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University of Arkansas
School of Architecture
Boston Architectural College
Department of Landscape Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology
College of Architecture
University of Kansas
School of Architecture and Urban Design
University of Kentucky
School of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
University of Minnesota
School of Architecture
University of Montana
Environmental Studies Program
University of Southern
California
School of Policy, Planning, and Development
University of Texas at Arlington
School of Architecture
University of Texas at Austin
School of Architecture
Tulane University
School of Architecture
Washington University
College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Wentworth Institute of
Technology
Department of Architecture
Prototype Housing and Urban Design
Central City Neighborhood
Community Partner: Central City Renaissance Alliance
CITYbuild School: Washington University College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Washington University in St. Louis' ongoing commitment to New Orleans and the mission of the CITYbuild Consortium began in Spring 2006 with an advanced undergraduate design studio that focused on the Post-Katrina conditions of the Central City neighborhood. The studio operated at two distinct scales separately: the first half was the architectural scale of a prototype house; the second half was the urban design scale of the neighborhood. Beginning at the scale of the house, the studio participated in the New Orleans House Prototype Competition, sponsored by Tulane School of Architecture and Architectural Record Magazine. To inform their designs, students researched and analyzed New Orleans' existing house types, relationships to urban context, construction issues, and local conditions, including climate, culture, and economics. Upon completion of the competition, the studio traveled to New Orleans to conduct site documentation and analysis on Central City's Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Corridor.
Site/Context
Central City is a wedge-shaped area, a morphological resultant from the curve of the Mississippi River and the 20th century development of pre-existing plantation lot-layouts towards Lake Pontchartrain. The topographic cross-section through this neighborhood, albeit subtle, is intense with elevations ranging from a few feet above sea-level to eight feet below. Much of the area was extremely affected by the flooding after Hurricane Katrina.
The historic Dryades Street / Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Corridor, at an elevation just above the devastating flood level, is an area in Central City that once thrived commercially and culturally. It was the lifeline for the neighborhood that is home to jazz pioneers Buddy Bolden and King Oliver, over 2800 shotgun houses, several Mardi Gras Indian tribes, a wide array of worship facilities, art galleries, cultural and community centers, and hip-hop artists. Over the past 40 years, however, the Corridor, like most of Central City, has succumbed to the affects of systemic disinvestment, leading to urban blight, crime and abandonment.
Services Provided
Students analyzed the O.C. Haley Corridor in relation to Central City, to New Orleans, and to local, thriving parallel corridors such as St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street. Students proposals range vastly in scale from macro-scale planning recommendations to micro-scale architectural interventions. All of the projects contend with the importance of the Dryades Street / Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Corridor within the urban network of Central City and New Orleans, and how such a Corridor can act to knit together a culturally rich neighborhood, as it once did in the past.
Contact
Prof. Derek Hoeferlin hoeferlin@architecture.wustl.edu
Prof. John Hoal hoal@wustl.edu
Upcoming Projects
In Spring 2007, Washington University students will investigate New Orleans at multiple scales in two concurrently offered studios. In "FLOOD…FEMA…FOOTPRINT…the New New Orleanian F$#! Words", students will study the issues of risk and topography in New Orleans, specifically in Central City and the entirety of District Two. Concurrently, students will focus on Central City, the Lower Garden District and the Lower Ninth Ward in a graduate level urban design studio titled "Topographical Blues…The River, the Delta, the Gulf…Fluid Terrains of Environment, Race, Economy & Culture- Investigations into Sustainable Resilience".