Cottage square was born after Hurricane Katrina left thousands of Gulf residents homeless. Immediately following the Mississippi Renewal Forum in October 2005, New York designer Marianne Cusato responded with “a dignified alternative to the FEMA trailer.” Today, the original yellow Katrina Cottage (see our July/August 2006 issue) stands beside two alternatives in this 21?2-acre community taking shape in Ocean Springs.

Others are being built or trucked in—nearly two dozen in all, including a chapel and a school that will double as a civic building and design center. The hope is that this prototype community can be replicated in other towns and cities, be they disaster areas or just places where people want affordable housing and meaningful human interaction.

“After a hurricane, people lose more than their house. They lose their place,” says Bruce Tolar, an Ocean Springs-based architect and a member of the new Katrina Cottage Group. “Not only does the Katrina Cottage provide a sense of permanency, but the front porches and cheery facades also give people a feeling of neighborliness.”

Lessons from Cottage Square
As developers of cottage pocket neighborhoods know, there can be multiple zoning hurdles to overcome, but it’s worth the effort to keep design standards high. Katrina Cottage Group plans to host zoning-code workshops at Cottage Square to share info to make other Katrina Cottage communities possible.