Katrina's Cottage Industry - Washington Post

Nearly a year and a half have passed since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast as well as the unveiling of New Urbanism's latest poster child--the Katrina Cottage. What began as a response to razed housing in Louisiana and Mississippi is now expanding elsewhere. A new round of manufactured cottages have hit the market with potential to gain popularity beyond the Gulf.

As Ray Taylor, president of Housing International of Sausalito, Calif., which manufactured the Silver Spring cottage recently said, "Let's not put too much emphasis on affordability,"..."Let's not limit it."

Will this hot new wave of storm-resistant, manufactured housing sweep the nation? Odds may be high...

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Katrina's Cottage Industry
Storm Spawns a Second, Factory-Built Dwelling
By Linda Hales
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 4, 2006

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Like the original Katrina Cottage, the new model was created to help alleviate the housing crisis along the Gulf Coast, where more than 50,000 homes were obliterated last year by Hurricane Katrina.
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The next wave of the Katrina Cottage phenomenon is taking shape in Ocean Springs, Miss. The firm of Tolar LeBatard Denmark Architects is developing a subdivision of Katrina Cottages called Cottage Square. It promises a variety of house styles provided by different architects, including one confirmed modernist, a devotee of Frank Lloyd Wright.
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"By doing what we are doing, we are giving architecture to the masses of people," LeBatard says. "We owe it to the people. Ethically and morally, this is what we can do."

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