Overview

Global Green USA would like to thank the many people who have made the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans possible thus far:
    - The sponsors of the Sustainable Design Competition: Brad Pitt, Adam Joseph Lewis, Suzanne Friewald, and Sean Cummings

    - The Home Depot Foundation whose early support for Global Green's work in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast has been critical.

    - The design jury (see below to see names and affiliations) and the technical jury, including the US Green Building Council and the AIA).

    - The competition design team, including Jones/Kroloff and John Williams of New Orleans, along with dozens of volunteers, friends and supporters in New Orleans who have embraced our work in New Orleans for the past 9 months.

Of the many ways Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, none is clearer than the storm’s assault on the city’s neighborhoods. Eight months after the disaster, more than half of New Orleans remains empty, mile after mile of abandoned houses, shops, offices, schools, and churches. The promise of federal aid remains largely that—a promise, and local and state authorities are struggling to produce plans for the city’s future.

Summary of submission guidlines.

Prior to Katina, New Orleans boasted 73 self-identified neighborhoods, ranging in character from the 18 th century elegance of the French Quarter to the Victorian extravagance of Uptown and the postwar suburbia of Lakeview and New Orleans East. No other American city has anywhere near the treasury of historic buildings or districts. At the same time, many parts of New Orleans have been in a state of decline for the better part of half a century. Prior to the storm, the city had more than 30,000 housing units classified as blighted or abandoned, in neighborhoods all over town. Decent affordable housing is in short supply, and rates of homeownership are among the lowest in the nation.

Since the storm, rebuilding has begun, but it is piecemeal, and rents have skyrocketed due to the number of displaced residents looking for temporary housing. Two thirds of the city’s schools are closed. More than half its small businesses are shuttered or relocated. Only a third of the city’s population lives today where it lived before Katrina. Still, citizens are anxious to rebuild. Many neighborhoods are organizing and beginning the process of planning. They want to do so in a fashion that will support the city’s character, while providing for a safer, more sustainable future.

Competition sponsors Global Green and Brad Pitt have as their goal the generation of ideas for sustainable rebuilding in New Orleans, to encourage the development of cities globally that are better able to live within their ecological footprint by limiting the consumption of non-renewable resources; lowering dependence on fossil fuels and, ultimately, create restorative conditions based on the interweaving of natural and human systems.

The competition seeks visionary, yet practical responses to the challenge of sustainable development. By providing specific examples of the how a thoughtful and environmentally responsible rebuilding could take place, the competition hopes to lead New Orleans to a position of prominence in the area of sustainable development and thus help recapture its reputation as a place of innovation and leadership.

Competitors are urged to think outside the box, but to remember that the box must still be buildable at an affordable price. To serve as a catalyst for the sustainable rebuilding process, this competition asks participants to address several components of neighborhood design, including housing, community facilities, and planning.

New Orleans is one of the world’s great cities, home to a culture of invention that has seeded the nation’s music, literature, cooking, art, and business. Sustainable development can be the city’s next great contribution to American and world culture. The unfortunate destruction wrought by Katrina provides an amazing opportunity to rebuild the city employing sustainable principles and embracing green design. Your work in this competition will start that process in motion.

Challenge

This is a two-stage, open design competition intended to demonstrate sustainable solutions for the redevelopment of New Orleans.

Stage 1, participants are asked to provide a sustainable urban design of a 1.25 acre site that focuses on a green, healthy multi family housing building with community center features, along with siting of single family homes and other environmental features.  Submissions will be asked to achieve several sustainable design and green building goals, including net-zero energy goals (e.g., meeting all energy needs for buildings on the site through passive and active strategies). Competitors will provide an architectural design for the apartment complex/daycare center only, in this Stage.

In Stage II, finalists identified from the first round will draw on their submissions from Stage I, working with local architects and community groups, to create a plan for a selected areas in different neighborhoods of the city.  They will design single-family housing and a community facility in the neighborhood as part of this stage, as well as environmental and community features.

