Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
23
LOWER NINTH WARD: MAKIN' IT
RIGHT
BOUNDARIES:
N. Claiborne Ave., Tennessee St., Deslonde St., N. Johnson St.
DISTANCE:
0.7 mile
PARKING:
Free street parking
PUBLIC TRANSIT:
It's best to drive to this neighborhood.
The Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, or the Lower Nine as locals call it, was one of the
areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, with multiple levee breaches flooding virtually the
entire community. So powerful was the flood that it knocked houses off their foundations
and killed hundreds of residents who were unable to escape.
While the majority of neighborhoods devastated by Katrina have recovered, the pace of re-
building in the Lower Nine continues to drag nearly a decade after the storm. There are
bright spots, however. Groups such as Habitat for Humanity and Common Ground Relief
continue to lend their support to assist this mostly low-income part of New Orleans.
Another group making a difference is the Make It Right Foundation, a nonprofit endeavor
that actor Brad Pitt established in 2007 to help bring residents back home. With architects
from around the world lending their expertise, the group set out to construct 150 houses.
But rather than build the new dwellings as they were, the group prioritized safety, sustain-
ability, and of course, affordability.
The following walk is based on a self-guided tour recommended by Make It Right at
makeitright.org
.
It comes with advice: When walking in this neighborhood, please respect
the privacy of homeowners by walking on the sidewalk—not up driveways or through
yards—and don't ask to go inside a particular house. Also, note that this continues to be an
active construction site, so please don't enter a home that's still in the building phase.
•
Begin at 1724 Deslonde St. This home was built by students of the Tulane
School of Architecture's URBANbuild program under the supervision of
Byron Mouton, a Tulane professor of architecture and the house's designer.
URBANbuild is a design-and-build program in which teams of students,
working in partnership with a nonprofit group such as Make It Right, take on
the design and construction of prototypical homes for New Orleans neighbor-
hoods.
