A tribute to Michael Barranco

Michael Barranco of Jackson, Mississippi, who died in an auto accident Feb.22, was "a Renaissance man," says Steve Mouzon of the New Urban Guild: "an architect,  artist, musician, and civic leader." 

As Town Architect for the Lost Rabbit development, Barranco was involved in the decision to avoid doing what was often done — picking "a random handful of historical styles for their architectural 'collection,'" Mouzon says. Instead, a charrette worked at producing designs that would draw from "the best architecture of the region."

After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Barranco phoned Mouzon to round up new urbanist ideas for the Governor's Commission then being formed under Gov. Haley Barbour.  "And with this," says Mouzon, "began a series of events that changed forever both the Gulf Coast and the New Urbanism."