Hurricane Katrina reconstruction will be the largest undertaking this country has ever attemped. This will encompass all phases of Architecture from the single family residence to Industrial to Educational to Commercial to churches.

This work pie is so mamoth that any individual be he/she an Architect, Residential Planner, or free-lance Architectural Draftsman can have a slice or two.

This is the time for the Architectural Profession needs to pull together and put away the various differences. Architects will need to learn to accept Residential Planners and free lance Architectural Draftsmen as professionals. At the same time, the Residental Planners and free lance Architectural Draftsmen will need to learn how to work with the Architects.

I am looking forward to your comments.

Bart - Reno, Nevada

the pie has already been cut and...right...about.....now...........yep, it's been eaten. sorry.

What are we supposed to comment on exactly? Are we supposed to agree or disagree? I can't figure out your stance on the issue.

i don't see a problem, bart. architects already occasionally work with drafters and house designers. there are a lot of house designers that only work with builders, no architects involved, but this is a function of economic pressures. architects can work to get more fully involved in residential construction, but we'll always be just a percentage.

key is that 'residential planners', by which i think you mean house designers, are not of the 'architectural profession'. their responsibility is often to the builder or client but not to the larger public. there is not as much attention to each project's impact in the public realm - for good or ill.

all of these disciplines - architects, builders, house designers - will be subject to the guidelines and schemas introduced by planners. these are the people who will establish the big-picture goals.

sounds from the tone of your introduction that you're most concerned with all of us getting our piece of the action. i think that the success of the redevelopment of new orleans and the gulf coast will be inversely proportional to this attitude. economic sustenance (even profit) will help drive the redevelopment, attention to the quality of the public realm will be necessary in making sure that this development is what we all want - quality over quantity, so to speak.

My point concerning Architects and Residential Planners along with Architectural Draftsmen working together for the reconstruction of the Katrina area is that for the most part, they don't here in Nevada. There are some Architects here that see the othe professionals as a threat to their own profession. Those Architects wouldn't lose any sleep if those other professionals would just go away.

Now for the size of the work pie. I was thinking that every structure that will be rebuilt will need a set of plans. That is a huge number of drawings. Even some of the existing high rise structures may have to come down and be rebuilt. Then multiply those numbers by the area of destruction.

According to both CNN and Fox News, the area of destruction would equal the area of the states of Idaho and Montana combined. That is huge! There are small towns in Alabama, Mississippi, and Lousiana that no longer exist. It is far more than just New Orleans and Biloxi.

Bart
Reno, Nevada

I'm gonna jump on the casino re-build team!

Thanks for clarifying Bart.

I would agree with you. It's going to take a huge undertaking. And if any bit of it is going to be done well, it's going to take a tremendous effort from the architecture, engineering, and contractor community. Not to sound all idealistic but we will have to put aside any differences that we have or misperceptions of other professionals if we are going to get the job done.

It's mind-boggling to think of how many thousands of buildings are going to need to be rebuilt.

And the Hurricane season continues...

Rita are you out there?