Hurricane Katrina Rebuilding
Hurricane Katrina left long lasting effects on the state of Mississippi and calls for long lasting efforts to plan, restore and rebuild Gulf Coast communities. Mississippi State University College of Architecture, Art and Design is mindful of the challenge as well as the opportunity to engage the post-hurricane environment in ways that both provide needed assistance to communities and educate our students. The unprecedented loss and damage has left a landscape that requires a vision beyond the current devastation and the overwhelming task of recovery. The ability to have such a vision and to communicate it to others is the overarching goal of the three disciplines that make up the College.
In the immediate wake of the hurricane the College responded in several ways: first, by participating in cleanup projects; second, by helping several housing providers in Jackson to get houses and apartments ready for evacuees; and third, by providing hands to Habitat for Humanity in their Operation Home Delivery to frame houses that are being sent to communities on the Gulf Coast. The Jackson Community Design Center provided design services and produced the architectural drawings that will accompany the house panels. In addition, the fifth year School of Architecture is collaborating with the Mississippi Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to organize an effort for architecture students and interns to be paired with licensed architects to provide building assessments to homeowners in communities where the damage was greatest.
Architects from the Carl Small Town Center and the Jackson Community Design Center participated in a planning and design workshop initiated by the Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal. The workshop was being organized by Andres Duany, co-principal of Duany Plater-Zyberk. The forum included over one-hundred planners and architects from across the country with an equal number of local professionals, as well as local stakeholders, including mayors and the planning departments of eleven affected communities. The workshop was envisioned as an initial planning effort and produced designed products and tools that are being made available to the communities. The School of Architecture is planning to assist communities with long-term planning and implementation as a continuation of the planning forum.
Many issues relevant to architecture, planning, design and to education in general intersect and are magnified in the post-hurricane landscape. The storm aftermath underscores problems in land use, infrastructure and building design, construction material use and disposal, housing distribution and design, transportation, energy production and distribution, historic and cultural preservation, public space, and many other constituents of our built environment. Not the least issue demonstrated is the need for leadership and vision. The College of Architecture, Art and Design, with its history of leadership, practical engagement and outreach is positioned to work on the complex problems that have been revealed by the hurricane, but are in fact embedded in any American city.
We realize the work is vast and multidimensional. We also recognize the opportunities for learning are great. We invite others to join with us as we take on the challenge and work to design better buildings, plan better communities, and to be better prepared for future disasters.
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Contact:
School of Architecture
Barr Avenue, 240 Giles Hall Post Office Box AQ
Mississippi State, MS39762
Phone: 662-325-2202
Fax: 662-325-8872