NEW ORLEANS, LA, June 2, 2006 — Global Green USA and Brad Pitt have teamed up to sponsor the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans to provide an opportunity for talented architects, urban planners, designers, ecologists and students to put forward a creative yet practical vision for the green rebuilding of New Orleans.

Interested parties can register for the competition at: www.globalgreen.org/competition. The registration deadline is June 9, 2006. All submissions must be received by the competition sponsor in New Orleans no later than 5:00 pm (Central Time) on July 6, 2006.

The competition will be conducted in two stages. The historic Holy Cross Neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward is the focus of Stage 1 of the competition. In Stage 1, participants are asked to provide a sustainable urban design that focuses on a green, healthy multi family building with a community center and single-family housing. Submissions will be asked to achieve several sustainable design and green building goals, including net-zero energy goals (e.g., meeting all energy needs for buildings on the site through passive and active strategies). In Stage II, finalists identified from the first round will draw on their submissions from Stage I, working with local architects and community groups, to create a plan for selected areas in different neighborhoods of the city. They will design single-family housing and a community facility. Competitors are also challenged to develop innovative architectural and planning solutions that draw from the rich design heritage of New Orleans.

The confirmed members of the design jury include Brad Pitt and Matt Petersen as well as Thom Mayne — the 2005 Pritzker Prize winner; William Morrish - University of Virginia School of Architecture; David Orr - Oberlin College Environmental Studies Program and Pam Dashiell - President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association in the lower 9th Ward. The technical jury will consist of 3 to 5 organizations represented through individual expert representatives of USGBC, AIA, and possibly 2 others.

Two New Orleans-based consultants are assisting Global Green in organizing this project: Reed Kroloff and Casey Jones of Jones-Kroloff Design Services and John Williams of John Williams Architects. They are helping design the competition process, structure the jury and select the site. Williams will head community engagement and neighborhood selection with a number of local firms to help prepare the local neighborhoods selected for the Stage II finalist round. The Holy Cross site was selected by Williams along with the help of Bob Berkebile, Bill Browning and Bill Becker (on behalf of the U.S. Green Building Council). Joining Brad Pitt as a sponsor and initial underwriter for the competition is Suzanne Friewald, Sean Cummings, a New Orleanean and an anonymous donor.

The competition is open to architects, landscape architects, urban designers, engineers, industrial designers, artists and students. Entrants may submit as individuals or as part of a team. Multi-disciplinary teams are encouraged. However, if no one on the design team is a registered architect, and the team or individual advances to Stage II, they will be matched with a local Louisiana-registered architect.

Projects will be reviewed for design quality, sustainable design, and technical competence. Three to six finalists will be selected to participate in Stage II and be awarded $25,000 to offset the cost to develop their proposals and partake in the Community Charrette and design process. At the end of Stage II, cash prizes totaling $25,000 will be distributed.

A large selection of the competition entries, including all of the award winners, will be exhibited in New Orleans and at a major national venue, and reproduced in an accompanying publication and website.

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Global Green USA - the American affiliate of President Gorbachev's Green Cross International — was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its "Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods" initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian Bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.

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Jihane Ayed
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