origins…

The RightFrame concept emerged in the aftermath of hurricanes Rita and Katrina. After large sections of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were decimated in the summer of 2005, several visionary groups saw an opportunity to rethink basic residential building principles. A dream emerged from the tragedy. With large parts of New Orleans effectively a blank building slate, Global Green USA and several other environmental groups began to experiment with the idea of rebuilding these neighborhoods using both affordable and sustainable building techniques paired with quality design. Global Green USA and actor Brad Pitt sponsored a competition, asking architects from all over the world to tackle this challenge and envision a new community for the Holy Cross District of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. RightFrame’s incubator, workshop/apd, submitted a proposal called GREEN.O.LA, which was chosen from hundreds of other qualified proposals as the winner of the competition. Construction is underway at the site in the Lower Ninth Ward, and is expected to be completed in late 2010.

This design competition was the impetus for workshop/apd, as a top residential design firm in New York City, to advance its understanding of green construction techniques and materials with an eye on affordability. Today, the firm is committed to incorporating this knowledge into everything it does, believing that sustainable and affordable architecture can be beautiful. This approach is a new mandate to help lead the way toward a more enlightened method of home building. The founders and principal designers at workshop/apd, Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen, realized that these goals could be met with the creation of an entity focused exclusively on new home construction and RightFrame was born.

www.rightframehome.com

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