Cool Hunting

Recently, Cool Hunting was invited to participate as a guest judge in the Billes Architecture Home Design Competition, a student competition aimed at fostering new designs for affordable housing in New Orleans' most devastated neighborhoods. Students from 16 U.S. and five Canadian universities were invited to submit their proposals in the hopes of earning a $1,000 cash prize, but more importantly, working with Billes Architecture to see their proposal get built.

Similar to the competition that served as the starting point for Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, which has now erected six new homes in the Lower Ninth Ward (three designed by Billes Architecture alone), the aim of this competition was not merely to explore ideas, but to make these ideas reality. To that end, the designs of all ten finalists will be considered for development through Billes' newly formed nonprofit organization, New Designs New Orleans.

As Cool Hunting's emissary, I traveled down to New Orleans last week to witness the awards ceremony and chat with Billes Architecture's principal and founder, the amiable Gerry Billes. While his firm is largely recognized for its commercial output, Gerry has been eager, in post-Katrina New Orleans, to lend a hand in shaping the residential redevelopment in the city's most damaged areas. Despite the rather tight deadline for the competition (invitations were just sent out in December), Gerry seemed pleased with the quality of submissions, particularly those from McGill University in Montreal, which contributed an overwhelming number of entries thanks to the enthusiasm of Michael Jemtrud, the director of McGill's School of Architecture. In fact, three of the five winning entries came out of McGill.

Despite a constrict design brief—one/two floors raised to accommodate the Advisory Base Flood Elevation; three bedrooms; an interior floor plan of roughly 1,500 sf; 30-50 ft wide and 100-150 ft deep lots; eligibility for gold or platinum LEED certification; construction cost of $150,000 to $200,000—I was impressed with the variety and consideration the students gave their proposals. In particular, I found Adaptive Living (top image), by Diandra Maselli and Elisa Costa of McGill University, to be one of the most practical solutions to the design brief. While their exterior lacked the flourish of other finalists, the simplicity of materials and construction coupled with an intuitive floorplan struck me as one of the most viable home designs.

Check out the slideshow above for renderings of all ten finalists (the winning five come first).

Also on Cool Hunting: Capsule Video: Billes Products International Design Contest 2008