Archinect - News

Project Pipeline Introduces New Orleans High School Students to Architecture and Design

2012-08-14T21:09:00-04:00

More than 25 high school students from across New Orleans, most of whom had never met an architect, recently took part in the inaugural Project Pipeline Architecture and Design Camp — a four-day, intensive workshop intended to introduce the process of design to a community with historically limited access to the design profession.

The camp was organized by the Louisiana Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA LA) and held at the Tulane School of Architecture.

First Frank Gehry Home Completed by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation

2012-07-13T13:00:00-04:00

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation (remember THE PINK PROJECT?) has sent us first images of the new home Frank Gehry designed for the initiative. Completed this week, the building is located in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood most devastated by Hurricane Katrina back in August of 2005. To date, this is the only Gehry-designed home in Louisiana, and—complying with Make It Right's core mission—built to LEED Platinum certification standards.

Here's the official press release we've received from Make It Right:

July 13, 2012, New Orleans – Make It Right, founded by Brad Pitt to build sustainable homes for communities in need, is proud to announce the completion of the organization's first home by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Gehry's duplex design was completed this week in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward, the neighborhood most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This home is one of only 22 Gehry residences in the United States and the only Gehry home in Louisiana.

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Creepy-cool village where every house is a musical instrument

2012-05-21T13:23:00-04:00

The Music Box is a New Orleans art installation that makes regular artist’s colonies look like Camazotz. In this tiny shantytown, every building is also a musical instrument, and the entire town can be played in a beautiful, spooky symphony that looks and sounds like something out of Coraline.

Architecture meets art in the 'DesCours' nighttime optical adventure

2011-12-02T14:08:55-05:00

In its five-year history, DesCours has become my favorite annual art outing, but it hasn't become any easier to describe. You'd be accurate if you called it a self-guided nighttime tour of lighted experimental architecture installations set in little-seen downtown locations.

Film: A Plea For Modernism

2011-05-26T20:17:12-04:00

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School has served the historic New Orleans African-American neighborhood of Tremé since it opened in 1955. Celebrated worldwide for its innovative, regionally-expressive modern design – the structure sustained moderate damage during the storms and levee breach of 2005. Although it is scheduled for demolition in Summer 2011, DOCOMOMO Louisiana is advocating for its restoration via adaptive reuse. "A Plea For Modernism" is narrated by actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”, “Treme”). View on Vimeo

A lost generation?

2011-04-20T12:35:17-04:00

Trey Trahan, principal of Trahan Architects, worries that architects who leave the industry for a period of time might struggle to keep up with technological advances in their field.

Business Report.com discusses the ongoing effects of the economic crisis for architects and others involved in the construction industries.

"There's a huge gap right now between older and younger architects," he says. "That middle group—the one that would take over the leadership of firms—just isn't there. There aren't as many of them around."

Gulf’s Complexity and Resilience Seen in Studies of Oil Spill

2011-04-12T16:40:58-04:00

In the year since the wellhead beneath the Deepwater Horizon rig began spewing rust-colored crude into the northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists have been working frantically to figure out what environmental harm really came of the largest oil spill in American history. What has emerged in studies so far is not a final tally of damage, but a new window on the complexities of the gulf, and the vulnerabilities and capacities of biological systems in the face of environmental insults.

In June, oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico was absorbed by booms in Bay Jimmy, south of New Orleans.

Urban Hypotheticals

2011-04-09T23:54:19-04:00

Members of this organization begin the narrative process by examining city neighborhoods and commercial districts for compelling structures that appear to have fallen into disuse—“hidden gems” of the built environment. In varying states of repair, these buildings suggest only stories about the past, not the future.