Brad Pitt / Larry King interview links, Transcript, Solar Home Designs, Make It Right site

Make It Right Official Site - Donate to Brad Pitt's New Orleans project

In December 2006, Brad Pitt convened a group of experts in New Orleans to brainstorm about building green affordable housing on a large scale to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Having spent time with community leaders and displaced residents determined to return home, Pitt realized that an opportunity existed to build houses that were not only stronger and healthier, but that had less impact on the environment.

Previously, Pitt sponsored an architecture competition organized by Global Green with the goal of generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably. Several of those designs are currently under construction in the Lower 9th Ward and the project inspired him to expand his efforts.

After discussing the hurdles associated with rebuilding in a devastated area, the group determined that a large-scale redevelopment project focused on green affordable housing and incorporating innovative design was indeed possible.

The group settled on the goal of constructing 150 homes (one of the larger rebuilding projects in the city), with an emphasis on developing an affordable system that could be replicated.

To demonstrate replicability, Pitt determined to locate the project in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the most devastated areas of New Orleans, proving that safe homes could and should be rebuilt. Pitt hopes that this project would be a catalyst for recovery and redevelopment throughout the Lower 9th Ward and across the city of New Orleans.

Having listened to one former resident's plea to help "make this right," Pitt was inspired to name the project "Make It Right" (MIR).

Make It Right Official Site - Brad Pitt's New Orleans project



Transcipt of Brad Pitt Larry King interview re Make It Right in New Orleans


LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, Brad Pitt -- the man.
BRAD PITT, ACTOR: We want to build homes.

KING: His mission...

PITT: We're going to get this place rebuilt.

KING: Our conversation.

PITT: Hey, you're good at this. You've done this before.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Brad Pitt for the hour -- it's exclusive and it's next on LARRY KING LIVE.

It's a great pleasure to welcome to LARRY KING LIVE, Brad Pitt.

Finally, after all these years, we have obtained the services of Mr. Pitt -- on a very important occasion, by the way. This is the debut of an extraordinary charity to help a much-needed project.

Thank you so much for doing this.

PITT: Yes. Thanks for having me and having all of us here.

KING: How did you get this -- first of all, why did you come to New Orleans in the first place?

PITT: I just always had a love for this place. I mean it's really like no other city we have. It's got its own unique vitality and it's the home of Mardi Gras and -- I mean, where else can you do something as silly as this and people really enjoy it?

KING: And we're going to talk about that.

PITT: It's great for (INAUDIBLE).

KING: But I mean did you come here before Katrina?

PITT: Yes. I've been here since -- coming here since '94. I came here then for a film. But I lived here for about three months and really fell in love with the place. And it's been a nice home for myself and my family.

KING: The people are like no people in America. There's something about the people of New Orleans. I mean...

PITT: They -- I mean, you come here, you'll meet seventh generational families here, people that -- they are not leaving. They love this place and it's very important to them.

KING: So where do you -- you live here?

PITT: Um-hmm.

KING: And...

PITT: We live in a few -- I mean, we're a pretty nomadic family, as you can imagine.

KING: How do you work that?

PITT: But, yes, we have a base here.

KING: How do you work being nomadic in this kind of society?

PITT: We pack up the kids. We've got our system and it's truly a mobile unit. And we plop down here and we can plug into a school here and (INAUDIBLE)...

KING: Then you go to Los Angeles (INAUDIBLE)?

PITT: Los Angeles -- we're there right now for a month here while Angie is working. And then we'll be back through here and...

KING: Does the film dictate where you live?

PITT: A little bit.

KING: So where -- what are you going to do...

PITT: The film or whatever we're focusing on, yes.

KING: All right, so you came here out of a love for New Orleans not...

PITT: Right.

KING: So now Katrina happens.

PITT: Right.

KING: Then what?

How soon after that did you come?

PITT: A few months after. I was out filming "Jesse James" in Calgary when the storm hit. And it was talking to people at the first Clinton Global Initiative -- we were talking about the lack of -- or the help that was needed with the rebuilding effort. And I knew -- I know a little bit about building. And I certainly know people who know a lot about building. And could we start putting these people together, and, you know, help the good folks here get -- you know, rebuild their communities.

KING: So you wanted to get involved from the start?

PITT: Yes.

KING: OK. So, first of all, isn't it a blight on somebody -- city, state, federal -- that this Ninth Ward ain't any better?

