Archinect - News

Trahan Architects adds 25 years and a slate of new improvements to New Orleans' historic Superdome

2024-11-06T15:29:00-05:00

With the upcoming 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on the horizon for 2025, the new interior renovations by Trahan Architects to one of its tragic epicenters—the historic Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana—is an important project to highlight following the completion of work in September of this year.

The extension of an initial engagement, which began in the immediate aftermath of the storm, the latest commission authored a full interior renovation meant to improve accessibility, the fan experience, wayfinding, operational efficiency, and the team facilities for the city’s beloved New Orleans Saints NFL franchise.

Image © Tim Hursley

The project, which was carried out in phases from 2020 on until the start of this year's football season, reconfigures perimeter concessions areas while installing a series of new atrium volumes that ease the speed of access to upper-level guest suites.

Image © Tim Hursley

"The ingenuity of the original design enabled us to think beyond ...

Don't miss Tulane University's Gulf Coast Climate Futures Symposium, Nov. 1–2, in New Orleans

2024-10-24T14:48:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Tulane School of Architecture

Next week in New Orleans, the Tulane University School of Architecture will be hosting the two-day Gulf Coast Climate Futures Symposium in collaboration with the School of Engineering and supported by the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Gulf Research Program.

Kate Orff, writer Nathaniel Rich, and David Waggonner will be among the invited speakers spread across three moderated panels, each bringing their own perspective on climate adaptation and decarbonizing the built environment.

The school says the symposium aims to consider the visions and tools that advance toward the targets set forth by the 2015 Paris Agreement. It will also serve as context and grounding for the basis of Tulane’s brand new cross-disciplinary Master of Landscape + Engineering (MLA-MS RCSE) program from Tulane's School of Architecture and School of Science and Engineering.

Two others — the newly launched Center on Climate Cha...

Get Lectured: Tulane University, Fall '24

2024-10-03T19:26:00-04:00

With the new semester in full swing, here’s a look at what's in store on the campus of our Archinect Partner School Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans this Fall.

The slate of upcoming lecturers includes Carmen Trudell (October 7); Pankaj Vir Gupta (October 14); and Sara Bronin (October 28).

A pair of Teaching Fellows' Research Dialogues will take place on November 11. The interdisciplinary Desired Gulf Futures Symposium will also be held from November 1–2nd.

To discover even more upcoming events at the Tulane SoA, check out our recent Fall 2024 highlight for the school.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Tulane School of Architecture's Fall events feature Sarah Bronin, the What Matter's Here.?! exhibition, and symposia exploring the Gulf Coast

2024-09-24T15:23:00-04:00

The Fall semester is in full swing, and as part of our ongoing event highlight at Archinect Partner Schools, we’re taking a look today at what’s in store for the Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans

Carmen Trudell of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly SLO will visit campus on October 7th for a special invited lecture in the university’s Woldenburg Art Center, followed by the daylong symposium 'Green Infrastructure, Food Systems, and Building Climate Resilience in New Orleans' on October 10th.

The immersive exhibition What Matter's Here.?!, centering on material legacies across the Gulf Coast, just opened in the School of Architecture's Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design and will be on display until May next year.

What Matter's Here.?! Image courtesy Tulane School of Architecture

Another lecture presentation featuring Pankaj Vir Gupta of the University of Virginia will follow on October 14th.

Don't miss the school's Landscape ...

A $2.91 million gift will help realize Tulane School of Architecture's new Center on Climate Change and Urbanism

2024-05-23T08:01:00-04:00

The Tulane School of Architecture has received an anonymous $2.91 million gift to help establish a new Center on Climate Change and Urbanism.

The cornerstone donation will be put towards supporting five years of research initiatives as well as new faculty and fellowship positions for an emerging cohort of climate-focused scholars housed within the School of Architecture community.

Dean Iñaki Alday says it will concurrently "provide our students with hands-on learning opportunities that prepare them not only to excel as architects and design professionals but also to grapple with a crisis that will increasingly dominate the 21st century."

Tulane reiterates that New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will continue to be the main focus of the school’s climate-related activities. The university's Roger Thayer Stone Center for Lati...

EskewDumezRipple’s latest job opening highlights the role of contracts and codes in construction

2024-02-01T08:34:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Project Manager at Fluidity Design Consultants, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Construction Contract Administrator at EskewDumezRipple.

