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A STYLISH COTTAGE FOR KATRINA COUNTRY IS A HIT ALL OVER
By Ron Scherer
The Christian Science Monitor
October 2, 2006
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1002/p01s01-ussc.html
OCEAN SPRINGS, MISS. - A model home here that gives Katrina's
displaced an
alternative to trailer living is starting to take the country by
storm.
The Katrina cottage -- with living quarters about the size of a
McMansion
bathroom -- is now appealing to people well beyond the flood
plain.
Californians want to build one in their backyards to use for
rental income
to help with the mortgage payment. Modestly paid kayakers in
Colorado see it
as a way to finally afford a house. Elsewhere, people envision
building one
so a parent can live nearby.
Flying in the face of a "big house" trend, designers of these
tiny abodes
seem to have found a new housing niche. Some experts cite an
interest by
some Americans in downsizing their habitats, a reaction to the
supersized
home, and note the challenge of heating and cooling a big house
at a time
when family budgets are flat. Others note that changing
demographics - more
empty-nesters and single adults - may mean a timely debut of the
Lilliputian
homes.
"It's resonating with people because it's a market that did not
exist," says
Marianne Cusato, a New York-based designer who drew up the plans
for the
Katrina cottage. "In the past, you had to go either to an
apartment or a
trailer."
Commercialization of the concept is limited - but that is about
to change.
Late this year, perhaps as soon as next month, Lowe's, a
national hardware
and building-supply company, intends to begin selling the plans
and
materials for four models in 30 stores in the Gulf Coast region.
The "Lowe's Katrina Cottage" offerings range from a two-bedroom,
544-square-foot model to a three-bedroom, 936-square-foot house.
The
cottages will cost $45 to $55 per square foot to build, Lowe's
estimates,
meaning the smallest would run about $27,200 and the largest
$46,800.
Estimates do not include the cost of the foundation, heating and
cooling,
and labor.
"We're starting on the Gulf Coast, where the original idea came
from, but as
soon as we feel the logistics are worked out we could go
national," says Ms.
Cusato, whose website, www.cusatocottage.com, has received more
than 7,000
inquiries since January. "We want to be sure that when we say
it's
available, we're 100 percent sure we can deliver."
If Lowe's is successful, it's likely other companies will offer
their own
designs. "There is such a huge opportunity, when you talk about
the number
of houses that need to be built in Mississippi and Louisiana,
that I think a
lot of folks are looking at this type of concept," says Dan
Tresch, director
of governmental affairs at James Hardy Building Products, which
provides the
siding for Cusato's cottages.
One of those won't be Home Depot, the Atlanta-based supplier of
building
materials. "We assessed the opportunity but chose to pass on
selling them,"
says spokesman Tony Wilbert.
Although Lowe's has not started marketing the houses yet, the
original
Katrina cottage has been featured on television and in newspaper
articles.
As a result, every day Cusato gets queries from around the
world. Some of
the e-mails and letters envision the cottages as college
dormitories,
military housing, homeless shelters, zoo keeper's offices, and
rental
properties.
Among the inquiries last week was one from Keith Rogerson, a
city councilor
from Bridgeport, Conn. "We have lots that are too small for a
...
single-family, detached household, so the idea is to bring in
these
extremely attractive dwellings to provide affordable housing,"
says Mr.
Rogerson. "We're also looking at reorienting the zoning so we
can put them
in clusters to stave off ghettoizing the city."
Last week, the Katrina cottage concept inspired Norman Bradshaw,
a retired
deputy sheriff in Tallahassee, Fla., to call Lowe's. He's
thinking about
moving to a farm in Georgia. "What I'm trying to find is
something
affordable in the $65,000 to $75,000 range," says Mr. Bradshaw.
"Right now,
the only thing you can afford is a trailer, and they are so
flimsy you can
put your fist right through a wall." If Lowe's follows though
with the
original design, Bradshaw says, he'll buy one.
Urban planners and architecture critics are generally
enthusiastic.
"Designers have done a good job with toasters and cars, and now
they have
done housing - and it couldn't have come at a better time," says
Anthony
Flint at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a think tank in
Cambridge,
Mass.
Architect Sarah Susanka, author of "The Not So Big House," calls
it "a
charming, tiny house with character."
The cottage, though almost doll-size, manages not to feel
claustrophobic in
large part because Cusato has included a wide porch. "If you
live in a small
house, you need a proper outdoor room," Cusato says. "In
addition to making
the house larger, it engages you with your neighbors."
Cusato's design also calls for steel frames and Mr. Hardy's
fiber-cement-board siding. It's rated to withstand a hurricane
with 140
mile-per-hour winds. The siding makes it termite-resistant,
non-combustible,
and immune to rot. One intangible aspect of the house: It is
designed to be
easy to add on to.
The idea for the cottage came during a planning session in
Mississippi. Gov.
Haley Barbour (R) had asked Andreas Duany, a Miami-based urban
planner with
the firm Duany Plater-Zyberk, to participate in the post-Katrina
Mississippi
Renewal Forum. There, Mr. Duany challenged designers to come up
with an
alternative to the trailers from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
Cusato's design was picked as the winning effort.
But the concept didn't really take off until January, when the
cottage made
its debut - almost by happenstance - at the International
Builders Show in
Orlando, Fla. Ms. Susanka, the architect, was set to build a
small, modular
show house for the event, but her sponsor pulled out. Duany
suggested that
Cusato's cottage go in its place - and it was an instant hit
with
developers, who clamored for the plans.
The house was then trucked here to Ocean Springs, where
thousands of people
have explored its confines. Cusato sees the cottage as one way
to help the
region recover. "If you give people a decent place to live, they
will want
to settle in," she says. "The most sustainable thing you can do
is build
something that everyone loves and everyone wants to keep."
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Published by David Sunfellow
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
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