Brad Pitt Wants You to Get a Toilet For Christmas

Brad Pitt is asking you to “Make It Right” this Christmas, by buying your loved one a low flush toilet. The john wouldn’t go under the tree, but in one of the sustainable homes Pitt is building in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans as part of his “Make It Right” project. Announced in September, the initiative aims to build 150 such residences in the Katrina-ravished neighborhood in the coming years.

Now that New Orleans is essentially a blank slate, anything is possible. The need for low cost housing means that the architecture solutions need to be cost-efficient. Such sustainable designs will come from top architects such as William McDonough, the green design expert; Graft, a Los Angeles architecture firm; and Cherokee, an investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in sustainable redevelopment. Their plans range from Dutch-inspired floating homes to vine-covered bungalows.

Pitt, an amateur architect himself, is lending the biggest hand (over fist)—he’s personally donating $5 million. This sum was matched by entrepreneur/philanthropist Stephen Bing. He’s calling on everyone else to donate this holiday season, Oprah’s Angel Network-style: a toilet here, a tankless water heater there…

[via URB Magazine]