Tulane architecture professor Ammar Eloueini moved to New Orleans shortly before Hurricane Katrina damaged much of the city. Inspired to build something strong enough to withstand 180-mile-per-hour winds and heavy flooding, he designed a futuristic shotgun-style home that uses geometry to stay afloat. On a typically narrow New Orleans lot (30 feet wide), Eloueini’s J House reworks the long, narrow “shotgun shack” typology by relying on two steel “tubes” interwoven to lift the home 10 feet above ground while providing support with a minimal footprint. The twisting structure culminates on top in a 50-foot-long snake-like skylight which provides plenty of natural light for an all-white interior. After five years of construction (he built when he had the funds), Eloueini has nearly completed one of the most stunningly unique homes we have ever visited. From the outside, the massive, twisting, charred wood exterior appears fit for a superhero. Walk inside up the floating white staircase and into the elevated home and space appears to twist and move around you. “I was always fascinated by designers who designed something as if you took away from them all the knowledge of what that object is supposed to look like. As if they have a totally fresh eye on a house”. Eloueini who was born in Beirut, raised in Paris and now works in both Europe and the US, believes that architecture should reflect our location. “It’s to respond to the way we live today, pushing the ideas of what is a house today in this climate, in the materials we have.” AEDS | Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio http://digit-all.net/ Original story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-DCSViBb8I

Comments

1. Love it, the other houses are unsuitable for the area, especially considering the impacts that climate change will have on New Orleans so it is definitely time for design to move on and reflect this. Very creative and interesting.
2. That always irks me when you have beautiful homes and someone builds some ultra modern next door
3. wowwwowwww!!! could you go back and film it complete? would love to see everything finished!!! also, wonder how he cleans under the stairs?
   I got the sense as I watched this, that i would just weep over the beauty of this structure if I was it's designer! once again, thank you for what you bring us!! 😂
4. I would hate to know how much it cost to have all those steel beams custom cut.
5. No bedrooms?
6. Big waste of space
7. Why is the front & back fence so dam ugly, chain link fence ? spends all this money & put a crappy fence up ?. Fence Look Fitting for a construction site not this house..
8. at first it would make a good studio/exhibition but later i thought how you would be able to live in it. honestly i would love to but concerned alot for the cleaning(under those stairs, how), use of space, and insulation(with the dark outter parts and metal seems to be drawing in more heat than ever). it seems to be a better idea for it to be a studio/exhibition cuz when he opened the door, the "grand" stair case awed me and if you think about it, adding color and furniture near towards the window would ruin it as it would contrast with the stairs on the background. the natural light from the window and the sky light would be amazing for the art showcased and the mini "hallway" would be the best place to show case it too. itll look more awesome if it had some bright green vines and flowers growing over the steel look(not covering completely tho, with vine growing from the bottom up in shapes and sizes while exposing alot of the steel) especially on that ledge over at the window. imagine greenery framing the outside while bringing in color and life into the house on both the outside and inside. i think itll fit more better into the neighborhood too cuz rn that building looks like a big hunk of metal totally sticking out like a sore thumb. love the idea of the twisting, didnt see the floating part (honestly the kitchen floating(i think it looks ugly tbh) shows more how much space it took(creates a shadow) and the under space isnt being used, not space efficient ). its artist look only furthers it more to be an exhibit or a studio than a living space.of course you can still live in it. :/ just my opinions.
9. 9:52 lol
10. Very cool. I like spaces. It seems unnatural and stifling to live in boxy rooms within a box hoarding things you don't really need.
11. Totally unsuitable for a couple or even a family with one or two kids. Even as a single person, you totally lack privacy in there, you have no defined rooms and the twisting structure wastes a lot of usable space, wich could have being used a lot more effective with a different design. For being a single person only house, i consider this being a waste of valuable space.
    I like the concept of a risen loft-like home, but this is the worst possible outcome of that very concept.
    Despite that, i know that these plywood panels used outside will rot away in just a few years from now.
    The horrible long and endless looking stairway will make it a nightmare to leave or enter the house.
    
    I really like most of the shown concepts here on this channel, but this is by far the worst of them.
    Form should follow function. That's clearly not the case here.
12. As a builder this is NOT practical to build. Material cost is very high due to materials used and labor cost go up because of the complexity of design. Does not fit the location much - more suited to the beach or larger open spaces for my taste. The kitchen concept is good idea. Square everything up. Change to wood and you would save enough money to put in a small elevator. Hardened the entrance against break in with poured concrete block along with steel door. Concept does get you thinking.
13. So where do i put my muddy shoes? My wet coat? Actually where do i put anything?
14. this is just brilliant
15. how you clean skylight windows ?
16. how you clean under staircase ?
17. the skylight is impressive, a wonderful design. I wonder as he gets older will he be adding a handrail to the stairs.
18. Wooow  briljant, inventive and beautyful house!I love the geometric approach. Thanks for building and thanks for sharing Ammar!
    @Kirsten: can you come back when it's completely finished?I would really love to see the house when it's lived in and the book shelves are filled :-)
19. so its a giant double wide trailer....... I just dont get it seems to be a lot of work for not a whole lot of living space..... I can't imagine how much it cost...
20. its not la its new orleans it sticks out like a sore thumb but to each their own