Building off the studio theme of “insurance” under the larger theme of “damage control,” this project investigated the lesser-known damages associated with Hurricane Katrina, and specifically their impact on the Lower Ninth Ward. A critique as much of the poor material choice and design of such well-intended architectural efforts as those that came out of Brad Pitt’s Make it Right foundation, this project was rooted in extensive research on the failures of the federal government and private insurance sector to adequately prevent the devastation that ensued in 2005 (shown in the model of the classic New Orleans shotgun house, with its roof partially modeled to symbolize the extent of insurance payouts, and drawing 1).

Whereas the Make it Right Houses did not last more than a few years due to their inadequate material selection, roof design, and wall assemblies which trapped water and led to accelerated rates of rot and decay, a classic New Orleans built in the Civil War had even survived the flood damage of Katrina. This house was made of Cypress.

The ensuing design intervention proposed a new form of insurance in the form of a collectively owned sustainable swamp cypress and bullrush forestry and (emergency deployable) wall-insulation panel manufacturing operation which would also function as a greenway and means of enabling residents to enjoy the swamp and river, situated along what are currently divisive flood walls. Both Swamp Cypress, which can be used in all aspects of wood frame construction, and Bullrush, also native and usable for insulation and thatch roofs, are both known for their rot- and mold-resistance.

At the scale of the house, these locally sourced, traditional materials could be used to create wall insulation panels that could be added to existing structures to allow a selective degree of permeability: they could be closed to provide passive-house standard insulation (in concert with the new district cooling system), also adding an extra degree of fortification in case of flood emergency, or opened to enable cross ventilation and function as an additional porch on the side of the houses, thus also potentially creating new social possibilities.

This logic was also used in the design of the factory itself: flood walls was simultaneously reinforced and made permeable, enabling a new relationship to flooding and exploring alternative modes of resiliency, considered not just in the short term, but in the long lifespan of many generations of the slow growing Swamp Cypress.