Key People
The following people, listed in alphabetical order, played key roles in the creation and/or expansion of the Katrina Cottages movement:

Bill is a New Urban Guild architect who submitted Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette, including one (Clay Street Cottage) that is in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Bill founded William Allison and Associates in 1992 in Beaufort, South Carolina. Bill has received many awards and his designs have been featured in numerous publications including Southern Living, Coastal Living, and the Traditional Neighborhood Development plan books. Six years after the conception of the firm R. Wayne "Cooter" Ramsey, Jr., AIA, was named partner, and the firm was renamed Allison Ramsey Architects. In June 2004 the firm opened a second office in Asheville, North Carolina. Allison Ramsey has worked extensively in New Urbanist developments, building up a large library of house plans designed for Traditional Neighborhood Developments.

Allison Anderson
Allison is a Mississippi architect whose home survived and who has been enormously committed to Mississippi rebuilding. She was one of the key local architects at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. She has recently submitted several Katrina Cottage designs.

"John the Bad," as he was affectionately known at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette (as opposed to Allison Anderson's husband and partner, "John the Good,") designed the Street-Legal Cottage at the charrette.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour famously said "Do what you do, and do it well" to Andrés Duany to start the Mississippi recovery process from which Katrina Cottages sprang.

Jim Barksdale
Jim chaired the Mississippi Governor's Commission that sponsored the charrette where Katrina Cottages first were popularized. Jim was previously CEO of both Netscape and FedEx.

Michael Barranco
www.barrancoarc.com
Michael is a New Urban Guild architect from Jackson, Mississippi who started making the connections immediately after Hurricane Katrina that resulted in the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette; without him, it never would have happened. Michael's firm also has two plans (Katrina Double Cottage I and Katrina Double Cottage II) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Michael's Jackson practice spans a wide range of building types and sizes. He also is the Town Architect of Lost Rabbit in Madison, Mississippi.

Denese Bottrell
Denese is the James Hardie Company executive who spearheaded the massive Hardie sponsorship of the Katrina Cottage program and New Urbanism in general.

Ben Brown
Ben is the New Urbanist media consultant extraordinaire who is responsible for much of the New Urbanist promotion to national media. He is also the author of several articles on this website, including the one above (The Katrina Cottage Story.) Ben previously has been one of the founding editors of publications as illustrious as USA Today, USA Weekend, Coastal Living, and Southern Living. New Urbanists are fortunate that Ben identified their movement as the next big thing to make a difference, and decided to join them in early 2005.

Eric Brown
www.brownds.com
Eric is a New Urban Guild architect who has a Katrina Cottage plan (Pass Christian Shotgun) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages and has been very active on the Coast after the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Brown Design Studio focuses entirely on notable New Urbanist projects and is based out of historic Beaufort, South Carolina. Their work focuses on mixed-use and attached building types.

Fred Carl
Fred is the President of Viking Range Company in Greenwood, Mississippi, and served as housing coordinator on the Governor's Commission. Fred was influential in the development of the Mississippi Cottage design, which employs some of the goals and principles of the Katrina Cottages.

Maricé Chael
www.chaelcooper.com
Maricé is a New Urban Guild architect who worked as a planner at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette and who designed a Katrina Cottage at the charrette. Maricé is a founding member of Chael, Cooper & Associates, which focuses on urban infill projects and civic buildings that contribute to traditional towns and neighborhoods. Prior to forming Chael, Cooper & Associates, Maricé worked as lead architect for Dover, Kohl and Partners.

Kenny Craft
Kenny is a former Birmingham architect who has recently moved to Colorado to work at South Main who submitted a Katrina Cottage plan prior to the Mississippi Renewal charrette.

Marianne Cusato
www.cusatocottages.com
Marianne is the New Urban Guild designer who designed Katrina Cottage I on the first day of the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Marianne also spearheaded Lowe's deal, which will provide four Katrina Cottage plans as kit houses by late autumn 2006. Marianne has two plans (Katrina Cottage I and Katrina Tiny Cottage II) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Marianne is the author of the forthcoming book, Get Your House Right, How to Avoid Common Mistakes in Today's Traditional Architecture, with Ben Pentreath, Richard Sammons and Leon Krier. The foreword has been written by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. She is a consultant for developers, builders and architects in both the US and the UK who are designing and constructing traditional buildings.

