Brad Pitt's Big Easy Rebuilding Plan

Thu., Apr. 20, 2006 7:00 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Brad Pitt knows how to build great abs, but can he build a city?

Well, an entire city is too much for one man, even Achilles, so Pitt announced Thursday that he has teamed with national environmental group Global Green USA to sponsor a competition that will choose architects to rebuild parts of hurricane-devastated New Orleans.

The Mr. and Mrs. Smith star, who recently got on board with Ocean's Thirteen, is calling on architects, urban planners and ecologists to submit "green" designs.

"This competition asks the question, can this catastrophe be turned into opportunity?" Pitt said in a statement. "Can we create for these neighborhoods and its families something even better than they had before? We encourage anyone with an idea to get involved."

??Honoring the traditions of this unique city and the voice of its residents," he said, "our goal is to create designs--and ideally built projects--for neighborhoods which are stable, beautiful, sustainable and affordable...This competition captures some of our best qualities as a society, our ingenuity and our goodwill, and no idea is too small."

Global Green USA President Matt Petersen told reporters that he expects designs to be submitted in June and then six finalists will be chosen in July. The six winning visionaries will then have the chance to work out more detailed plans with individual neighborhoods.

Petersen said that New Orleans residents are worried about the upcoming hurricane season and concerned that what they have been able to rebuild so far won't hold up in the nasty weather.

"It's a frantic pace of trying to move things forward and at the same time not enough is happening," he said. "That's the view I heard from several local residents."

Pitt's decision to dive into the important cause is none too surprising, not only because he's been on a save-the-world tear for the past year with Angelina Jolie. His interest in architecture is well-documented--in 2004, for instance, he told Vanity Fair that architect Frank Gehry, who designed L.A.'s Walt Disney Concert Hall (and renovated the wine cellar in the Beverly Hills home Pitt shared with Jennifer Aniston), was one of the men he truly respected in life.

"I'm really into architecture, structure and design. Give me anything and I'll design it," Pitt said. "I'm a bit nutty with it."

The 42-year-old actor is also no stranger to service for his fellow man, although his recent goodwill activities have been overshadowed by the fact that he's been doing them à deux.

While he'll be on hand this summer in New Orleans to judge the competition entries with local leaders and a panel of architects, Pitt is currently holed up in the African country of Namibia--possibly being guarded by lions--awaiting the arrival of baby Brangelina.

Jolie also has two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara, both of whom have had their last names legally changed to Jolie-Pitt.

Namibia Governor Samuel Sheefeni Nuuyoma said Monday that the expectant couple have talked about giving their first biological child together a Namibian name. In that case, what's Namibian for "genetically gifted"?