Our thoughts this week at REthink are on New Orleans.  As we all know, the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Region that began in late August 2005 continues to be felt to this day.  After a visit last weekend to the Crescent City it appears that 2008 has seen the advocacy and building efforts within New Orleans begin to bear substantial fruit. 

Katrina’s impact on housing, space and infrastructure has burdened New Orleans with the need for new construction and preservation.  The fruit of rebuilding if slow to bear has purposefully not been reactive.

The 9^th Ward, for example, now can boast the work of the Make It Right (MIR) Foundation amongst other notable efforts to revitalize the City.  The challenge faced by the City presents opportunity for New Orleans to exceed previous ideas of place and community within cities and neighborhoods as well as greater regional concerns. 

To that end, the MIR homes marry centuries old communities in the global ecological atmosphere of the 21^st Century with the demand for construction of affordable housing.  MIR now has some half dozen houses (chosen by residents from amongst 13 designs) at or near completion.  The success of MIR is not limited to new construction, but includes efforts to preserve native culture.  What’s more, MIR utilizes green building techniques in their model for revitalization to fund the gap for area residents between un-affordability and homeownership.

The visit also reinforced for REthink the similarities of history and need that can be drawn between New Orleans and Los Angeles. 

While New Orleans birthed Jazz in pre-war America, Los Angeles is the home of the talking pictures and entertainment in modern America.  Los Angeles is a locus for artists of various media that produce work that is valued for its contribution to both the regional economy and local communities.  And both cities have a need for spaces for artists.

Think of it this way: If Angelenos were to REthink the landscape of its built environment, would we provide more dedicated spaces or creative workforce housing for its artists to live and work?

Artists’ contributions to the culture of communities as well as resident attraction and retention can be maintained through dedicated space.  Artists are a necessary part of daily community life and cultural heritage by reflecting and articulating the collective idea of community by its residents.  Artists, however, work in diverse settings both physically and descriptively by employment classification.  Moreover, their media is as diverse as the response to their work.  Therefore, the provision of dedicated space for artists can formalize their roles as catalysts for civic engagement to create culturally and economically vital places and assume other tasks like the mentoring of youth in the arts.  

In Los Angeles, the success of the art or artist is strongly correlated to the region’s major industries: international trade and tourism.  Simply put for example, the many containers to make landfall at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are often filled with goods designed in the region and produced in Asia.  The sorting and further processing of these goods takes place in warehouse and distribution space thus giving the creative industries a real estate impact.  In regards to music and entertainment, the tourism industry benefits from visitors to Los Angeles to experience the lifestyle of the entertainment industry.  

To be sure, artists have two distinct needs for space: living space and workspace. Furthermore, because of the diversity of their work, artists are often under-recognized, under-valued and underpaid.  Dedicated living and workspace can provide security to artists as an underserved community.  The more these spaces are available to be aggregated into creative enclaves, the more promising a solution for artists and community the space may be.

For New Orleans’ 9^th Ward, the MIR team was given a typology study that included traditional New Orleans housing types such as the Shotgun, the Camelback and the Creole Cottage.  Metrics were also developed to ensure affordability and sustainability.  Sure, Hollywood may not have historic building typologies like the 9^th Ward shotgun that was home to New Orleans’ Fats Domino for example.  The Cherokee design team nevertheless approached the recording home of artists such as Frank Sinatra and David Bowie amongst others to similarly design for preservation and the ecological atmosphere of the 21^st century.

The need for housing and infrastructure in the Gulf is certainly unique to that region.  But as America faces a down market, we can do our part to revitalize and preserve Los Angeles’ rich history of art and artists for the benefit of the region and local communities.  Please stay in touch with REthink Development so that we can continue to let you know how our projects embody historic development and innovative design for Los Angeles.