CottageInsideOctNov06Katrina Cottages bound for Lowe’s stores

Robert Steuteville
Courtesy of Steve Mouzon
Small, hurricane-resistant dwellings are being rolled out by assorted designers and producers, using five different construction methods.
Four model cottages by new urbanist designers, each in a vernacular style appropriate to the Gulf Coast, will begin to be sold in 30 Lowe’s Home Improvement stores in Mississippi and Louisiana in mid-November. Lowe’s outlets in the two states — both of which are still in the early stages of reconstruction, more than a year after Hurricane Katrina — will sell the cottages as packages of materials. Professional builders or highly skilled do-it-yourselfers will then assemble the materials to make wood-frame “Katrina Cottages” of 544 to 936 square feet.