The Pink Project - Archinect

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.

SITE: LOWER NINTH WARD, NEW ORLEANS
A relatively large proportion of residents in the Lower Ninth were homeowners. The area was devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

MAKE IT RIGHT
Make it Right is a non-profit organization, founded by Brad Pitt, to act as a catalyst for redevelopment of the Lower Ninth Ward. The organization emphasizes Cradle to Cradle ideals, healthy living, and quality design. Pitt assembled a team of experts to expedite the process:

Graft - Pitt's architectural collaborators, with offices in Los Angeles, Berlin, and Beijing.
William McDonough + Partners - environmental architects.
Cherokee Gives Back Foundation - nonprofit branch of Cherokee Investment Partners
Trevor Neilson and Nina Killeen - advisors to the Jolie-Pitt foundation

THE PINK PROJECT: Art Installation
150 randomly scatted pink-clad structures have been erected to occupy 14 city blocks within the Lower 9th Ward, symbolizing the vision for future housing for the areas residents. Over the course of next six weeks, beginning today, December 3, at the unveiling of the installation, the structures will gradually organize themselves, symbolizing the renewal of the Ninth, making right what the devastation made wrong.

Project evolution. Graft

Rendering, daytime. Graft

Rendering, nighttime. Graft

Perspective rendering. Graft

Prototype, structure.

Prototype, clad during daytime.

Prototype, clad and lit at night.

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.

Design by KieranTimberlake Associates, Philadelphia

Design by Concordia, New Orleans

Local
Billes Architects – New Orleans, LA
Eskew Dumez Ripple – New Orleans, LA
Concordia – New Orleans, LA
Trahan Architects – Baton Rouge, LA
John Williams Architects – New Orleans, LA

National
BNIM – Kansas City, MO
Kieran Timberlake - Philadelphia, PA
Morphosis – Santa Monica, CA
Pugh + Scarpa – Santa Monica, CA

International
Adjaye Architects – London, England
Constructs – Accra, Ghana
Graft – Berlin, Germany
MVRDV – Rotterdam, Holland
Shigeru Ban Architects – Tokyo, Japan

Over the course of the next six weeks, while this installation is in place, we will dig deeper into the various layers of this project. Look forward to interviews with some of the key players and details on the installation and home designs. For now - Donate

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Thank you for sharing this. I think from an artistic standpoint the installation is beautiful and accessible, and overall I'm incredibly impressed with the humanitarian vision. Those illuminated pink structures do indeed seem so hopeful.

(And more pictures of Brad Pitt on Archinect can only be a good thing.)

I look forward to the coming installments!

Outstanding. I think one of the major obstacles preventing people from contributing to the rebuilding efforts in New Orleans is just a way of doing so.....people see a need for contributions, but no one knows quite how or where to go. This project is bold enough to attract attention and when it draws you in, it then gives you a specific direction as to how you can help.

You know what would be really great, eventually? Is if this could evolve into a Habitat-style building process as well. I'd love to see interaction with architecture students all over the country, maybe organize groups of students to volunteer on-site for a week at a time over break or something. What an incredible learning experience this could be for everyone involved!

I'm going to go blog about this :o)

vado - universal accessibility was one of the requirements for the new home designs, so each house requires a ramp. this will be detailed further in an upcoming installment on the different home designs.

REVIEW:
THE PINK PROJECT

the entire project of mir is skillfully made to look simple operational model for a donation based venture. certainly i'd love to say "i am a make it right architect!"

my favorites are graft, shigeru ban and concordia house.
for example; shigeru ban model is nicely planned around community open spaces, a model that is time tested and brings community responsibility, sharing and pride together all at once.
it also creates most space with smaller structure, partly due to incorporating cabinets as structural elements as he does with his earlier projects and creation of a courtyard within the foundation footprint.

there is a semi obvious vulnerability to stormy conditions in morphosis overhangs in their otherwise fine plan.
ship's hull like portion under the ridge must be the part of the boat apparatus, a soft alternative to a hard problem of stilts. house rises with water, like marina slips. only project that needs to be further tested, perhaps in a flw's mushroom column manner. i'd go.