Ann Daigle
Ann is a New Urbanist planner who has become the Special Assistant to the Director of the Mississippi Development Authority.

Bill Dennis
www.bdennis.com
Bill is a New Urban Guild architect who worked as a planner at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette and who submitted Katrina Cottage plans prior to the charrette. Bill is one of the original Great Collaborators of the New Urbanism, having worked on hundreds of developments over the past quarter-century, both as an independent architect/town planner, and jointly with many of the biggest stars of the movement. He is a charter member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and has coordinated several national events, including two CNU Charter Councils and the 2006 Congress in Providence, Rhode Island. He has won several design awards. Bill has served as an instructor at the Boston Architecture Center and as a Guest Critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Victor Deupi
www.classicist.org
Victor is a New Urban Guild architect and is the Arthur Ross Director of Education of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America. Victor submitted Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette and has participated in Katrina renewal work since. Victor taught for several years at Notre Dame University's School of Architecture. He has also been a visiting lecturer and critic at the Prince of Wales' Institute of Architecture in London, the Rome Studies Program, and the University of Miami.

Diane is the publisher of the TND Town Paper and New Towns magazine. She is the publisher of nearly every New Urbanist publication about Katrina recovery, including the Summary Report on the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette, of which she was a participant, A Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Neighborhoods, and Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Diane also headed up the furnishing and purchasing for Katrina Cottage II.

Andrés Duany
www.dpz.com
Andrés laid out the basic principles of Katrina Cottages, and also gave them their name. He has been their most visible and well-known proponent from the beginning, tirelessly promoting the Katrina Cottage designs of others. Andrés is a founding principal at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ). DPZ is widely recognized as a leader of the New Urbanism, an international movement that seeks to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. In the years since the firm first received recognition for the design of Seaside, Florida, in 1980, DPZ has completed designs for close to 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization projects. This work has exerted a significant influence on the practice and direction of urban planning and development in the United States and abroad.

Christine Franck
www.christinefranck.com
Christine is a New Urban Guild member and a member of the architecture team at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette who is submitting plans for the next edition of Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Christine is a designer and educator with a practice in New York City. She writes and speaks frequently on the topic on modern classical architecture. She has lectured throughout the country and abroad and is a columnist for New Old House magazine. She is a published author and the volunteer developer of the professional and academic programs of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America from 1998-2005. She was honored in 2002 by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales with the first Public Service Award of the Prince's Foundation for her outstanding contribution to the study of architecture and design.

Frank is a New Urban Guild architect who submitted several Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Frank is Town Architect for the New Urbanist community of Rosemary Beach, Florida. He joined Looney Ricks Kiss Architects in their Rosemary Beach office in 2005. Since 1982, Frank worked as an architect, planner and developer, based in Chattanooga, TN until his recent move to Florida. His work with Chattanooga's urban renaissance was instrumental in winning numerous awards, including national awards.

Milton Grenfell
Milton is a New Urban Guild architect who was on the architecture team at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Milton has since his firm's inception in 1986 committed himself to practicing in the Great Tradition of Western architecture and urbanism. With an active practice encompassing design from town centers to fireplace mantles, Milton also finds time to lecture, write essays for a wide number of journals, serve on professional panels, and exhibit internationally. His work has been published in numerous periodicals and books His work has received numerous awards, including the Arthur Ross award in 1997.

Jennifer Hall
Jennifer is the Mississippi Manufactured Housing Association Executive Director. She first opened the doors of manufactured housing in Mississippi to Katrina Cottages.

Seth is a New Urbanist architect and retail expert who designed the shops that spawned the Katrina Commercial and Katrina Live/Work building types. Seth opened his practice in 1992 and has focused his efforts on applying lessons learned from large-scale, mixed-use, commercial projects and retail centers to smaller, mixed-use "main street" communities, urban villages, and new suburban infill communities. He works both across the country and around the world. His retail consulting services are regularly sought out by the most notable New Urbanist planning entities, including DPZ, Dover-Kohl, Leon Krier, and the Prince's Foundation.

