Leading American architects have been commissioned to design homes for the New Orleans suburb that bore the brunt of Hurricane Katrina two years ago, under an initiative launched by the actor Brad Pitt.

The architects have been told to design properties that are cheap to build and maintain, robust and environmentally friendly. Thirteen firms were each asked to draw up a 1,200-square-foot house, built between five and eight feet off the ground, with a front porch and three bedrooms. The cost of building and fitting out each home was not to exceed $150,000 (£74,000).

Morphosis, a Los Angeles firm, has designed a property made of lightweight concrete that would float should the city flood again. The New Orleans-based architectural firm Concordia has proposed a home erected on stilts with steep and wide front steps.

Residents can choose which design they would like and building is scheduled to begin next month. One of the key characteristics of the project is that the properties will be built using structural panels that can be easily stored and erected quickly and cheaply.

The Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans was one of the worst affected by Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city in August 2005. About 80 per cent of homes in the low-income, and mainly African American, neighbourhood were destroyed by the flood water. The area is almost deserted.

The plans have faced opposition from both the city and federal governments, which question the wisdom of building new homes in an area that is susceptible to flooding in the future.

Mr Pitt, whose project is called Make It Right, is in talks with charitable groups, businesses and wealthy individuals for contributions to the scheme. Last week, Alcoa, the aluminium giant, donated $150,000.

Although the initial plans call for 150 homes, the actor is hoping that the project will expand to include as many as 100,000 new properties.

The American Red Cross has estimated that as many as 300,000 homes were destroyed by Katrina, which was the third-strongest hurricane to have hit the US. It formed over the Atlantic, with the most severe damage occurring in New Orleans, which flooded when its levee system failed.

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