Pink house keeps Katrina victims in mind

IF you're cruising down Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row, you might think you've been transported to Miami after noticing a hot pink house in front of the Architecture and Design Museum. But Brad Pitt and his cohorts are hoping it will remind passersby of the thousands left homeless by Hurricane Katrina and the continued need for construction in those devastated areas of New Orleans.

Although 450 pink structures have been unveiled in the Lower Ninth Ward, this will be the first display outside New Orleans. The pink structures were conceived together through "The Pink Project" (part of Pitt's Make It Right Foundation) and the Los Angeles architectural firm Graft as a symbol of the homes that remain to be rebuilt. The illuminated structures that resemble giant Monopoly houses are meant to refocus attention back on the affected neighborhood and to spur further donations.

The installation coincides with the opening of the "After the Flood: On Higher Ground" exhibit at the A+D Museum, which runs through June 27. The exhibit examines the devastation wrought by Katrina and offers a sampling of architectural responses, including a redesign of the traditional shotgun house whose height off the ground can be adjusted. And architectural students at Harvard designed modules that float on water during a flood and pull in their umbilical-like utilities cords and redistribute themselves when floodwaters recede.

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Liesl Bradner