apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

thank goodness - something that looks like it belongs in New Orleans. I dig the design competitions that have been going on...but I just can't envision blocks and blocks of ultra-modern homes in this area. Some interspersed with more traditional stuff would be nice, I guess, but they seem a little sterile and "blocky" for a region and people who are trying to get back some semblance of comfort and hominess. (I don't think hominess is a word...or, if it is, i've butchered the spelling.) But anyway, I like this!

Wow. I wish my bathroom looked that good. (Not enough to have a hurricane come through though.)

how much do these run?

I'm going to cry, these look so fantastic. Bamboo floors! Energy Efficient Appliances! Now if apartment complexes would follow suit with some equally intelligently-designed, environmentally-progressive units, I'd be set.

They used to be avaibale through Lowes and you bought them as a package that included materials. Now you can only get the plans and then work with Lowes for estimates on the materials charges.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pg&p=2006_landing/Katrina_Cottage/KatrinaCottage.html

So these are temporary? Will they be torn down to make way for permanent housing?

Maybe I'm misundertanding, but that seems wasteful in time, energy and materials... no matter how green they are.

Jennya, hominess is a word! At least this English major thinks it is.

Mscot, O at Home estimated that building one of these would cost around $130K. That's up to Gulf hurricane standards.

Christina, these cottages aren't temporary. They're designed so they can be added on to as time & money permits, or used as a separate cottage on the property later on. They're much healthier than FEMA trailers and cost the same to produce. The guy who owns Viking got together a coalition of designers to come up with their own version, and it's shipped already built, ready to be put on a foundation.

I LOVE the Katrina cottages. If anything ever happens to the home we live in now, we're replacing it with one of Marianne Cusato's designs.

My husband and I dream of owning one of these someday. Our own little shotgun house. *sigh*

Unfortunately, building a house requires land on which to build said house, and land is not cheap in these parts.

ChristineBadina, I didn't get "temporary" in any sense except, perhaps, that the cottages are used until families can return to their pre-Katrina homes, or find other permanent housing. After that (someday), surely the cottages will still be available for anyone wanting a smallish space. I can't imagine that they'd be torn down.

Does anyone know any differently?

OMG! I LOVE IT! Holy cow! They really do look vintage.

I think the cottages were originally designed to serve several purposes: For those who were intending to rebuild their house on its original footprint, the Katrina cottage could be placed on the property to be lived in during construction of the larger house. When that house is finished, the cottage can either be left in place as a guest house, office, etc., or removed to another location. If the builder has no house to replace, the Katrina cottage can be placed on the lot and tied down to a foundation as a permanent fixture. I think it would also make a cute fishin' camp on the bayou.

I think the last issue of O at Home had a good analysis of the options with websites that give floorplans. Costs must vary by location.

I live in NYC, but was raised in Louisiana, and in the past few years it has been such a welcome relief to see these cottages being trucked down the highway in La. instead of FEMA trailers.

I'm pretty sure I posted this somewhere, but here are all the floor plans:
http://www.cusatocottages.com/selectaplan.php

There's a link on that page for more information on the ones at Lowe's.

More images to look at here:
http://katrinacottagehousing.org/purchase.html

http://katrinacottagehousing.org/pdf/Grow_house.pdf

That shows how the cottages are intended to be used while houses are being rebuilt and then uses after the main house is finished. very interesting!

Nice.

beautiful and functional

I'm a big fan of the Katrina Cottage - looked through the design book at Lowes.

As a resident of New Orleans, though, I've never seen one constructed. Only the ubiquitous FEMA trailers outside gutted homes.

Maybe they've been built elsewhere across the Gulf where homes were leveled instead of in New Orleans where most homes were flooded but remained structurally sound.

Adding to my comment above:

I did some research and found that there are no government-funded Katrina Cottages in New Orleans. Or Louisiana for that matter.

They're all in Mississippi.

The other states' programs are covered in red tape and haven't produced a single cottage yet.

For more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90037639

that's amazing/not-so-amazing, chadcarson. the travesty continues.

Thanks for the clarifications guys! Personally, I like them, but certainly hope that they will be added onto and used permanently or reused by other people, in cases of fire, flooding or what not. I still don't like the idea of building these, rebuilding the main house, then using them as kiddie playhouses, fishing shacks or guest houses after. I don't think anybody can justify having a guest house. Jeez, am I crazy to think the notion of guests implies they stay with you?

