the homeowner's investment, Mayne said.

The floating home should also allow residents to return within days of a hurricane or flood, Mayne said.

Mayne's team, which included architects and UCLA graduate students, took about two years to design and build the house. He said he is now shopping for a production company to help mass produce it. Miller said the houses could sell for around $150,000.

Shannon Sharpe Briand, a New Orleans real estate agent with ReMax for more than seven years, said she thinks some buyers would be interested in the floating homes, especially if the going price is $150,000.

"That price is affordable, especially if the homes are move-in ready," she said.

Mayne said he admires Pitt's effort to build stronger, safer and more energy efficient housing in New Orleans. Pitt founded Make It Right in 2007 to help Lower 9th Ward residents who lost their homes during Katrina.

More than a dozen homes have been completed - with families moved in - on the Make It Right site, and another 20 are under construction. Plans call for 50 homes on the site by December and 150 by the end of next year, Darden said.

[droby5748]

It's amazing to me that anyone would take a chance on creating any innovation, what with the smug cynicism of so many would experts in the field. Y'all'd probably have voted against the "horseless carriage" had you been born early enough.

[adejong007]

I agree, it's amazing how much criticism there is of people trying to help.

[DoubleHappiness88]

$150,000 for a two-bedroom home is a bit pricey. One could buy an elegant, 1500 square foot, three-bedroom home with a two-car garage in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for that or less.

Note the price of the floating home does not include land. Few of the original residents of New Orleans could afford such a home. Interesting but impractical.

[adejong007]

I agree, the price does seem high. But if a real estate agent from a reputable agency who's lived in the area for 7 years says that there is a market for the house, I have to beleive that there's a market for the house.

[pianoman42]

The remains of the prototype may still be around. To be successful the house should be 300 cubits in length, 50 in width and 30 high with three storeys. (Genesis 6.)

[bubbadubba]

Wouldn't it be easier to build the house on stilts 12 feet above ground like they do in other flood prone areas?
The dumbing up of America.

[adejong007]

In an interview with NPR Thom Mayne explains that stilt houses ruin the community feel of neighborhoods. Having a street level house with a front porch is critical to the community. In his interview, Thom Mayne conceeds that stilt houses do succeed at prevent long exposure to rising waters, but that the FLOAT house provides that plus community.

[merlgrey]

or they could also consider not living in flood zones.

because its not smart.

[adejong007]

merlgrey, This is the smartest, critical comment on this page.

[threehorses1]

Well I hate to tell them, but the flooding usually takes place in catestrophic hurricane force winds - essentially huge wages of tidal surge. Not just rising water. So putting a house up on stilts would have been a much safer idea for the *people* rather than just boosting some egos. The older houses, many of which have survived many hurricanes, had that design - a sort of second-story home without a real first story. Sometimes old trumps new.

[adejong007]

If you look at footage of Katrina's reckage, the far majority of affected homes are still intact. The main damage is long exposure to water. This house would float above the water to prevent long exposure.

In the cases where the wind was strong enough to destroy a house, even a stilted house does not stand a chance. If you think about the mechanics and moments involved with the stilts, they are actually weaker than a house that sits on a foundation, or better a foundation and 12' guide poles.

[democracy1]

Good grief--common sense!!!

I'm sure that the architectural design could be modified easily. The concept is what counts.

[mzilikazi-2009]

While houseboats have been around for a long long time, I seem to recall reading a little about this concept in housing years ago with regard to Holland or somewhere in Europe where it floods a lot. It is nice that people with money are contributing to society but, seriously, what is with the bizzaro artistic statement? The place in the picture sort of resembles the kind of shack made out of scrap that one might expect to find in a backwoods southern swamp IMO. I don't understand why people like the Clintons when choosing the architecture for the Presidential library in Little Rock or Brad Pitt in this case would allow achitects go to such extremes. Both the house in the picture here and the Clinton "trailer" library do not improve the visual landscape IMO and I would actually consider them to be eyesores. Perhaps it is just a funny inside joke for wealthy people who are not from the south. Har de har.

[adejong007]

you're vision of beauty is obviously different than the architects, the Clintons', or Pitt's. Given the large number of people that appreciate this form of beauty (granted I am not one of them), I think it is perfectly fair to let them have their own opinion as you have yours.