Gimme A Lift

In early April, 2020, a team of workers dug five feet below a house in Uptown New Orleans. They burrowed under the foundation, separating the house from the ground that had held it for nearly half a century. The workers installed jacks, like the ones you’d use to lift your car up to change a tire.

They hooked the jacks up to a big red machine, which uses pressurized water to power dozens of them at the same time. The workers jacked up the house, a few inches at a time. They used massive pieces of wood to support the house’s weight while they built a new foundation underneath the old one. Now the house’s floor is five feet above ground level, three feet above sea level, and no longer in danger of flooding when the drainage canal under South Claiborne Avenue can’t handle the intense rains our changing climate dumps into it.

This photo essay documents two days in the process of elevating The House on Claiborne, a project which has included the contributions of more skilled workers, craftswomen and men, consultants, artists, designers, engineers, plant specialists, media professionals, friends and family than I can count. My practice, the Collaborative Design Workshop, is proud to have played a small part in the process. See more about this project here: https://www.rchrisdaemmrich.com/the-house-on-claiborne.