Traditional Building: Not your typical trade show

You wouldn’t think something called the Traditional Building Exhibition would be a hotbed of controversy and revolutionary thinking.

But there I was, two weeks ago in New Orleans, listening with one raised eyebrow as architect Steve Mouzon derided certain aspects of the green building movement. Citing a misguided obsession with all things “gizmo green,” Mouzon had no kind words for a certain celebrity's eco-friendly housing project in the city's Ninth Ward. Take that, Brangelina!

Then, in a bit of architectural heresy, New Urbanism guru Andres Duany went so far as to suggest a moratorium on building codes in New Orleans. That way, Duaney argued, residents could return home to their devestated neighborhoods, and rebuild within their means.

The crowd gasped in horror. But then they gave the famed architect a standing ovation.

Perhaps the reason why the mid-October event felt more like a home construction cabal than a run-of-the-mill trade show had to do with the city in which it took place.

Lest we forget, New Orleans lost 200,000 homes (and more than a third of its population) a few years back.

No doubt, this place needs controversy. It needs revolutionary thinking. While there are plenty of great minds trying to figure out how to make New Orleans a better, safer place to live than it was before the storm, it's still anyone's guess as to how, exactly, that's going to happen.

Thankfully, the Traditional Building Exhibition served not only as a showcase of great building materials (I'll get to some of those later), it also served as a much-needed forum on the future of a great American city.