Student raising walls of URBANbuild #4
Tulane City Center - Eco Pavilion
S C HOOL + C ITY NEWS TULANE CITY CENTER
URBANbuild
Programs of the Tulane City Center, home of TSA’s applied urban research
URBANbuild has gained recognition as far away as Ireland, where it was featured in the RIAI journal Architecture Ireland, in an article entitled “Who is Re-Building New Orleans?” by Killian Doherty, RIBA, RIAI. Doherty praised the URBANbuild program for providing student the opportunity to develop designs for affordable housing and collaborate with faculty and local contractors to construct them.
and outreach programs, share a focus on improving cities through fostering global urban research, the development of flexible and innovative urban strategies, and the provision of environmentally and culturally informed principles to guide the design and revitalization of the contemporary metropolis. TCC partners with various organizations to engage students and faculty in projects dealing with real issues in real communities and to participate in the life of the city. This year one of the projects taken on by GREENBuild, a TCC research and design program, was Eco Pavilion, a collaboration between TCC and City Park New Orleans that showcases environmentally sensitive building strategies and technologies. Under the guidance of Coleman Coker the TCC team built the pavilion for the Fall Home and Garden Show 2008. City Park’s Botanical Garden will use the Green Pavilion to provide the public with a full scale educational model of how sustainable technologies can employed. The Pavilion includes a rainwater-catching roof, indigenous plants, salvaged materials, and rainwater filtration systems. The intention of this approachable and informative exhibition is to make these alternative building methods accessible to the public in the hope that individuals might choose to rebuild their homes and gardens in a more sustainable way. The Eco Pavilion is one project in a larger ongoing partnership between City Park and the TCC.
This year’s URBANbuild house has just finished construction in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood. This fourth URBANbuild built prototype has involved a class of 25 design students in the fall and 18 student builders in the spring semester. This house is a study in sustainable building practices and is on schedule to achieve LEED silver certification. The 1200 s.f. scheme is one story with a footprint of 24’ by 71’ and is situated on a corner lot in the Central City neighborhood. Exterior walls are activated with an operable impact resistant screened panel system. The overall form of the house is simple so that the screen system becomes the defining aspect of the project. In response to New Orleans shutter systems, typically used for shading and hurricane protection, the sliding panels can cover the interior public areas of the home or be moved to provide shading for the exterior porch spaces. Partners Tulane City Center, Neighborhood Housing Services Project Lead Byron Mouton, Program Director & Architect of Record Sam Richards, Construction Co-Director, Doris Guerrero, Adjunct Faculty Emilie Taylor, Senior Program Coordinator, Anthony Christiana Construction, General Contractor
Project Team Coleman Coker, Dan Etheridge, Seth Welty, Tom Holloman, Zach
Project Team Robert Baddour, Amanda Brendle, Ben Flatau, Monica Breziner,
Lamb, David Dieckhoff, and Emilie Taylor
Nicholas Cecchi, Katie Champagne, Nick Chan, Chad Cramer, Susan N. Danielson, Shannon Farrell, Matt Fox, Kevin Garfield, Lauren Goetz, Royce Evan Gracey, Corey Green, Chris Halbrooks, Meaghan Hartney, Matthew Hostetler, Colm M. Kennedy, Joseph Keppel, Peter Kilgust, Nicolas Mallet, Lauren Martino, Suzanne Monaco, Emily Orgeron, JP Pacelli, Marian Prado, Marie Richard, Gregor Schuller, Kevin Tully, Karla Valdivia, Colin VanWingen, Bliss Young
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