Rebuilding New Orleans, Post-Katrina Style

This city has always been known for its eclectic housing styles — Greek Revival, Italianate, Creole. Now emerging is what could be called a posthurricane vernacular, wide-ranging architectural responses to what everyone here refers to simply as the Storm.

There is what could be called the Defensive style, houses jacked up so high on pilings that they look as if they might teeter over or take wing.

There is also the Defiant style: pristine houses with columned porches painted in storybook pastels. These are surrounded by houses with boarded-up windows and padlocked doors; FEMA trailers still in the front yard; arrested construction because of a shortage of contractors; or empty lots with nothing left but corroding concrete foundations. These cheerful houses stick out like cartoonish stage sets, with people determined to live happily ever after inside, even though they may still be encircled by devastation and afraid to venture out on the deserted streets after dark.

And then there is the Do Good style, affordable housing being built by groups like Tulane University’s architecture school — in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit group — and taking advantage of this city’s blank-slate moment to introduce more contemporary structures into the landscape.

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