New Orleans Floating Townhouses

The floodwaters in the St. Roch area of New Orleans rose to about four feet, high enough to ruin the foundations and first floors of many dwellings. The townhouses proposed in this project will employ the highest standards of sustainable building, including a passive thermal engine that creates net-zero energy consumption, and... they will float! – minimizing damage from future storms.

This project also plans to further revitalize the St. Roch community through other environmentally sound construction and restoration, and with a new neighborhood park.

Wetlands Restoration

Decades of dredging in the Gulf waters off the Louisiana coast, coupled with the construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), have caused severe degradation of the coastal wetlands in and around New Orleans. Not only are these wetlands home to 25% of the total domestic marine catch, including shrimp, crabs, and crawfish, they have traditionally provided natural protection against surging hurricane floodwaters. Every 2.7 miles of wetlands can reduce a storm surge by one foot.

MRGO, often referred to as "the hurricane highway," is a direct outlet from the Gulf of Mexico to the inner harbor of New Orleans. According to Louisiana State University reports, MRGO may have made the storm surge 20% higher and two or three times faster as it crashed into the city. Due to erosion since its construction in the 1960s, the outlet is now three times wider than originally built and has developed shoals, which make it impassable to bigger ships - a major part of its original purpose. The Army Corps of Engineers has recommended that MRGO be closed, but the plan has yet to be approved.

ASR is researching various means of restoring the wetlands around New Orleans to serve as a natural barrier to future storms and to re-establish the region's native wildlife habitat.

ASR plans to support various means of restoring the wetlands around New Orleans to serve as a natural barrier to future storms and to re-establish the region's native wildlife habitat.

With its exposure to the BP oil spill, it has become even more imperative to save this refuge.