Multi-Family Housing for New Orleans

House Made of Cups is Strawn.Sierralta’s award winning design for affordable, multi-family housing for New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The project includes an environmentally-sensitive 12-unit apartment building, a daycare facility and a community center that stand as the anchor for a larger development that also includes six, single-family residences. Strawn.Sierralta’s, Zero-Energy proposal is inspired by the “Go Cups” that are handed out at every New Orleans’ restaurant and bar. The cups will will kick-start a recycling loop that will allow visitors to New Orleans to become part of the re-construction process. House Made of Cups was submitted to an international design competition, held by Global Green and chaired by Brad Pitt, and was presented with the Gold Star Award.

Economic Ecology: The Go-Cup Matrix

Go Cups handed at every New Orleans’ restaurant and bar will be made of recycled plastic and will themselves be up-cycled into hollow plastic spheres. These spheres will act as the core of a structural, hurricane-resistant floor and wall panel system made of concrete with recycled aggregate and a high percentage of fly ash. The spheres reduce the amount of concrete necessary for the structural panels, while serving to insulate it from both heat and sound. At the end of the life cycle of the panels, all the materials can be separated and recycled individually.

The production and recycling of the cups, and the construction of the panels will serve to create new jobs in New Orleans. The plentiful wind and sun that the area enjoys year round will provide free renewable energy. Bird-friendly wind turbines and photovoltaic panels will also be built in the region. Rebuilding New Orleans means environmentally responsible housing and a new base of green technology and skilled employment opportunities.

Environmental Diagrams

Flood Defensive Strategies: Living Off-the-Grid

First Line of Defense: Collect, store and process all water on-site. All the housing is lifted onto a three-foot high earth plinth. The plinth is used to store rainwater for the gardens and for toilet flushing. The plinth also acts as a natural water filtration plant, processing both the grey and black water from all the units with a Living System. The center of the site, used for gardening, also contains a system of tiered bio-swales. Collecting rainwater and processing all sewage on-site means the community will not have to rely on the city’s system in case of emergency.

Second Line of Defense: Produce renewable energy on-site and utilize of super-efficient mechanical systems and solar hot water heaters. The planned photovoltaic sunshades and bird-friendly wind turbines will produce more energy than will be consumed on site, allowing the community center and daycare to earn extra income by selling electricity back to the grid. Decreased electrical consumption and on-site energy generation reduces the risk of having to rely on the grid in a disaster.

Third Line of Defense: Robust construction of housing from hurricane and weather resistant materials. The housing is constructed ten foot above the three-foot high earth plinth, providing a thirteen-foot buffer in case of higher flooding in the future. All mechanical equipment is also located above the ground to prevent damage during storm surges. Most importantly, passive systems such as sun shading devices, cross ventilation, and thermal mass will keep residents as cool as possible in case of power outages and physically above any floodwaters.

Project Storyboard

Project Data

The Big Issue: 

Re-building after Hurricane Katrina with environmentally responsible housing, while also developing a new base of green technology.

Project Description: 

A speculative proposal for low-density neighborhood block facing the levee in New Orleans.

Concept:  

Tourism waste stream as raw material for housing construction.

Year:  

2006

Location:  

New Orleans, LA, USA

Client/Sponsor:  

Global Green USA, The Home Depot Foundation and Brad Pitt (Make It Right)

Site:  

1.25 acre site in the Holy Cross neighborhood in New Orleans sited immediately adjacent to the levee.

Environmental Strategies: 

On site energy production to achieve Net Zero energy goals, rainwater retention and storage, urban farming and hurricane resistant construction.

Program:  

A green, healthy, multi-family housing building with twelve units, a daycare and community center.

Scale:  

27,000 sq/ft

Budget:  

N/A

Team:  

Architecture: Karla Sierralta, Brian Strawn / 3D Visualization: Papagaio Studio

House Made of Cups was submitted to the Global Green Sustainable Design Competition

Placement: Gold Star Award

Number of participants:  

125 Entrants

Jurors:  

Design Jury: Brad Pitt (Chair), Lauren Anderson (Neighborhood Housing Service of New Orleans), Keith Butler (Investment Banker & Real Estate Developer), Yolanda Daniels (Studio Sumo), Pam Dashiell (Holy Cross Neighborhood Association), Walter J. Hood (Hood Design), Thom Mayne (Morphosis Architects), William Morrish (Professor of Architecture), David Orr (Environmental Studies Program), Matt Petersen (Global Green USA), Marion Weiss (Weiss/Manfredi Architects), Bob Berkebile (BNIM Architects), Pierre André Senizergues (Sole Technology), Julie Eizenberg (Koning Eizenberg Architecture), Ray Huff (Huff+Gooden Architects) Technical Jury: Walker Wells (Global Green USA), Bruce M. Hampton (Principle, Elton+Hampton Architects), William D. Browning (US Green Building Council), Bob Berkebile (Principal, BNIM Architects), E. Eean McNaughton (AIA), Susan Maxman (Maxman
Partners).