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a solution: the buoyant foundation project
Chapter four discusses the Buoyant Foundation Project (BFP) as a solution to the challenges outlined in Chapters Two and Three. The BFP was conceived as an alternate flood mitigation strategy for shotgun homes, which are a common housing typology in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The BFP is currently the only strategy that simultaneously resolves the technical, safety, and socio-cultural aspects of flood protection. It is the goal of the BFP to provide the Lower Ninth Ward with safer and more flood-resilient homes while protecting the culture and way of life. This chapter begins by introducing the mission of the BFP and then discusses why it is a more effective flood-protection solution than permanent static elevation. A diagrammatic streetscape is provided, comparing non-elevated homes, permanently elevated homes, and homes on buoyant foundations during a flood. This illustrates the BFP’s efficacy. A thorough review of the BFP’s components is then given, and it is explained how the system operates during dry and flooded conditions. This is followed by a brief discussion of a shotgun house at 1315 Lamanche Street in the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans, that maybe available to the BFP to retrofit with a buoyant foundation. The role of FEMA and the NFIP is then discussed. A summary of FEMA’s interaction with the BFP throughout the evolution of the project from 2007 to the present is provided. The chapter concludes with a brief review of government policy, which further explains the involvement of FEMA and the NFIP with the BFP.
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