photography: Robbie Caponneto
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The first-ever People's Design Award was presented to Marianne Cusato for her Katrina Cottage, Wednesday, October 18, at the seventh annual National Design Awards Gala in New York City. The award is sponsored by The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and was voted on by the public.
The Katrina Cottage was one of more than 500 designs nominated for the award. Others included everyday objects like the zipper and mousetrap, as well as architectural monuments such as the Empire State Building. Ultimately, the Cottage emerged as the public’s favorite design. The concept for the Katrina Cottage was developed by architect and planner Andrés Duany weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Marianne Cusato, principal of Marianne Cusato Associates, a New York-based architecture firm, devised the design in response to the short-term limitations of FEMA trailers. The Cottage is a small, permanent house that is safe, affordable, and can be assembled quickly. The National Design Awards were launched in 2000 to broaden awareness of the role of design in daily life. The People's Design Award is part of Cooper-Hewitt’s new education initiative, National Design Week. Cooper-Hewitt, a branch of the Smithsonian Institute, is the only museum in the nation devoted exclusively to historic and cotemporary design. The museum is located at 2 East 91st Street in Manhattan. Lowe's, the national building supply company, plans to introduce kit versions of four Katrina Cottage designs in November 2006. | 
