Models of the winners in the professional competition for multifamily housing occupy pedestals in the middle of the room. Eight Inc. shows a horizontal slab tower with 160 units that somewhat resembles both Moshe Safdie’s Habitat and Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation of 1946-52 but has a lighter, more prefabricated feel. Anderson Anderson Architecture are exhibiting a more porous gridded scheme called Camel Back Shot Gun Sponge Garden.
On the walls are charts superimposed on a photograph. One explains that 1800 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and 200,000–300,000 were evacuated or relocated. Another traces the costs of storms back to 1954. In general, storms have cost more each year. This chart also notes that the GNP of Ireland in 2005 was $126.4 billion—less than the cost of Katrina. Another map filled with flags shows the one hundred plus countries and numerous international relief agencies that pledged $2.3 billion in aid to New Orleans. Statistics on another map, over a picture of a man in a decontamination suit, show where deposits of lead, oil/gas/petroleum, and arsenic were deposited throughout the city.
Click here for a full description of the High Density on the High Ground Competition.