PITT: Well, no question. I mean but it -- you know, the Ninth Ward has got a lot of attention. And we're starting here because it seems to have the least -- or the most difficulty of coming back. But this is -- this is everywhere. You -- to see the extent of the damage and the extent of the people -- the extent of the lack of movement is -- I mean, this goes on for parish after parish after parish.

We're hoping we can take -- start here as a nucleus, but we can keep expanding on this throughout New Orleans and the Gulf Coast itself.


Continued at: Transcipt of Brad Pitt Larry King interview on CNN


Brad Pitt building green homes in New Orleans - CNN report

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Expanding on a promise he made nearly two months ago, actor Brad Pitt said Monday he expects to have families in 150 newly created homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward by the end of next summer -- but he asked for help to make the dream a reality.

"To build those 150 homes, we need the help of the American people," he said in a news conference Monday. "We need to all join together to do this. There is no reason why we can't do a thousand homes."

Pitt announced in September that he was partnering with film producer Steve Bing to build "affordable and sustainable homes" in the Lower 9th Ward, an area of the city that Hurricane Katrina devastated in 2005. Pitt and Bing have also each pledged $5 million to the rebuilding project.

The 150 eco-friendly homes mark the first initiative of Pitt's "Make it Right" project, aimed at redeveloping the Lower 9th Ward.

Continued at: Brad Pitt building green homes in New Orleans




Make It Right NOLA - Sustainable Housing Designs for New Orleans 9th Ward

Make it Right Project: 13 Designs, 150 Houses


If this project doesn't exhibit the power of celebrity, I don't know what does. Brad Pitt has been able to bring serious innovation to the Lower Ninth Ward -- this cool concept is becoming a serious reality. The Make It Right Project ("MIR Project") involves some of the most talented architects in the country, and they're building low-income, high-design, sustainable homes. It's incredible.


The homes you see below present a new picture of the American Dream. It's green and looks good. It's built in response to the environment, not in the face of the environment. It facilitates the community, too. There are 13 home designs for 150 total homes. You can sponsor a home for $150,000. As much as we'd like to sponsor an entire home in the name of Jetson Green, I'm going to just donate some personally. Maybe some day this blog will get to that point. I've included images of the designs for you viewing pleasure.

To view the solar house designs, click: Solar Housing Designs for Brad Pitt New Orleans project


Brad Pitt helping provide solar homes to New Orleans

from NYtimes.com
Brad Pitt Commissions Designs for New Orleans
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Thom Mayne of Morphosis in Los Angeles designed a house that would float if the city floods. James Timberlake of KieranTimberlake Associates in Philadelphia created a house with native vines climbing up the side walls to provide shade and coolness. Steven B. Bingler of Concordia in New Orleans envisioned a house with wide front steps ideal for a traditional crawfish boil.

Those are three of the designs by 13 architecture firms commissioned by the actor Brad Pitt to help rebuild New Orleans’s impoverished Lower Ninth Ward, one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The project, called Make It Right, calls for building 150 affordable, environmentally sound houses over the next two years. In a telephone interview from New Orleans, where he plans to present the designs today, Mr. Pitt said the residents of the neighborhood had been homeless long enough. “They’re coming up on their third Christmas,” he said.

Mr. Pitt said he had been attached to New Orleans for more than a decade. “I’ve always had a fondness for this place — it’s like no other,” he said. “Seeing the frustration firsthand made me want to return the kindness this city has shown me.”

Rather than bemoan the slow pace of redevelopment in the Ninth Ward, Mr. Pitt said he decided to address the problem directly by teaming with William McDonough, the green design expert; Graft, a Los Angeles architecture firm; and Cherokee, an investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in sustainable redevelopment. John Williams of New Orleans is the executive architect for the project.

“If you have this blank slate and this great technology out there, what better test than low-income housing?” Mr. Pitt said. “It’s got to work at all levels to really be viable.”

When Make It Right was announced at the meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in September, Mr. Pitt pledged to match $5 million in contributions to the project, as did Steve Bing, the philanthropist. Nine other firms — all of whom donated their services — are involved, including Adjaye Associates; Billes Architecture; BNIM Architects; Constructs; Eskew & Dumez & Ripple; MVRDV; Pugh and Scarpa Architecture; Shigeru Ban Architects; and Trahan Architects. “We wanted to have a mixture of voices,” Mr. Pitt said.

Continued at: Brad Pitt homes in New Orleans