The role, based in New Orleans, calls for an individual with an “intimate knowledge and thorough understanding of AIA Construction Contracts and requirements, applicable codes, schedule monitoring and an understanding of materials, methods, and processes of commercial construction.” Among the responsibilities for the role will be to understand and enforce the contractual obligations of all parties in the construction process, promote and ensure the design intent during the construction process, and ensure that all potentially legal and contractual matters are addressed efficiently and promptly.

EskewDumezRipple uses musical instruments and AI as inspiration for their Louisiana Music and Heritage Experience Museum design

2023-10-20T11:47:00-04:00

EskewDumezRipple has unveiled its design for the Louisiana Music and Heritage Experience Museum in New Orleans. The 120,000-square-foot project is intended as a “venue to showcase and highlight the contributions that the city of New Orleans has made to the music industry.”

Image credit: EskewDumezRipple

Located opposite the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the museum seeks to consolidate a complete view of music from several smaller museums spread across the state and region. The concept design of the scheme is inspired by music and musical instruments, with an outer shell drawing inspiration from the hollowed body of a guitar.

Meanwhile, the outlines and silhouettes of various instruments including violins, guitars, and brass pieces, are conveyed through “sinuous and flowing lines” in specific elements and building details.

Image credit: EskewDumezRipple

AI tools such as Midjourney were used during the design...

Upcoming academic events and exhibitions from Archinect Partner Schools in NYC, LA, New Orleans, and virtual

2023-05-17T14:12:00-04:00

As architecture schools everywhere prepare for end-of-year reviews, final exhibitions, and commencement ceremonies, below is a selection of upcoming events from a few of our Archinect Partner Schools.

Pratt Institute School of Architecture hosts...

Image courtesy of A Rising Tide.

Celebrating Asian & Pacific Islander Design
Date: Thursday, May 18, 6–8 pm
Details: "Join A Rising Tide, and AAPI Design Alliance for an event during NYCxDESIGN to celebrate Asian and Pacific Islanders in design. Hosted by the Pratt Institute School of Architecture, this event, timed to coincide with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, will feature short presentations by emerging API design firms and a networking hour for interior designers, architects, makers, and landscape architects. Reception will feature API-founded drink and snack companies." Pratt SOA is one of the event's sponsors. Read more here.

New York Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Design presents...

Image cour...

Making it right: Brad Pitt's foundation settles for $20.5 million in faulty post-Katrina homes lawsuit

2022-08-18T15:06:00-04:00

A settlement has been reached in the yearslong saga surrounding Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation and residents of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward.

NOLA.com is reporting that the foundation will pay a total of $20.5 million in the form of individual $25,000 reimbursements available to any plaintiffs covered by the class action suit, which was first initiated in 2018.

The foundation’s attorneys did not immediately comment on the outcome of the highly-publicized case, which stems from flawed designs, faulty construction techniques, rotting building materials, and unsafe living conditions documented in nearly all of the 109 total homes built between 2008 and 2015 through the foundation. (A mere 6 of which are still considered to be in “reasonably good shape,” according to a January report from University of Illinois urban geographer Judith Keller.)

Previously on Archinect: Brad Pitt's foundation facing lawsuit for post-Katrina homes amidst reports they are falling apart

“This is one of ...

Meet urban revitalization experts Morris Adjmi Architects: Your Next Employer?

2022-08-01T11:40:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to New York-based ODA Architecture, this week’s edition of our Meet Your Next Employer series remains partly in NYC where we meet Morris Adjmi Architects (MA).

Established in New York City in 1997 by Morris Adjmi following his 13-year-long collaboration with Aldo Rossi, MA has since expanded from its NYC base to open a second office in New Orleans.

The firm describes itself as a “leader in the revitalization of post-industrial neighborhoods and historic districts,” exemplified by a broad portfolio spanning a renovated brick warehouse in Tribeca to a contemporary glass tower built on an existing art deco building along the High Line.

The firm now seeks to expand by advertising for several roles in NYC and New Orleans on the Archinect Job board. For candidates interested in applying for a role, or anybody interested in learning more about life as an architect, we spoke with the team at MA for a behind-the-scenes look at their studio.

837 Washington in LP...

10 highlighted architecture jobs in New Orleans

2022-04-14T09:30:00-04:00

Continuing with our weekly curated job picks, we head South to highlight six architecture firms with offices in New Orleans, Louisiana. From marketing managers to project architects and interior designers, here are 10 employment opportunities for those looking to work in Louisiana's largest city.

