Brad Pitt
As we discussed in class and in Samuel Mockbee's writing, the purpose of the Rural Studio is to help those in poverty with one of their basic needs in life, shelter. Although there may be some issues in the future that arise (cost, maintenance, etc.) the thought process behind the projects and the completion of the houses promotes a positive outlook I think. Samuel Mockbee brings up another point in the writing about how the students that participate in these projects will continue with this purpose of architects helping others and spreading that belief to others in the design world. I think the knowledge the students are gaining, is one of the strongest points of the Rural Studio, aside from helping those in poverty of course.
Switching over to another example of helping people in need with shelter and basically restarting their lives is Brad Pitt's project in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, called Make It Right. Unlike the Rural studio, architects such as Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne were designing these houses.They were meant for people to return back and regenerate the area after it was all destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. All of the money was raised for these houses and about 24 million was spent on the 150 houses. The new designs promoted sustainability and were designed to withstand future hurricanes. Although this project meant to help those in need, similar to the Rural studio, they had trouble getting people to move into these places and to rebuild a "neighborhood" life again. Families have also had to foreclose or sell their homes because of costs. As we discussed in class, these types of projects intend to help people, but sometimes they help for a moment but cause more issues in the future.
Switching over to another example of helping people in need with shelter and basically restarting their lives is Brad Pitt's project in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, called Make It Right. Unlike the Rural studio, architects such as Frank Gehry and Thom Mayne were designing these houses.They were meant for people to return back and regenerate the area after it was all destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. All of the money was raised for these houses and about 24 million was spent on the 150 houses. The new designs promoted sustainability and were designed to withstand future hurricanes. Although this project meant to help those in need, similar to the Rural studio, they had trouble getting people to move into these places and to rebuild a "neighborhood" life again. Families have also had to foreclose or sell their homes because of costs. As we discussed in class, these types of projects intend to help people, but sometimes they help for a moment but cause more issues in the future.
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| The Patrick House. Rural Studio |
I think this is a great example, not only because you're pointing out how some of these projects are failing even though they have the best intentions. Personally, I find the magazine cover to be shed in the same light. Good intentions of showing their patronizing celebrity on the cover to spark interest (or sell magazines) while not showing the families and communities the project serves.
ReplyDelete24 million dollars... Think of how many 20k Rural Studio houses could be built with that kind of money. 150 houses at that rate would only have been 3 million dollars. What else could that money have gone towards? Although the intentions were good with this project, starchitects and famous celebrities were patted on the back for doing something that could have been much less expensive and probably with more of the client's (people without homes) actual needs in mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lauren. The magazine cover speaks for the project itself. It became less about the people in need and what could be done for them and more about the publicity.
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