In the cascade of catastrophes occurring in 2005, none struck Americans more forcefully than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In response to the images of drowned cities and blasted coastlines, architects throughout the country have asked, “What can I do?” Architects are trained to plan and to build, and many have faced disasters in their own communities. The scope of these natural disasters has provoked an unprecedented flurry of ideas and goodwill, from a directory of relocated Louisiana architects and large-scale voluntary damage assessment by professionals coordinated by the American Institute of Architects to a variety of public forums and unsolicited designs.

The most focused and carefully organized thus far was the “Rebuild Mississippi” forum, held from October 10 to 17. Commissioned by that state’s governor and abetted by his director of economic development, the entire program was financially underwritten by former Netscape C.E.O. Jim Barksdale and the Knight Foundation. For an intense week, local architects teamed with representatives of the Congress of New Urbanism (CNU), led by the indefatigable Andres Duany (and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk), together with engineers, planners, and representatives of local government, who met at the still-standing Isle of Capri hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi. Their efforts spread far beyond the tender imaginings of Seaside, to rethinking an 80-mile stretch of prime coastline, now laid waste.