ABSTRACT
David Perkes is an architect and an Associate Professor in the College of Architecture, Art + Design, at Mississippi State University. He is the Founding Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, a professional outreach programme of the university. The studio was established soon after Hurricane Katrina to provide planning and architectural design support to Mississippi Gulf Coast communities and non-profit organizations. The design studio works in close partnership with the East Biloxi Coordination and Relief Center and has assisted in the renovation of hundreds of damaged homes and over fifty new house projects in East Biloxi. David has a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Utah and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University. The interviews and supporting essays show built environment professionals collaborating with post-disaster communities as facilitators, collaborators and negotiators of land, space and shelter, rather than as 'save the world' modernists.