i thought MVRDV model was un-necessarily thickened and i didn't get the joke and the experimental nature of the 'shape. however, they treated open space well.

in general, i liked the less self conscious ones and i liked the plans that incorporated communal spaces, whether on stilts or not.
as a stoop grown child of a different version, i love the tradition of stoops found itself in the overall requirements, altough a few designers still have to educate themselves in the area of 'social psychology of stooping.'

and, couple observations on the pink fundraiser set;

if pink shroud was pulled up a garage level, to represent the stilted models, i would have like the effects better.
again, a ground level shared open space could be suggested easily with this installation.
maybe they will do alternative uses with it and perhaps roll it up the skirt and demonstrate a communal concept of 'permeable gardens' space during the fund raising events for the love of kee klamps.

definitely the most colorful disaster re-build project i have seen lately. the conception of pink idea on the movie set is hilarious.
i mean it in a nice way.
it is a very photogenic marketing imagery that can be interacted with. it works as that. i like to see it installed and developed into an actual dwelling. we made a school out of the hardware back in sci arc.

according to my calculations, 15-20 milion dollars would make 150 homes built. that's like a great deal.

i conclude my technical design review at this point.
i'd like to commend some dedicated steps taken by all involved against all odds and trying another fresh model within the donation based house financing. it is like habitat for humanity going mtv, or, mir as wild and enabling org.
this is a highly do-able project that has everybody feeling at home regardless of the diaspora in between.
some of the possibilities of this project will include lessons on community building on a donation based structure.
will the new ninth ward work? i believe it will, as long as it is expediently and justly administered.
it has a big potential of bringing many happy endings.

now,
who do you love?

i don't want to ever hear anyone complain about Brad Pitt becoming an architect without going to school again, he just put 14 firms on a map that's bigger than architectural magazines...and his marketing scheme to get money is saweet...

how old was Philip Johnson when he seriously began his career as an architect, wasn't his schtick putting other architects on the map?

vado, the good thing about all those buildings built a couple feet up is the kids can cut holes in the foors under the carpet and make a secret escape so they can go out drinking at night (that's at least what childhood friends of mine did in Lousianna)

Thank you, meta, I totally agree. Brad Pitt has done a lot more to make people aware of the possibilities of good architecture than any other celebrity, certainly, and one could argue even more than the AIA.

I have to say: I count myself as a connoisseur of Brad Pitt photos, and I actually preferred the other front page feature image, with the giddy lady hugging Brad. I mean this one is nice too, of course - perhaps there was a release/use issue with the other one?

Anyway - Brad has excelled as a proponent of archiecture in a way that we would be fools to disavow.

I have to say: I count myself as a connoisseur of Brad Pitt photos, and I actually preferred the other front page feature image, with the giddy lady hugging Brad.

brad's "people" requested we use this one instead.

most of the times, I would like to donate alot but I can't as there no budget for that. and there so many things that needs it. an other problem is that most of the donations goes to other cost then the real project. some don't reach at all, which is a rip off.

I do think this one wont rip you off, well I hope not. :-D

additionally
Brad went to high school in Missouri, so did I
Brad likes Berlin for architecture, I grew up there, worked there, etc..
so pretty much he's cool.

so can i be one of 'vado's' peoples? that would only put be 2 degrees away from lb...

When you can finance your own projects and have fame and fortune it is far easier to get recognition for about any type of profession out there. If Brad decided to be a doctor he would have a line of patients even before entering med school let alone ever changing a bed pan. I'm sure he will never know the likes of running blue prints or processing pages of red-lines. The fact that he has found his own niche in the world of philanthropy and is giving firms work along with making public some very important housing issues/deficiencies is commendable. However, having architecture as a hobby does not make one an architect. You got to put in your dues. Now, he could play an architect on TV.

i wonder if brad knows about this aspect of architecture? whether he feels he hasn't paid his dues makes him less of an architect? or whether he percieves his "architectness" in a different sense?