Debra Hempel
Many behind-the-scenes contributors could be added to this list, but none would be more important than Debra, who is NU's facilitator extraordinaire. She directed a team that put together what many thought would be impossible: the largest planning event in world history in a shattered Biloxi, Mississippi at a time when you still had to pass multiple military checkpoints to arrive at the charrette studio.

Susan Henderson
www.placemakers.com
Susan is the New Urban Guild architect who coordinated the architecture team at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Her firm, PlaceMakers, puts on SmartCode Workshops across the country and does SmartCode customizations for municipalities and private developers.

Michael Imber
www.michaelgimber.com
Michael is a New Urban Guild architect who was on the architecture team at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Michael submitted Katrina Cottage plans that will be in future plan books. Michael's award-winning practice is based in San Antonio. From there, they do work across the country within the classical tradition, especially the Southwestern dialects of that tradition.

Gary Justiss
Gary is a New Urban Guild architect who submitted many Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette and designed several plans at the charrette, including two (Ethan's Bunk House and Piji's Cottage) that are in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Gary opened his own one-man firm in 1992 to pursue a residential practice specializing primarily in beach homes on the Gulf coast and almost exclusively within New Urbanist communities. He also served as Town Architect at Blount Springs, a DPZ new town, and has provided design review services for several more communities.

Matt Lambert
www.dpz.com
Matt is a DPZ architect who has spearheaded the Katrina Cottage panelized effort. He has been heavily involved in the Katrina Cottage movement almost from the beginning, participating in the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette as one of DPZ's team members.

Alex Latham
www.adl3.com
Alex is a New Urban Guild architect who submitted several Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette, including two (Katrina Tiny Cottage IV and Katrina Tiny Cottage V) that are in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Alex is owner and principal of ADL III Architecture located in Northport, NY. ADL III Architecture is a multifaceted architecture and planning firm with focuses in residential and commercial architecture and town planning. The firm is currently working on significant waterfront residential projects around Long Island and upstate New York, as well as numerous Main Street mixed-use projects, comprised of first floor retail, and second and third floor office/apartments.

Michael LeBatard
www.tldarchitects.com
Michael is Bruce Tolar's partner. He was influential in the development of the first Katrina Cottage Square in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Matt Lister & Erika Albright
www.flmarchitects.com
Matt & Erika are New Urban Guild architects who have a plan (Felicity) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages that was submitted prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Matt & Erika live and practice in Washington, DC.

Tom Low
www.dpz.com
Tom is a Director at DPZ and heads up their Charlotte office. He is a New Urban Guild architect who participated at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette as a planner. He submitted an incredibly fanciful Katrina Cottage plan prior to the charrette that will certainly be in the next edition of the plan book. Tom's diagrammatic drawings became the early face of New Urbanist theory through their exposure from DPZ.

Ricky Matthews
Ricky is a Pulitzer-winning Sun-Herald editor that published the first story on Katrina Cottages featuring Marianne Cusato's designs on the first day of the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette, launching the public face of the Katrina Cottages movement. Ricky won the Pulitzer because of the Sun-Herald's coverage of Katrina and its aftermath and recovery. He continues to regularly publish the advances that the New Urbanists are making on the Coast, including news about the Katrina Cottage movement. Without Ricky considering the New Urbanists work newsworthy, their work on the Coast could have been stifled or slowed.

Connie Moran
Connie is the mayor of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; her vigorous promotion of Katrina Cottages is unparalleled. She has hosted Katrina Cottage I in the heart of Ocean Springs since it returned from Florida, and she has traveled to Washington to fight for the use of Katrina Cottages instead of FEMA trailers.

Eric is a New Urban Guild architect who was on the architecture team at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette and who submitted Katrina Cottage plans prior to the charrette, including one (Katrina Thin Cottage II) that is in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Eric spent several days helping build Katrina Cottage II in St. Bernard Parish at the Arabi charrette, and has been involved in many other aspects of the Katrina Cottage movement from the beginning. Eric's firm, Moser Design Group, is headquartered in Beaufort, South Carolina, and focuses on notable New Urbanist developments. They have won numerous awards and have been published many times in several books & magazines.

