Architect Joseph Bellomo’s egg-shaped house.

Even though the average temperature in Haiti seldom dips below 75 degrees, building permanent shelter for survivors is imperative for obvious reasons. You’ve probably seen pictures of the tent cities that the estimated 1.5 million homeless are currently living in. So did San Francisco-based architect Jospeh Bellomo, who was working on a modular structure for a client in Hawaii when the hurricane hit. Built to withstand tropical storms with a foundation of only a few concrete blocks, Bellomo immediately thought his project could be a perfect solution for displaced Haitians.

While not everyone is a fan of the design, which takes its inspiration from an eggshell (a structure that’s surprisingly strong considering its minimal form), people can at least agree that of all the proposed solutions Bellomo’s makes a lot of sense. Composed of light-weight steel tubes, the design weighs in at a mere 3,000 pounds, substantially less than most cars (a 2010 Prius weighs nearly 4,000 pounds). It provides 150 square-feet of space that can be flat-packed into a 4×10x3 foot box and built much like an IKEA house, only easier. Even better, Bellomo’s design is durable enough to become someone’s permanent home, not just another expensive, temporary solution. Now he just needs to find a sponsor.

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In the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art the names of those responsible for its construction are etched in stone. Enter now, however, and you’ll see that architect I.M. Pei’s name has been, quite intentionally, rubbed out. The psychics of rubbing down stone aside, could it, perhaps, have something to do with the (estimated) $85-million renovation of the building’s “systemic structural failure?” The National Gallery, which was completed in 1978, has a facade composed of 16,200 panels of pink Tennessee marble, and all of these panels are currently being removed and remounted.

This is the same type of marble used in the West Building, designed by John Russell Pope in 1941. But unlike the West Building, which is constructed from blocks of marble nearly a foot thick, the stone used for the National Gallery is only three inches thick and runs as long as 180 feet to accommodate the buildings angular shape. To handle the stone’s inevitable expansion and contraction, Pei had the veneers mounted with steel clips so they could operate autonomously of the building’s frame. This system, however, didn’t quite work and ever since 2005 the panels have been tilting because the concrete frame to which they are attached has, itself, contracted.

In the short term a fence has been built around the exterior to protect visitors from falling marble, and as we can see from the instant patina on the stone slab in the entrance (this kind of patina takes years to naturally accumulate), one visitor in particular is taking Pei’s failures worse, perhaps, than Pei himself.

(Photo courtesy of The Architect’s Newspaper)

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In 1978, architect Craig Hodgetts was commissioned to design a sustainable utopia of the future based on the book “Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston,” by Ernest Callenbach. Some credit the book with anticipating the use of videoconferencing (one of the technologies of the future the characters use selectively so as to not interfere with man’s relationship with the natural world). Whether or not this is true is much less interesting than the drawings Hodgetts created: washed-out landscapes that are at once 70s sci-fi and museum-worthy renderings.

Hodgetts is the co-founder and Creative Director at a design and architecture firm in Los Angeles. His firm designed The Hollywood Bowl, The Brooklyn Park Ampitheatre, and the American Cinematheque. He’s one the leaders in Urban Design today and is a professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA. His Ecotopia drawings, along with other projects from 1965-78 (like vacuum-formed models and cardboard furniture), are part of the exhibition “Craig Hodgetts, Playmaker,” at Ace Gallery in Los Angeles until the end of the month. What began as science fiction has now become a career based on creating innovative and sustainable design.

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Flying above New Orleans, I’m only just beginning to understand how lucky I’ve been. Years ago, had you told me I’d be coming here to help produce a documentary series, I would have rolled my eyes and said “I wish.” In 2005, I would have imagined the city only through Katrina’s lens and its devastating images. Now I’m sitting on a plane, looking down at Lake Pontchartrain, with a whole new understanding of what New Orleans is all about.

It’s been an honor for our crew to work in this town, and a privilege for us to film with the URBANbuild faculty, students, and partners, all of whom welcomed us into their lives – and in many cases, their homes – in a collaborative effort to demystify what it means to be in Architecture School.

As for the new house, it’s an extraordinary piece of work. (And the color looks great.) We watched it from the ground up, and soon you can too. We hope you enjoy every step of the way.

Thanks for joining us. And get on down to the Big Easy when you can. Your beignet awaits.

Signing off.

“Everyone who loves New Orleans learns to love it with its flaws. It may be hard for people who have never been to the Crescent City to understand the passionate love people have for it, to understand why it’s worth fighting for – why it matters…”

- Tom Piazza from Why New Orleans Matters

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We’ve shot close to 400 hours and I’ve got upwards of 500 Appearance Releases in my notebook. Michael has already started working with Handcranked Productions [www.handcrankedproductions.com] on graphic ideas for the show’s open. (Handcranked also designed the graphic open for Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet.) Our Assistant Editors are loading footage into the AVID (digital editing system) as we speak. Post Production is just around the corner. Where did the time go?

Soon the students will be saying their goodbyes, having completed their task on time and with great success. And we’ll be heading back to New York, where the rest of our job awaits.

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The students are having a hard time agreeing on what color to paint the house exterior.

