changing the way we think

design and go
go big green!"
sscrape scrape ssscrrraaape
eye for the free stuff
Fun with doors!

Building in Biloxi Mississippi has changed the way I think about what architecture really is. I am helping to rebuild a home that has memories and along with many others here, there is someone just like me that wants to be home. A gutted home that stood empty for nearly two years after Katrina finally was looked upon as valuable. Working with the East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center, the owner saw opportunity to provide a home for housing volunteers for a couple years and then becoming the much needed rental housing after. Renovating a small shotgun-bungalow became more than just design or building but a design-build challenge to be innovative and flexible. A plan with a dual program inspires thinking beyond just one occupant, a building that will become flexible. Designing the best ways to be efficient, provide building longevity and coordinating all the little challenges that come up along the way. A small budget brings reality right in plain view. Going ‘over’ means there must be “other” money or means to providing materials each day, if any at all. Then the excitement and joy is fulfilled in your heart because it means the world to the client when you can reuse materials, get donations and save on the money that is hardly there. Windows are not the best and the wrong size so there is more ‘work’ to do but they are free. The original doors need a lot of work to reuse and volunteers scrape paint for hours, days and weeks to make original ship lap siding beautiful again. My heart sings within the constraints of reality. We must work little by little, day by day, and soon with help from many volunteers we make a difference. Rebuilding in Biloxi, New Orleans, Pass Christian or building in the middle of America, architecture provides a place for people to live, be comfortable and call a place their own.