Geoffrey Mouen
www.gmarchitects.com
Geoffrey is a New Urban Guild architect who has two Katrina Cottage plans (Katrina Thin Cottage I and Little Giant Cottage) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Geoffrey worked with some of the worlds foremost design organizations over the past 15 years, including Robert A.M. Stern Architects before opening his own firm. He was Town Architect for Walt Disney's world-renowned development of Celebration, Florida. He has lectured on architecture, planning, and sustainable communities at various universities and for other institutions nationwide. He has a leadership role within the Institute of Classical Architecture/Classical America, and has won numerous design awards, including national awards. [Bethany, please link the books below to their listing in the Guild Bookstore.]

Steve Mouzon
www.newurbanguild.com Steve is the founder of the New Urban Guild, the author of Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages, which includes two of his plans (Fish Camp, and Katrina Tiny Cottage III, which was re-named Katrina Cottage VII when it was manufactured for the first time.) He also is the designer of USA Weekend Magazine's Katrina Cottage VIII. Steve's most recent books before Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans were A Living Tradition: Architecture of the Central Gulf Coast and Traditional Construction Patterns. He also publishes the Catalog of the Most-Loved Places and is Town Architect at several new towns, villages, and neighborhood across the country.

Wanda Mouzon
www.newurbanguild.com Wanda is a principal of the New Urban Guild, and also the spouse of Steve Mouzon. Wanda took the original phone call from Michael Barranco the Friday after the hurricane; had she not prevailed upon Steve to call him back that evening at the end of an exhausting day, the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette might not have occurred because the strategic portion of the recovery process was moving so fast at that time that by the following Monday, another course could have been set.

Nathan Norris
www.placemakers.com
Nathan co-founded the Architects' Guild with Steve Mouzon, which led to the New Urban Guild. Nathan is a principal of PlaceMakers, and also is Director of Marketing at the Waters near Montgomery, Alabama, which may be the largest current laboratory of cottage ideas, and which fed the early Katrina Cottage movement. Nathan has also worked behind the scenes to engage both modular and panelized manufacturers in the Katrina Cottages movement.

Sherry Norris
Sherry is the director of the Alabama Manufactured Housing Association. Sherry was the first industry representative to engage with the beginnings of the Katrina Cottages movement in September 2005.

Lew Oliver
Lew is a New Urban Guild designer who has a Katrina Cottage plan (Rainbow Row) in Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages. Lew began his freelance career, specializing in residential design and developing a passion for New Urbanism. He now serves as Town Urbanist for Vickery in North Atlanta, Clark's Grove in Covington Georgia, and Serenbe in Southwest Atlanta. He is active in planning large-scale residential communities and developing urban codes for various traditional neighborhood projects.

Robert is a New Urban Guild architect who participated at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette as a planner, and who has recently submitted many Katrina Cottage plans for consideration for the next plan book. Robert's award-winning practice is based in New Haven, Connecticut. Robert Orr & Associates (ROA) is a firm of 15 architects and town planners that has been honored with awards numerous times for their residential, commercial, institutional, and town planning work, which has been featured in hundreds of publications at home and abroad.

Dan works for New Urban Guild architect Jim Strickland's Historical Concepts firm. Dan submitted Katrina Cottage designs prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. Historical Concepts is a multi-discipline Place-Making firm offering residential architecture, commercial architecture and land planning services. The 30-person firm has participated in nationally recognized projects, including many of the best-known New Urbanist neighborhoods.

Steve is a New Urban Guild architect who was the lead designer of Katrina Cottage II, which was built in St. Bernard Parish at the Arabi charrette in the spring of 2006. Steve is the current President of the Louisiana chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He opened his award-winning practice in 1980, and has been a pioneer for New Urbanism in Louisiana since shortly thereafter. He has worked with DPZ since 1994, and River Ranch, where he is Town Planner and Town Architect, is one of the best-known New Urbanist neighborhoods in the region.

Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
www.dpz.com
Lizz was the principal in charge of the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette, which is where the Katrina Cottage movement first became known to the public. She is a founding principal of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company. DPZ is a leader in the New Urbanism movement, which seeks to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. The firm first received international recognition as the designer of Seaside, Florida, and has since completed designs and codes for over two-hundred new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization projects. She is also dean of the University of Miami's School of Architecture, where she has taught since 1979. Having initiated the graduate program in Suburb and Town Design in 1988, Elizabeth continues to explore current issues in city growth and reconstruction with students and faculty. She has served as Director of the Center for Urban Community and Design, organizing and promoting numerous design exercises for the benefit of communities throughout South Florida.

Julie Sanford
Julie is a New Urban Guild architect who submitted Katrina Cottage plans prior to the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. She founded Starr Sanford Design Associates in 1996; it focuses on vernacular traditions with sustainable design and high performance building technologies. The practice is characterized by an interest in the regional traditions of the South as well as the French, English, Spanish and Dutch Colonial architecture of the West Indies. Julie is also the developer of a collection of new rural hamlets known as Sky in the Florida panhandle.

Craig Savage
Craig is a promoter of many great new ideas in American construction. Craig was involved in a meeting in early December 2005 to plan a press conference at the 2006 International Builders' Show announcing James Hardie's sponsorship of the New Urban Guild Plan Book. Craig had been promoting Sarah Susanka's modular "Not So Big" house at the Builders' Show until the manufacturer pulled out at the last moment. It was Craig who came up with the brilliant idea of using the booth to showcase a Katrina Cottage.

Gavin represented FEMA as their lead consultant at the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette. At that point, he was considered the New Urbanists' adversary because of several FEMA policies, including their new Base Flood Elevations that made some areas unbuildable at an affordable cost. But he was such an able and worthy opponent that when Governor Barbour was looking for someone to head up the Office of Recovery and Renewal, he tapped Gavin for the job. Gavin has been very influential in steering the Katrina Cottage movement in a direction where it should be eligible for major federal funding.

Leland Speed
www.mississippi.org
Leland is the Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority. He was very instrumental in the recovery process from the beginning, including providing strong support for Katrina Cottages.

Jason Spellings
Jason built Katrina Cottage I and has been active in the New Urbanism and Gulf Coast recovery since. He currently is a State of Mississippi housing coordinator.

Bruce is a New Urban Guild member who is developing Katrina Cottage Square in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. It is the first collection of Katrina Cottages to be built anywhere. He has also submitted Katrina Cottage designs. His firm, Tolar Lebatard Denmark, Architects, is based in Ocean Springs. Bruce has also worked tirelessly behind the scenes to promote other aspects of the Katrina Cottage movement, including the distribution of Gulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages.

Mike Watkins
www.dpz.com
Mike is a DPZ Director and New Urban Guild architect who participated in the Mississippi Renewal Forum charrette as a planner. Mike contributed many hours of his own time and of his staff's time to facilitate local liaison aspects of the USA Weekend Katrina Cottage (Katrina Cottage VIII) in Washington, DC. Mike is Director of Town Planning for Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ.) Mike opened the Washington, D.C. office of DPZ in 1998. Since that time, he has served as the Town Architect for Kentlands, a 352-acre neo-traditional neighborhood northwest of Washington, DC. He is also the Project Manager and Town Architect for numerous other neo-traditional neighborhoods across the country.

Laura Anne Bossardt Welsh
Laura graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s School of Architecture in 1998 and has worked for Urban Design Associates and Devlin Architecture designing traditional buildings for New Urbanist projects around the country. She currently works at the custom residential firm Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, LLP, in New York City. She designed her Katrina Cottage as a response to the call for submittals that was raised before the Mississippi Renewal charrette. Her design, Papillion, was included in the Urban Design Associates Gulf Coast Pattern Book. She can be reached at labwelsh@gmail.com.

Janna Whitley
www.newurbanguild.com Janna is the New Urban Guild principal who spearheads the Manufactured Architecture program.

Irina was instrumental in pulling together the deal with Craig Savage and the James Hardie Company that secured the booth at the International Builders' Show that showcased Katrina Cottage I and Hardie's sponsorship of the New Urban Guild plan book.