In both Stage I and Stage II, competitors are challenged to:

• Demonstrate advanced yet achievable solutions for sustainable development and construction of each component of the design challenge;
• Develop innovative, progressive architectural and planning solutions that respect and draw from the rich design heritage of New Orleans;
• Incorporate the latest construction and energy saving technologies;
• Balance sustainability and affordability in a productive dialogue;

Design Jury

Brad Pitt (Chair)

Lauren Anderson
Executive Director, Neighborhood Housing Service of New Orleans, Inc. (New
Orleans)
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/laurenanderson.html

Keith Butler
Investment Banker & Real Estate Developer (New Orleans & New York)
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/keithbutler.html

Yolanda Daniels
Co-Founder, Studio Sumo (New York, NY)
http://www.arch.umd.edu/news/Sumo.html

Pam Dashiell
President, Holy Cross Neighborhood Association (New Orleans, LA)
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/pamdashiell.html

Walter J. Hood 
Principal, Hood Design (Oakland CA)
Chair, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley
(Berkeley, CA)
http://andrewblum.net/typepad/2005/07/the_peace_maker.html

Thom Mayne
Principle, Morphosis Architects (Santa Monica, CA)
http://cca.qc.ca/prize/pr5/biomayne.htm

William Morrish
Elwood R. Quesada Professor of Architecture
School of Architecture, University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
http://www.arch.virginia.edu/faculty/WilliamMorrish/

David Orr
Chair, Environmental Studies Program (Oberlin College, OH)
http://www.oberlin.edu/news-info/98sep/orr_profile.html

Matt Petersen
President & CEO, Global Green USA (Santa Monica, CA)
http://www.globalgreen.org/about/staff_board.html

Marion Weiss
Principal, Weiss/Manfredi Architects
Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania.
http://www.arcspace.com/architects/Weiss_Manfredi/bio.htm

Bob Berkebile
Principal, BNIM Architects (Kansas City, MO)
http://elements.bnim.com/people/bobbio.htm

Pierre André Senizergues
President, Owner and CEO, Sole Technology, Inc.
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/pierresenizergues.html

Julie Eizenberg
Founding Principal, Koning Eizenberg Architecture
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/julieeizenberg.html

Ray Huff
Principal, Huff+Gooden Architects

Technical Jury

GLOBAL GREEN USA
Walker Wells (Chair)
RESCUE Program Director, Global Green USA (Santa Monica, CA)
http://www.globalgreen.org/about/staff_board.html

Bruce M. Hampton
Principle, Elton+Hampton Architects (Allston, MA)
http://www.eltonhamptonarchitects.com/bio/brucehampton.html

US GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL
William D. Browning
Principle, Browning + Bannon (Washington, DC)
http://www.interfacesustainability.com/browning.html

Bob Berkebile
Principal, BNIM Architects (Kansas City, MO)
http://elements.bnim.com/people/bobbio.htm

AIA
E. Eean McNaughton
Principal, E. Eean McNaughton, Architects (New Orleans, LA)
http://www.globalgreen.org/competition/eeanmcnaughton.html

Susan Maxman
Design Principle Maxman Partners (Philadelphia, PA)
http://www.maxmanpartners.com/about/resumes.html

Awards

At the end of Stage I, three to six finalists will be invited to move to the second stage of the competition. Finalists participating in Stage II will be awarded $25,000 to offset the cost of developing their proposals and partake in the Community Charrettes and planning and design process.

At the end of Stage II, cash prizes totaling $25,000 will be awarded at the jury’s discretion.

A large selection of the competition entries, including all of the award winners, will be exhibited at a major national venue and reproduced in an accompanying publication and website (see “Exhibition and Publication”).

Schedule

Stage 1
Competition Announced Registration Period Question and Answer Period Submission Deadline Technical Jury Design Jury Notification of Finalists	April 16, 2006 May 23 to June 16, 2006 May 23 to June 14, 2006 July 6, 2006 July 11-12, 2006 July 13-14, 2006 July 15, 2006
Stage 2
Kickoff Meeting/Site Visit Community Charrette I Community Charrette II Submission Deadline Public Presentation Jury	July 25, 2006 July 26-27, 2006 August 14-15, 2006 August 28, 2006 August 29, 2006 August 30, 2006