Suppose you're searching for your next career move? In that case, Archinect Jobs, the industry's leading architecture job board, provides architects and design professionals from various backgrounds and experience levels to find the best career matches.

Ace Hotel at 600 Carondelet in New Orleans, LA. Architect of Record: EskewDumezRipple, Interior Design: Roman and Williams.

EskewDumezRipple seeks a Senior Project Architect

Details: "We are currently looking for Senior Project Architects to join our growing New Orleans Based Studio. Exampels of responsibilities include coordination with clients, project team members and consultants from startup and pre-design through construction and occup...

Historic New Orleans jazz destination that helped launch Louis Armstrong to fame destroyed by Hurricane Ida

2021-08-30T17:41:00-04:00

Video shot Monday morning shows New Orleans’ historic Karnofsky Shop was destroyed by Hurricane Ida Sunday. [...] The site, located on South Rampart Street, is where Louis Armstrong played jazz music and briefly worked. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The two-story brick building in New Orleans’ Central Business District has stood vacant for decades and was considered a hallmark of both Jazz history and Jewish culture within the Crescent City. The Karnofsky family, which purportedly loaned Louis Armstrong the money to buy his first cornet, later converted the one-time tailor shop into the city’s first jazz record store thanks to Armstrong’s childhood friend Morris Karnofsky. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002.

This is the Karnofsky Shop - a historic place. Louis Armstrong worked here and bought his first trumpet here. Collapsed during #HurricaneIda. pic.twitter.com/FsL4B1LbI8
— Jack Royer (@JackRoyer) August 30, 2021

Previous attempts had been made to convert the disused building into a nightclub. The 400 block of South Rampart street also houses historic sites like the former Eagle Saloon and Iroquois Theatre. USA Today has more on the destroyed landmark here.

New Orleans' $14.5 billion levee system seems to have worked against Hurricane Ida

2021-08-30T15:45:00-04:00

The $14.5 billion flood-protection system built around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina seems to have succeeded at keeping the city from going underwater again.

The abject failure of the levee system during Hurricane Katrina was the primary cause of the devastation that eventually cost the city a minimum of 1,800 lives and over $81 billion in property damage. Ida represents the first test of the system since it was completed in 2018.

The levees were thought to have an abbreviated shelf-life thanks to rising sea levels that would require significant upgrades within the next four years. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-led project was one of the largest infrastructure builds in history next to the Hoover Dam and Erie Canal.

Meanwhile, a protested new natural gas power plant south of Lake Pontchartrain that was supposed to protect the city’s electrical system has failed. The storm was so powerful it reversed the flow of the Mississippi River. The New York Times has more on the performance of the multibillion-dollar levee system here.

Trahan Architects begins construction on a new chapel for Loyola University in New Orleans

2021-06-21T15:37:00-04:00

Ground was broken last week for an immaculate new chapel at Loyola University in New Orleans.

The naturalistic modern sanctuary by Trahan Architects will sit at the heart of the university’s Audubon campus and serve as a communal space for Loyola’s 16,000 students.

Containing a series of smaller circles connected in a ring to the larger circular design of the chapel, the 5,000-square-foot sacred space brings together natural light and cast-in-place concrete in a variegated composition with views of an adjacent live oak tree that offers worshippers a thoughtful reflection on the natural world.

The new church's 120-seat interior. Image: Trahan Architects

“A faith that does justice is core to a Loyola education, and this new space will be transformative for our Jesuit Catholic mission,” Rev. Justin Daffron, Loyola University’s Vice President of Mission & Identity, said in a statement.

The firm was able to complete its design concept via a series of pandemic-induced backyard experiment...

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation sues its former executive director

2021-04-12T19:06:00-04:00

On Friday, the Make It Right Foundation sued its former executive director, Tom Darden III, along with the former treasurer and other officials, accusing them of mismanaging the $65 million project between 2007 and 2016. The suit, filed in in Civil District Court, also alleges that Darden and the others misled fellow Make It Right officials, including Pitt.

The legal saga around the Make It Right Foundation continues: after facing a lawsuit of their own for delivering improperly constructed homes as part of the initiative's high-profile post-Hurricane Katrina housing initiative in New Orleans and then suing the architect responsible for the flawed designs, the foundation is now reportedly taking aim at former executive director Tom Darden III and other leadership team members.

