Rebuilding New Orleans
Pitt Power: Actor's fame helps build the first house in the Holy Cross affordable-housing project
TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUG 22, 2007. By John Pope
For an ordinary person, inspecting a house you're building is no big deal. Drive to the site, walk around inside, talk to the crew and the contractors and drive off, all within a few minutes. Your future neighbors probably won't know you've even been there.
For Brad Pitt, everything is different. Forget about the low profile and the brief visit. Brad Pitt is, by definition, trailed by a gaggle of scribbling scribes, as well as cameras and boom mikes, so that his every step is documented and his every thought, on subjects ranging from ecologically friendly construction to the sluggish pace of New Orleans' recovery, is recorded for posterity.
That was the scene Tuesday morning in the Holy Cross neighborhood when Pitt showed up to check on the first house in a project he has been helping with his money and with the power of his celebrity. Accompanied by neighborhood residents and representatives of Global Green USA, which is sponsoring the initiative, and the Home Depot Foundation, an underwriter, Pitt strolled through the two-story house, which will have solar panels that could reduce utility bills by 75 percent.
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Pitt was familiar with the design because he led the jury that selected the architects, Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen of New York City. John Williams' local architectural firm is the project manager.
When Pitt emerged to face reporters in an open-sided tent nearby, he pronounced himself pleased by what he saw. The 1,400-square-foot house is designed to be a prototype for affordable homes for people whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.