After more than a month of community feedback, jury deliberations, and public voting, the winner of Global Green and Brad Pitt’s ‘Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans’ will be announced Thursday, August 31st during a press conference. During the announcement, Brad Pitt, Matt Petersen, and the other jury members will answer questions about the winning design, how the decision was made, and the benefits of rebuilding New Orleans in a sustainable manner.
The competition was conducted in two stages. In Stage 1, participants were asked to provide a sustainable urban design of a 1.25 acre site that focuses on a green, healthy multi family building with a community center and single family housing. Submissions were 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).
In Stage II, finalists identified from the first round drew on their submissions from Stage I, working with local architects and community groups, to create a plan for selected areas in different neighborhoods of the city. They designed single-family housing and a community facility in the neighborhood.
Competitors were also challenged to develop innovative architectural and planning solutions that respect and draw from the rich design heritage of New Orleans while balancing sustainability and affordability.
The six finalists are:
Drew Lang Architects/Drew Lang – NYC, NY and New Orleans, LA
Brininstool and Lynch/Brad Lynch – Chicago, IL
Workshop APD/Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen – NYC, NY
Schwartz Architecture/Frederic Schwartz – NYC, NY
MetroStudio/Ken Gowland – New Orleans, LA
Eskew, Dumez and Ripple/Steve Dumez – New Orleans, LA
To view the finalists, click this link. (Please note that voting is closed.)
The competition is a central component of Global Green’s sustainable rebuilding initiative for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, which began 10 days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. This competition intends to help jump start that process by presenting the city – and the nation – with a series of exciting and achievable proposals for sustainable architecture, climate friendly buildings, and green urbanism. Given the worsened impact from the storm due to coastal erosion and global warming, Global Green USA hopes to evoke designs that represent restorative design and climate neutral strategies.
Global Green USA – the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International – was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian Bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell, and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools, and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.
