Not sure if people saw this, but it's worth a look

http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/08/17/heavenly-abode/

Neat design but it's not going to happen. It's cost prohibitive, the land isn't right for building something like that in the longterm and most of the people that were displaced by the hurricane wouldn't be able to afford to live there anyways not to mention there is no housing or space shortage right now. Arcologies aren't entirely feasible in the US right now. The best place to build one at the moment would be Japan where space *is* at premium.

It's gigantic, terribly inefficiently designed, ugly as fuck, and would be crushed under the weigh of injunctions from a swarm of special interest groups claiming that it was an attempt to lock away the "undesirable poor" of New Orleans someplace where the rest of the city didn't have to see or deal with them.

Did I mention that it's ugly?

Aye, my first thought was, "God, what a waste of perfectly usable space."

don't forget, down here the politicians are some of the most corrupt. So you need to greese the palms of many a representatives.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or the business man and politician with the cash. I'd agree that Japan would be way more likely to get an arc before anywhere US side would. I posted more as something that caught my eye and reminded me that had Katrina happened in the late 2050's, Louisiana could have had it's own ACHE building issues.

How long after it's built until someone puts giant numbers (1-4) in the corners of the triangular faces...