Baby steps I suppose...

Well, Christine, not everybody can afford to build a big house that will hold guests after losing everything they own, building a Katrina cottage, and then saving up to build a bigger home that will afford the whole family a little privacy. Why *not* have a guest cottage and a smaller house? Why is that somehow *worse* than building a bigger house with a guest room? How about you not judge people who have lost everything they own, anyway? Jeez. Judgmental, much?

The *point* for those of you who missed it, is that it is damned hard to get a contractor or an architect in the Katrina-hit area if you don't have a big pile of money.

Building something pre-fab and affordable quickly is WAY preferable to living in a tiny, toxic FEMA trailer until you can work your way to the top of a contractor's list. This is the alternative to a bog-standard ugly double-wide, see? It's for people who do not have homes any more, get it? It will last longer than any of the other options and likely hold its value, and you can probably get an SBA loan to buy one. Some people might never decide to build bigger if they have a nice option like these. Don't we *like* small spaces around here?

Why, yes, I *am* from New Orleans, thanks for asking.

"Earthquake cottages" put up in San Francisco in 1906 are still going strong, in many cases.

Chad, it's just appalling how Mississippi is the only state to get things going. I've read several books about Katrina and also have friends from NOLA, and the whole issue is a travesty.

Thanks for all your excellent info!

Jezebella (et al): these are NOT pre fab. not at all. when lowe's was selling the kits, it basically was a set of plans & incremental delivery of everything you need to build a house, and the cost was estimated at anywhere from $75 and up per square foot, for materials only (didn't include the cost of land). you still have to find a contractor, which doesn't put you ahead of anyone else who is trying to build/rebuild. i toured one of them at the lowe's elysian fields store & asked plenty of questions. i also ascertained that there are many, MANY alternatives that would cost less, and that by the time one got one of these babies finished (including plumbing, a/c, etc.), you could buy a tract house in the 'burbs that has 2-to-3 times as much square footage for about the same price. (no. i don't want to live in the burbs, either. but touting these as a low-cost pre-fab alternative to traditional housing is misleading. terribly misleading.)

plus, i'm pretty sure the cost of developing the plans for the cottage was subsidized by the government. while the feds were busy contracting for formaldehyde-laden fema trailers, i happen to know that the people from zoe outdoor cottages were trying like the dickens to get someone to talk to them about a *really* low cost alternative. (their base price doesn't include plumbing out the cottage but it does include a fully constructed tiny house for much less than $20k.)

to everyone oowing & ahhing over the bamboo floors & tiled bathrooms, ect.: those are NOT included in the price of the basic cottage. you can pimp it out any way you want, as long as you've got the bucks to do it. just like in any home you'd build anywhere.

and yes: i AM from new orleans & i'm *still* in the process of rebuilding. there's a reason people aren't building katrina cottages in new orleans. before publishing another 'whee! it' so cute !' article, i wish people would do a little research. if it really was that cute and affordable, they'd be all over the place.

LL... thanks for "telling it like it is" ... i never understood all the hoopla about the Katrina Cottage. i looked at a few of the display models, and spoke to the reps when doing research for my prototype modern day Thoreau / disaster relief shelter, and most Katrina Houses were coming in at around $350 /SF. when i inquired why they were so expensive to build (and not even close to the $35K advertised in articles), the reps noted that it was still considered a prototype, and that prototypes are always expensive at first. the houses are "cute", but there isn't much "design" or "prototyping" to speak of... in many of the designs, the kitchen & bath are at opposite ends of the house (inefficient), and the kitchen is poorly placed and too big for such a small space. closets are odd dimensions... too narrow and too deep in many of the designs... etc.
zoe outdoor cottages is a more real world alternative. find your local "zoe" equivalent & give them your hard earned bux, before paying for the Katrina brand.

for anyone interested... for more than a Zoe, but less than a Katrina, our small systems-built shelter designs will be posted at www.objetdesign.com and www.the revolutioncorporation.com sometime before 01/09. the first round modules are: a self sustaining pod (with bath & kitchenette) for $15K, an efficiency for $30K, a 2/1 for $60K and a 3/2 for $75K (complete structure, minus construction site and footings). the future goal is to design a high-design 1000 SF 3/2 systems built house, that can compete with the current double-wide hud homes (trailers) that retail for $39K.

//b/