Previously on Archinect: David Adjaye-designed house for Brad Pitt's Make It Right initiative to be demolished

David Adjaye-designed house for Brad Pitt's Make It Right initiative to be demolished

2020-10-09T14:06:00-04:00

Another building constructed through Brad Pitt's Make It Right affordable housing initiative in New Orleans is in trouble: after complaints and lawsuits over "shoddy construction" of a number of houses were brought forward in recent years, leading to the demolition of one rain-damaged and rotting 7-year-old house in 2018, now the house designed by acclaimed architect David Adjaye, who just won this year's Royal Gold Medal, has been ordered to be torn down as well.

Previously on Archinect: Brad Pitt, Make It Right face lawsuit for "shoddy construction"

"The house at 1826 N. Reynes St. [...] was completed and sold by Make It Right in 2011 for $130,000," reports Dough MacCash for Nola. "Two years later, the buyer sold it back to the non-profit for a similar amount. When new, it was an audacious-looking home. The upper story of the house was an open-air patio protected from rain by a roof supported by vertical wooden posts. Those posts are now so deteriorated that the roof has partially...

Design Justice fuels the work of New Orleans-based Colloqate

2019-12-02T16:00:00-05:00

It’s hard to reconcile our work without first acknowledging that for nearly every injustice in this world, an architecture is constructed to perpetuate that injustice. Our profession overwhelmingly serves those with means and ignores the consequences of our decisions for those without means, resulting in the collective disinheritance of historically marginalized communities.

In a compelling Op-Ed for Next City, Colloqate founder and design director Bryan Lee, Jr. lays out a few of the principles of the Design Justice movement, a perspective that is central to the Design Justice Platform created by his New Orleans-based nonprofit design practice.

Lee writes, "This movement towards just spaces has seen a resurgence within the profession in the last 15 years, with a renewed commitment to address the root causes of some of the world’s most intransigent issues. At the root of climate change is a built environment that exhausts 39 percent of our carbon emissions and demands 40 percent of our energy production. At the root of housing, transportation, and economic injustice are the remnants of redlining and racial covenants that continue to extract wealth and codify structural or de facto segregation. At the root of unjust policing is a prison-industrial complex sustained by spaces that extract human dignity and economic potential from marginalized people in t...

Trahan Architects unveils renderings for Superdome renovation in New Orleans

2019-11-19T15:58:00-05:00

Trahan Architects has unveiled renderings for a recently approved $450 million upgrade package for the historic Superdome football stadium in New Orleans.

The Superdome, one of the few remaining Modernist football stadiums from the post-World War II era, was designed by local New Orleans firm Curtis and Davis in 1975 and is considered among the more iconic structures in the city. The building is topped by the largest single-span dome in the country, Nola.com reports, and was last upgraded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Those renovations, as it turns out, were also carried out by Trahan Architects.

The stadium's existing ramp system will be replaced with new entrance atria. Image courtesy of Trahan Architects.

Trey Trahan, founder and CEO of the firm tells Nola.com, "The strategy here has been to enhance the quality of experience for the spectator at all levels: general seats, club, the suites, and now there is going to be SROs [Standing Room Only zones]."

The 76,000-seat Me...

Amid Hard Rock collapse investigation, New Orleans mayor calls for more women in STEM roles

2019-11-13T12:22:00-05:00

Louise Blanchard Bethune is recognized as the first American woman who worked as an architect. Maybe there’s a Bethune among our young girls in the Crescent City, Baton Rouge, Lafayette or elsewhere in the state.

As the investigation into the deadly Hard Rock hotel collapse in New Orleans continues, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who has been meeting with the expert architects and engineers studying the collapse made a stunning realization: “The majority of them were absolutely men.”

A staff editorial published by The Advocate highlights comments that Cantrell made at a recent Girl Scouts Louisiana Leadership Luncheon, where she commented on the gender disparities she observed among the experts who had been tasked with helping her administration navigate the aftermath of the collapse.

According to the article, Cantrell said, “there’s a great need to make sure that our women, our girls, are being groomed to take their rightful positions in the area of STEM, in the city of New Orleans and in the state of Louisiana.”

Are American architecture schools "too white"?

