Katrina Cottage Plan Book
Lowe's has developed a suite of plans/materials packages earmarked for the Katrina disaster zone that seem to make some sense, both for the disaster zone and for other applications. The buildings are designed to be strong (they meet standards for 140-mph wind gusts) and quickly built with the goal of getting people under their own roofs — and out of FEMA trailers — and to re-plant the seeds of neighborhood.
Lowe's Katrina Cottage packages, which include products and materials for the home, come in several models with home sizes from 544 to 936 square feet. The designs look friendly to the Crescent City's famous "shotgun" lots, but what's very cool about them is that they're designed as the beginning — not the end — of the re-building process.
For several Katrina Cottages, the initial structure is the first piece of a larger home. Windows and doors are located so the building can be added on to, according to Lowe's. Smaller cottages built to the rear of a property work as initial shelters and are re-usable as in-law apartments or rental units after a new main house is built.
Lowe's material package offers all the materials from the sill plate up; a foundation and/or piers, municipal/septic connections and HVAC systems must be provided (along with labor, of course). Presently the packages are available in several Mississippi and New Orleans Lowe's stores, but the design is catching on as attractive for other applications, such as second homes in other areas of the country.
Lowe's Katrina Cottages
