In Some High Hopes, photographer Tim Melideo shows the unusual new homes that have been built in a place that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. These raised houses are in the Lake Catherine area of Louisiana, near New Orleans.
I think this project is both inspirational — showing how residents have rebuilt after a tragic natural disaster — and interesting — because it shows how architecture is influenced by a location’s challenges and other factors.
While elevated houses built on stilts have been used in coastal areas for much of history, some of these new homes are much more elaborate and showcase different architectural styles than what people have traditionally built. Government and insurance company regulations may now require homes in these flood-prone areas to be built 10 or 20 feet in the air, so home-owners and architects must find new ways to keep the style and amenities they want in an elevated home. Others build more simply, just to ensure they can continue to live on the land they already own.
These documentary photographs were featured in an issue of Melideo’s zine Some Photos, which features a different theme each month and is now in its third year. Print copies of the fine art zine are available to buy from Melideo’s website.
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Tim
Thanks so much for the write-up, Tom!!