Looking back: A Blitz Build for Ruth August 21, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 617 Roy
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Ruth has been a resident of East Biloxi all her life. Hurricane Katrina brought 8 feet of water into her home and shifted it off its foundation. Returning after the hurricane, Ruth stayed in the flooded home until she received a trailer from the First Presbyterian Church.
Over two years later, her house was finally ready to build. Through the collaboration of volunteer organizations including Hope Force, Hands On Gulf Coast, and the East Biloxi Coordination Center, the house was blitz-built in approximately one week. The new house is handicap-accessible and features two bedrooms, an open living and dining room, a modest kitchen and a small back porch. I drew the plans based on a design by Jason (Cora’s house), with minor modifications.
The blitz took place during the first week of April, 2008. I didn’t participate, since I was busy doing other work at Patty’s, but I got plenty of photos from Hope Force. Here’s a selection:
A House for Carmen August 18, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 273 Magnolia
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Carmen’s house is a complex solution to a complex situation, and it’s been my primary house project over the past couple of months; new projects have been slow to come in, so I’ve had the opportunity to develop this one in detail, working in partnership with Jessie.
Carmen’s husband, Clarence, has been living on this property since the 1960s, and he seems to have been tirelessly at work during that time; at its pre-Katrina peak, the property accommodated a house at the front (since torn down), a second, two-story house (torn down to the concrete foundation visible below), a rear two-story guest cottage, and a large garage with a balcony on the roof (right).
These buildings were not only packed together but also interconnected. The photo below, taken from the opposite rear corner of the property, shows an upper-floor walkway linking the house, left, and the guest cottage, at right. The whole complex may have been a nightmare for the Planning Department, but I think it’s also a great example of design ingenuity and do-it-yourself spirit. Unfortunately, Carmen doesn’t have any pre-storm photographs to show what it looked like at its best (and wildest).
It shouldn’t have surprised me, given the complexity of the site, that getting approval to rebuild Carmen’s house wouldn’t be a straightforward process. The site plan went through extensive review by the Planning Department, and at various times it looked like we’d need to request a zoning variance from the Planning Commission or face other obstacles. However, we made a number of compromises that satisfied the city as to our desire to improve the condition of the lot: we demolished an offending shed and removed some surplus plumbing, for instance. Frustrating though this long process was, it was ultimately successful and certainly taught me a lot about the planning review process.
On to the design. Having failed to learn anything about the virtues of simplicity, Jessie and I developed a plan featuring the following:
- Two stories, in keeping with what was there before; the first two-story house we’ve attempted.
- A handicap-accessible first floor, including a decorative, zig-zagging entry ramp and stair.
- A partially cantilevered second floor, maintaining the exterior walkway below.
- A covered second-story porch.
- A low-slope roof with a high ceiling and window above the entry and stair.
- A partial open-riser interior stair (not quite as depicted) allowing a view through a rear window.
- A compact corridor kitchen with a back door near the garage.
- A framed opening between the kitchen and dining room.
- A higher ceiling in the living room.
I’ve worked out most of the details, and it’s certainly much more complex than one of our standard houses. But in a way, nothing else would be fitting for this site and client. I’m hoping to get involved in the coordination and construction of this house, both to make sure it gets built right and to learn more about turning drawings into reality. Look forward to more updates about this one as it moves along.
It’s Flippin’ Pouring August 1, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 420 Division
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Summer days are pretty predictable in Biloxi - sunny and humid in the morning, hot and humid during the day, rain showers in the afternoon, warm and humid during the evening. Today, it’s just raining; it rained this morning as a warm-up, then rained more, took a brief break for lunch, and a settled in for a good solid four-hour downpour (so far) this afternoon.
The rain has, however, provided a great proof of concept for the roof across the street at Mr. Tran’s house. Jason designed the inward-sloping roof as the perfect means to collect rainwater, and it works like a charm. I’d guess that it’s channeling several gallons per minute at the moment.
Of course, all that water needs to go somewhere. At this point, it’s cascading through the scaffolding straight to the ground. But when the house is finished, it’ll need a several-hundred-gallon cistern to make the best use of all this rainwater. With hardly any prolonged dry spells here, that reservoir should completely satisfy all the family’s lawn and garden water needs. Pretty sweet!
Update on Division July 11, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 420 Division
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This isn’t my house, this is one of Jason’s, but as it’s one of the coolest projects we have going on I thought I’d let the wide world know about it. It is a house for Mr. Tran and his family and is being primarily built by Hopeforce. Today they had a contractor come in and spray bio-based (soy) foam insulation, which we also used on Patty’s house. In Mr. Tran’s they’re using a full coat of spray foam in the rafters only; this is instead of insulating the ceiling and then having to ventilate the tight attic space. The walls will be regular batt insulation because it’s a lot cheaper (the roof ran about $2800… but then it’s something like R-40).
Click below for more photos!
Update on Crawford July 9, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Residential Design.Tags: 314 Crawford
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It’s been two months since I posted an update on Hung’s house, and a lot has changed since then. The house is a few days away from a finished exterior, thanks to Habitat Project Rehab and all the AmeriCorps NCCCs and volunteers who have been working with them. Check it out:
The group of volunteers working on the house last week:
The house being sheetrocked:
Everything’s going according to plan! A couple of missing closets have been added back in and the shearwalls have been more or less built. A contractor is currently finishing the drywall and the volunteers should start painting soon.
‘I just want to slap them upside the head’ July 7, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Architecture, Non-profits.add a comment
This awesome quote comes from Bill Stallworth, the head of the organization where I work, in a CNN article about FEMA’s misallocation of supplies intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina. I’ve also worked with the two ladies from Coastal Women for Change who are quoted in the article.
It’s an interesting story, and one which implies three things: First, insufficient relationships with local organizations — word of the need for the supplies should have made it to FEMA much sooner. Second, dysfunctional communication within FEMA — those who did know about the need didn’t pass the message to the people in charge. And third, a shortsighted and incompetent bureaucracy — one which kept little track of the supplies and allowed the state to put saving money ahead of helping people.
‘Supplies for Katrina victims went to Mississippi agencies’
Last month, CNN revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had stored $85 million worth of household items in warehouses for two years. Instead of giving the supplies to victims of the 2005 hurricane, FEMA declared them surplus and gave them all away to federal agencies and 16 states in February.
[...]
Stallworth and other community leaders said if they had known the FEMA items were available, they would have begged for them.
“And when I hear people stand up and just beat their chest and say we’ve got everything under control, that’s when I just want to slap them upside the head and say, ‘Get a grip, get a life,’ ” said Stallworth, who is also a Biloxi city councilman. (Read more…)
Rezoning Oak Street? June 23, 2008
Posted by Vincent in Community Planning.Tags: Oak Street
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Oak Street is one of the major commercial corridors in East Biloxi, and I’m part of a task force that’s looking at ways to revitalize the street and encourage residents and businesses to build back. We’re suggesting a zoning corridor along the street that would allow a greater mix of developments; to that end, we’re doing this survey to test people’s attitudes toward new types of development on their blocks. The responses are interesting; some people are tolerant of just about anything and eager to see any kind of rebuilding, while others are very specific about the kinds of activities they’d like to see (only houses, for instance, or only small businesses).