Adriana, whose winning design became URBANbuild House #3, is from Trinidad. No big surprise then, one might argue, that her preferred color palette evokes a tropical sea. But hometowns aside, both she and Byron agree that from an architectural point of view, a color should not overwhelm the original scheme – in this case, the ‘S’ shape that defined Adriana’s concept and has been so beautifully realized by the construction team.

The problem is that the other two URBANbuild houses are blue. And nobody can agree on the right shade of green. White’s out of the question, and don’t even mention the word “peachy” to Byron. So what’s left? What color will best separate the new house from its counterparts, while gracefully accentuating those SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panels) we’ve come to know and love? And why do I keep hearing barn jokes?

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Last night we filmed a live show at a popular music venue in the French Quarter called One-Eyed Jacks [www.oneeyedjacks.net]. The Headliners: Rotary Downs [www.rotarydowns.com], a popular New Orleans rock band whose newest release, Sing Like The Sun, has received national attention. Not only was the band incredibly friendly, but a few days before we filmed their set, we discovered that Byron designed their lead guitarist’s new home! (Chris Colombo gives us a tour of his house-in-progress with Byron in this Webisode.)

(The series also features songs by New Orleans musicians Blair [www.myspace.com] and The Iguanas [www.myspace.com].)

Casey, Alex, and Adriana came for a ladies’ night out. We shot the band performing their title song, and we filmed the girls as they proceeded to knock their male counterparts. It was a much-needed break from the site. As for the gender rivalry, ladies and gents, watch the show. Our crew refuses to take sides. What I can tell you is that it all started with a messed up wooden beam…

Rachel Clift
Producer

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The main complaint – one that has been voiced much more constructively by a few of the neighbors – centers on the highly modern URBANbuild style. An informed dialogue might have included reasonable questions like: Are the Tulane houses an appropriate build choice for this neighborhood, where traditional model homes are close to the hearts of longtime residents? How might they contribute to a new vision for the neighborhood, and for New Orleans? What works about this design, and what can be improved for future prototypes? How can we be inspired by the traditional architectural styles of New Orleans, yet at the same time express our new times, new technology, and new attention to climate changes in a bold new architecture?

As it was, a few responses were so irresponsible that even Casey, the ever-grinning morale booster, was left with a broken spirit. Right after that, her wallet was stolen from her car a block away from the site. We’re seriously beginning to wonder if she’ll come back to work tomorrow.

Rachel Clift
Producer

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Anyway I stray… The show looks great. Michael, Rob and the whole crew did a great job. It’s been at least 5 years since Michael and I began talking about somehow connecting our architect side with our filmmaker side… and it’s finally happened. Michael’s already mentioned how our big epiphany came while I was teaching at Auburn University and he came down to sit on a panel discussion with me (titled: The Architect in Hollywood). Thank you Sam Mockbee and your progeny. We pitched several architecture programs and ultimately choose Tulane. Not enough room in a brief blog to get into the personalities, politics and bureaucratic nuances of the American University system… Suffice to say the show ended up where it was supposed to be – New Orleans, Louisiana. (Aided in no small part by the patience and vision of the folks at Sundance.)

Being from New Orleans and having taught at Tulane it warms my heart to see Byron Mouton (an ex-student of mine) and his studio full of charismatic students design and build in 9 months (insert pregnancy analogy here) a NOLA inspired modern home in a still recovering uptown neighborhood. It’s a story of the fearless idealism we find in architecture schools meeting the cold, hard, sometimes scary reality of post Katrina New Orleans.

I love watching the scenes from the studio. Students second guessing themselves and Byron. The late night soul searching of the students wondering whether to act on their own embryonic design instinct or to “do what Byron wants”. The constructive (occasionally brutal) comments made by design professionals during “pin-ups”. Reed Kroloff, former-Dean of Tulane Architecture, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, being the “bad cop” to Byron’s “good cop”. (Byron became both the good cop and bad cop once building started.) It’s all there. All the stuff that made us the good intentioned, underpaid lot we are… architects.

A half hour before Michael, Byron, Reed and I were scheduled to go onstage in front of the TCA, Byron and I were sitting in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton shooting the breeze. Spike Lee walked by with an entourage of scribbling/taping critics following in lock step. Beautiful people on cell phones wandering conspicuously through the hotel that Merv built… and there’s me and Byron. When out of the blue, a young man walks up to Byron, calls him by his full name, then extends his hand to shake. Byron always the ready professional stood up and shook Aaron Barnhart’s hand, the television critic for the Kansas City Star. Aaron proceeded to sit down and tell us in 5 minutes exactly what our show was about. It made my day… Well, actually meeting Elvis Costello made my day but Aaron’s concise and precise observations about “Architecture School” were a close second…

And my point? …I’ve lived in Los Angeles and the So-Cal area for over twenty years and not one time have I ever been recognized “on the street” for any work I’ve done in the industry. My good friend, Byron Mouton is here for two days and he’s picked out of a lobby full of television heavy hitters… by name. Hey, what about my needs? …Move over Howard Roark and Mike Brady. Apparently, there’s a new kid in town.

Stan Bertheaud
Co-Creator/Consulting Producer

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