Plan - Design - Rebuild: Gulf Coast Spring Studio Deadline Approaching

WETLANDS / PUBLIC SPACE / ELEVATED HOUSE

Mississippi State University Gulf Coast Community Design Studio is running its second Biloxi spring studio. GCCDS is seeking upper level undergraduate and graduate students interested in community-based design who want to work on hurricane recovery rebuilding. The students will live in Biloxi and be included in the ongoing community based-practice of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio. The Biloxi Studio will work in parallel with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology urban design and landscape workshop.

The parallel studios will work in the flood zone gradient between the most naturally preserved wetland connected to the Gulf, to the intermediate space programmed for public use, to the elevated house standing in the most artificially trimmed yard. The full-time curriculum has three connected components, a planning studio, a design/build studio, and a seminar.

PLANNING STUDIO: Flood Zone Gradient

The premise of FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is that destroyed buildings on highrisk sites should be not be rebuilt. Instead the land should become open space. However, without a comprehensive planning process, mitigated properties would become a haphazard set of vacant lots and would not create community benefits, neither socially nor ecologically. The Planning Studio will create a carefully considered mosaic of three well-defined land uses: preserved wetlands connected to the Gulf which would be large enough and have enough continuity to be ecologically complete; programmed public space such as walking trails, playgrounds, and meeting places that would create a connected landscape that would be well-used and well-loved by the community; and complete neighborhoods of elevated buildings taking full advantage of the nearby open space.

DESIGN/BUILD STUDIO:Affordable Elevated House

Elevated houses have particular structural, environmental, social, and functional design challenges resulting from living twelve feet off the ground with hurricane force winds in a flood zone. The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio has produced dozens of houses that are either built, in construction, or in design. Each house completed is one more family that can get out of a FEMA trailer and resettle their lives. The Design/Build Studio will work on the design and construction of a strong, affordable, elevated house. The house will be built by the students working along with other volunteers and paid workers.

SEMINAR: Risk and building

The reflexive discussion and research seminar can be shaped by individual students.

ELIGIBILITY:
Undergraduate students who have completed their third year
Graduate students who have completed their first year

SCHEDULE:
The program will follow the Mississippi State University academic calendar:
Wednesday, January 9 Courses begin
March 7 – 16 Spring Break (these dates are flexible and may be revised)
Friday, May 2 Final Review

HOUSING:
Housing will be provided free-of-charge in Biloxi for the duration of the program.

REGISTRATION:
Registration process will vary by academic institution, and will be determined with each participating school.

TO APPLY:
If you are interested in participating, please send the following information to Christine Gaspar at [email protected] by midnight on October 31, 2007:

- Your name
- Your school, year in school, and degree program you are in
- One paragraph statement on what you hope to get out of your experience in Biloxi
- 1-page PDF with samples (1 or 2 projects) of studio work

For more information and to register, please visit www.gccds.org

See also “WETLANDS / PUBLIC SPACE / ELEVATED HOUSE” (PDF)