2019-10-08T19:04:00-04:00

The Tu White School of Architecture isn’t an actual institution. It’s a work of satire taking the form of a website that discusses whiteness in the architecture industry, articulates the importance of diversity of race, gender identity, class, and experience in higher education, and proposes ways that an architecture school could change its policies and practices to affirm diversity and reject white supremacy.

Curbed's Diana Budds takes a look at the "Tu White School of Architecture," a "hopeful exercise" created by designer and advocate Chris Daemmrich that seeks to spur dialogue regarding "what a commitment to justice and equity could look like for an architectural institution."

Daemmrich, who is an alumni of the Tulane School of Architecture, tells Curbed, "People talk often—particularly in the world I’m in—about justice and equity as a concept, but the words are divorced from the links with economic equity, racial equity, and gender equity. I wanted to take this opportunity to be specific and think about programs and policies or steps that could be taken by an institution.”

Inside the first modernist house in New Orleans listed on the National Register of Historic Places

2019-08-18T07:00:00-04:00

The home consists of three pavilions connected by a central passageway. The public areas are in two pavilions: one side is the living room, and the other, the dining room and kitchen, all adjacent to patios accessed through glass doors, which can be opened when entertaining. With clerestory windows, these rooms are bathed with light, creating a treehouse feel.

Nola.com's Sue Strachan takes a look at the Frances and Nathaniel C. Curtis house in New Orleans. Originally built in 1963, the home became the first Modernist-era home in New Orleans to earn a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

Designed by maverick Modernist architects Curtis and Davis, the team behind the city's iconic Superdome, the thoughtfully-designed home has been restored by New Orleans architect Lee Ledbetter.

How New Orleans dodged Robert Moses's "Riverfront Expressway"

2019-08-13T19:45:00-04:00

Fifty years ago this summer, word reached New Orleans that John Volpe, secretary of the Department of Transportation under President Richard Nixon, had canceled the Riverfront Expressway—the high-speed, elevated interstate highway slated for the edge of the French Quarter.

Tulane University urban geographer Richard Campanella pens a lengthy remembrance for the failed Riverfront Expressway, a Robert Moses-designed highway that would have cut New Orleans off from its historic waterfront and the Mississippi River.

The epic struggle to turn back the highway was dubbed “the Second Battle of New Orleans,” and brought together preservationists, community members, and business interests against the infamous Power Broker.

National Trust for Historic Preservation forwards the preservation of African American cultural sites

2019-07-08T20:00:00-04:00

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has unveiled $1.6 million in grant funding dedicated to preserving historical sites that demonstrate significance with relation to Black history and African American cultural heritage from around the country.

The funding, part of a larger, multi-year $25 million effort, is being awarded to 22 organizations with the goal of "uplifting the largely overlooked contributions of African Americans by protecting and restoring African American historic sites and uncovering hidden stories of African Americans connected to historic sites across the nation," according to a press release.

The list includes, for example, the Museum of African American History in Boston, an organization that is housed within a building designed by British architect Richard Upjohn in 1835. The building exists today as the oldest extant Black church in the United States and, when originally built, made up the first public educational facility for free Black children in B...

Luxury apartment towers aren't just for NYC

2018-03-16T19:58:00-04:00

The Manhattan skyline is one of the world’s most iconic, but it wouldn’t be complete without the city’s famed residential supertalls. Luxury buildings like 432 Park Ave and One57 have set a high bar in the era of tower living, but the past decade has seen the vertical lifestyle catching on across the globe—from Boston to Monaco to New Orleans.

Check out these luxury residential skyscrapers outside of NYC:

Boston, MA

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, Echelon Seaport is Boston's latest project located in the Seaport District. This new luxury condo and apartment development is currently under construction with a completion date of 2020.

Echelon Seaport by Image: Warren Residential.

San Francisco, CA

181 Fremont Street was designed by Heller Manus Architects with interiors by Orlando Diaz-Azcuy. Reaching 70-stories high it is the tallest residential building in San Francisco. Prices range from $3.24 million to $42 million for an enormous penthouse.

181 Fremont Street by Heller Manus Architects, located in San Francisco. Image: 181 Fremont.

Monaco

Designed by architect Alexandre Giraldi with interior designer Alberto Pinto, Tour Odéon is the tallest building in the city-state. It is also home to the world’s most expensive apartment, a $335 million penthouse that takes up the top five floors of the tower.

Tour Odéon by architect...

