James Hardie Sponsors Katrina Cottage

The hottest new home to premiere at this year's International Builders Show may be the smallest.

Although Katrina Cottage 1 is only a bit larger than 300 square feet, it can fill a giant need on the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast.

James Hardie, which produces the fiber cement siding used in this version of the cottage, is a principal sponsor of the display in space No. 6 at the IBS outdoor exhibition area.

"We're proud to be associated with design efforts such as the Katrina Cottage," said Robert Russell, vice president, James Hardie.

"Our products and this approach to building in storm zones are a perfect fit."

The cottage plan was created by New York designer Marianne Cusato, one of more than 100 planning specialists brought to Biloxi in October of 2005 by the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding, and Renewal.

The out-of-town group was led by famed architect and planner Andres Duany and organized under the umbrella of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

They joined with a like number of colleagues from the region for a week-long planning charrette called the Mississippi Renewal Forum.

From that Forum came designs soon to be published by the New Urban Guild in a series of plan books also sponsored by James Hardie.

Katrina Cottage 1 is the first to be built.

Her goal, said Cusato, was to change the definiti