honestly the profession is so vague, and people take all kinds of crazy routes to architecture, what we define as a good architect is entirely irrelevent to the industry. so we won't respect his knowledge of material, attention to detail, his perfect eye... we have all these skillz but play less of a role in built form, who is to blame...

ok, not sure if that had a point at all, but IF BRAD is REALLY passionate about architecture... THEN he will be perusing this very article! There in lies the proof. Are we your colleagues or just some crazy online community. Answer me, Brad. Damn you Brad Pitt and super powers!

look i already determined he is cool, but not as cool as vado since i am as cool as Brad and i want to be vado people, but i'm sure vado don't allow peoples...errrrr..

paying dues is so overated and do you really think half those stararchitects paid their dues like some of us who have to make a living....

i don't push the 'i've paid more dues than you" cause:
a) it's a waste of time
b) it's a waste of energy
c) you're stupid if you've paid so many dues and made it nowhere

if you're so badass, when you get to the stararchitect level won't you kick their asses? (that's why i'm a huge fan of blue collar working class roots Norman Foster, it's pretty clear it kicked a lot of ass)

but this isn't about the pink buildings....

focus on the pink. that's my motto...

anywho, after Mr. Pitt's interview with Larry King last night, i understand more clearly how he sees his role in this project, and how he respects the experts around him. more power to him. he should be commended for his efforts and his overall (non-superficial) interest in architecture and the betterment of the built environment, among other things.

Well said AP, my sentiments exactly. Frankly, before all the talk of him becoming an architect, I was dismayed, but I think that maybe be was just excited, and now we are seeing how his influence can generate change, and that's fantastic. Kudos to Brad, I know that he will gain more respect in our community by being involved in this way. I know he's got my vote now.

Interesting how he does have some of the qualities that I have heard others gripe about when talking about when having an architect as a significant other. Jennifer Aniston was interviewed in some magazine a while back saying how relieved she was to be able to select her own furniture when she got her own place after separating. She could finally get some comfortable cushy chairs and sofas after having to live with designer hard-edged uninviting pieces and Brad's uncompromising selectiveness about his furnishings and surroundings. That alone illustrates the anal retentiveness that most of us "designer folk" have with regards to our domicile. I remember my girlfriend at the time showing me an article in Cosmopolitan magazine about ten years ago that nailed architects as the most difficult partner to have in a relationship - that you had to be prepared to have no say in anything with regards to the domicile. Anyway, sorry about the tangent thoughts and sorry Brad if you are indeed reading this but we have the tabloids to thank for our second hand knowledge of what went on behind closed doors in your past relationships. Maybe Angelina likes bauhaus furniture. Looks like New Orleans can call the suburb New "Pitts"burgh. Some plastic pink flamingos on the front yard may actually be appropriate for the region and architecture.

I am a private citizen with years of construction experience and I have a few Ideas and possible upgrades for some of the housing.. How would I go about transferiing these ideas to the architechts and individuals cnstructing these homes?

Jerome Woerz
Jwoerz@gmail.com

Brad seems like quite a great guy! I think there has been confusion and some uneasiness over how to re-construct New Orleans until Make it Right came along. The pink structures also adds a nice appeal. I heard recently that there's a new program that requires inmates in Texas to wear pink uniforms, even their cells are covered in pink wallpaper. As a result, there's been a dramatic decrease in crime and having a community that is "pink" can possibly lower the crime rate.

despite all his good intentions, the project is unecological and a grave design mistake. unfortunately, no one here nor his 'experts' are able to discern good environmental design. in other words, one does not build on virgin land in a flood-prone area that has been stripped of its wetlands. one does not build at the crossroas of the mississippi river and industrial canal where there is a vulnerable levee and a historically dysfunctional government in charge of such infrastructure. one does not build two feet below sealevel unnecessarily. there is a reason this real estate was left to the poorer residents. i lived six years in new orleans and have a masters in architecture and a masters in environmental studies. all the celebrity-ness and ill-informed donations in the world cannot make this right. so let's really MAKE IT RIGHT and stop the greenwashing nonsense.