Good day folks. I’ve been wanting to write about this or rather raise an awareness on this wonderful effort by Brad Pitt on Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest, in the history of the United States. I really like this side of him where he’s so architecturally savvy, unlike what we read across the tabloid headlines about Brangelina or Jen Aniston. So cheers to his efforts in making thousands of lives a better place to live in,and using his star power to good use.

Brad Pitt is one good looking man, he is also a knowledgeable fan of architecture, particularly that of Frank Lloyd Wright, and has helped the National Trust for Historic Preservation raise money to purchase Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House for $7.5 million. In the autumn of 2005 the Lower Ninth Ward, a multi-cultural precinct in the east of New Orleans, was flattened by the force of hurricane Katrina. Today this quarter of the city is an enormous wasteland, with nothing to remind people of the community atmosphere of this historic part of the city.

In cooperation with Graft, the Berlin architects, Brad Pitt developed the idea of setting up a temporary township in the main area of the Lower Ninth Ward – a memorial partly to the random destruction of countless homes and partly to the right of the area’s residents to their former community.

While filming on a set in New Orleans, actor Brad Pitt became seduced by the powerful image of a pink-clad CGI house within the lush Louisiana surroundings. He saw the pink structure as a metaphor, representing the future of renewed housing for those displaced by the recent disasters.

With the vision fresh in his mind, he picked up the phone and described the concept to the Los Angeles office of Graft. A hurried telephone conversation was followed by a lengthy brainstorming session over a number of bottles of Pinot Noir. The master plan was confirmed, and work began the next morning.

The installation consists of 150 pink tents, which represent the houses which are still to be built – houses which will only be erected with the aid of financial donations. The forceful reminder of the pink city will not disappear until gradually the provisional pink structures are replaced by real buildings. The less pink appears, the more donations have flowed in – a poetic visual indicator, which reflects the effects of the public’s sense of responsibility.

THE PINK PROJECT: Architectural Realization

The ultimate goal of The Pink Project is to transfer the attention received via the bold art installation into a fund raising effort to build actual homes to replace the 150 structures, rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward community. The Make it Right website has implemented an innovative donation tool allowing visitors from anywhere in the world to visit the site, virtually, and maneuver a house to purchase specific elements to donate to the community, eventually building up the inventory required to construct all 150 homes. For the homes, Graft and Pitt commissioned designs from 13 architects representing local, national, and international perspectives.

Time to drop off the archi-hat.
One of the most inspiring thing about what he’s done would be how architecture plays such an important role in the development & well-being of a society. In the eyes of most laymen, architects are probably the people who’re presumably able to draw,design and build buildings; but not many are aware that there’s so much to all the fancy-pancy stuff. It takes a deeper understanding about our people,surroundings and culture as it pretty much revolves around us.Why not just live in a square house with square rooms and every square wtf.

Hope this inspires you.
Be an architect today?

Related posts:

1. The Pink Ribbons: RYLdesigns.com
2. Its Not Everyday That You Read About An Architect.
3. Hope For Haiti.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 in Architecture Eats My Life Away, Blogosphere, Cheerio thinks a lot, Personal Writing Masterpieces. Subscribe to this comment feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.