Rebuilding New Orleans
GLOBAL GREEN HOUSE UNVEILS ECO-FRIENDLY DECOR
TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 12, 2008. By Renee Peck
Back in 2006, when we were rebuilding our house post-Katrina, the emphasis was on hurricane-resistant construction: SIPS panels and trusses, paperless drywall and borate barriers.
No one was talking VOCs or BLUwood, tankless water heaters or low-flush toilets.
My, how things have changed. If I had it do to all over again -- and luckily I don't, because who would ever go through all that again -- I'd get not only a strong house, but also a green one. In the past couple of years, green building and eco-friendly decorating have come of age.
Global Green and Domino magazine show how comprehensively and affordably it can be done in a new house in the Green Village going up in Holy Cross. The project, you'll recall, was designed by a New York architectural firm chosen competitively by a group that included actor/activist Brad Pitt. The Home Depot Foundation is the major underwriter. Ground-breaking was back in August; this week, crews were putting the finishing touches on things.
Floating stairs were made from wood salvaged from a home deconstructed in the Lower 9th Ward.The two-story, 1,344-square-foot home is a combination of high style and easy living, a mix of cutting-edge innovations like a green roof and cisterns with such old-fashioned planet-savers as antiques and windows that open for cross ventilation. Modern and edgy, yet with a nod to the raised foundations and flow-through space planning that we've used to battle the heat and humidity here for centuries.