Get Lectured: Tulane, 2017-18

2017-10-11T14:06:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017

Ready or not, it's the start of a new school year. Back for Fall 2017 is Archinect's Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Have a look at the Tulane School of Architecture's 2017-18 lecture series. This year's “Legacy Cities” theme celebrates the tricentennial of New Orleans. Legacy Cities will highlight “architectural designs, visions, and interventions that negotiate the complex histories of older cities with present-day needs, and the uncertainties ahead.”

Sept 11
Norman Kelley
Carrie Norman / Partner, Norman Kelley; Adjunct Assistant Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Columbia GSAPP
Thomas Kelley / Partner, Norman Kelle...

How one architect is fighting for diversity in the field

2017-08-22T14:47:00-04:00

The project, called Paper Monuments, will entail a series of posters plastered all over the city that detail the people, places, events, and movements of the city’s 300-year history. “When we make decisions that do embody hatred, whether we mean to or not, it allows for society to grow along those frameworks. Our job should be to acknowledge them and counteract them and produce things that elevate the welfare of the constituents that we serve.”

“It’s not simply about the ways individuals hold onto ideology, but it is more so about the way individuals embed their ideology into the spaces and places we all frequent. For us the Paper Monuments project is still rooted in the fact that these symbols of oppression need to be countered by symbols of those people who’ve fought against that oppression.”

Bryan C. Lee Jr., a New Orleans-based architect, has been working on increasing representation in the field and fighting the inequalities that architecture perpetuates because of that lack of diversity. Formerly the director of place and civic design at the Art Council of New Orleans, Lee formed his own design-firm-cum-nonprofit Colloqate Design to coalesce his efforts to fight the racism embedded in the built environment. In addition to that, Lee started a local chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects in NO and another one at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he received his masters degree in archite...

Statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is taken down in New Orleans

2017-05-30T12:57:00-04:00

As many onlookers cheered Friday, a crane hoisted the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the top of a monument in New Orleans. It is the fourth, and final, Civil War-era landmark the city has removed since late April. The effort to remove New Orleans' monuments has been part of a nationwide debate over Confederate symbols, which some argue represent slavery and injustice and others say represent history and heritage.

On Friday, the final Civil War-era landmark in New Orleans, a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee, was taken down. This was the fourth, and final, Civil War monument that the city has removed since late April after voting in 2015 to remove the Confederate markers. Many have argued that landmarks, such as the now dislodged statue of Robert E. Lee, glorify historical figures and events that for many rightfully represent slavery and injustice. As the New Orleans Mayor explained in a private address, the historical markers "celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy, ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, ignoring the terror that it actually stood for...to literally put the Confederacy on a pedestal in our more prominent places—in honor—is an inaccurate recitation of our full past, is an affront to our present and it is a bad prescription for out future."

The four monuments that have been taken down over the past months will be stored and eventually relocated althou...

Airbnb reveals its top 17 trending city neighborhoods for travel

2016-12-15T18:09:00-05:00

The hottest Airbnb deals are—surprise!—a little bit out of the way. The home-and-room rental platform has revealed the top 17 neighborhoods whose bookings grew the most this year, based on 140 million arrivals at 3 million homes. Peppered throughout are terms like “off the usual tourist path” or “a tranquil outpost” and “though detached from city proper.” [...] While smaller than many of Airbnb’s major markets, these neighborhoods could be in for even more growth in 2017.

In a data analysis report unveiled yesterday, Airbnb summarizes what travelers are allegedly looking for this year:

"In cities like Miami and Seoul, travelers to this year’s trending neighborhoods can connect with Experience hosts for local access you won’t find in typical tourist guides: In Miami’s Midtown neighborhood, guests can experience the fun, mindful side of Miami with yoga by the beach, paddleboarding and fresh dining; near Daehangno in Seoul, visitors can book a journey through the underground food scene, getting front and center in the kitchens of some of the best restaurateurs in the country. Coming soon are Experiences in New Orleans, Seattle, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Prague, Madrid, Dublin, Provence, Sydney, Bangkok and Osaka [...]."

Looking at the travel patterns of more than 140 million total guest arrivals at 3 million homes on Airbnb from 2015 to 2016, these city neighborhoods are reported as the 17 most trending for travelers in 2017:

Milneburg in New ...

14 to 1: Post-Katrina Architecture by the Numbers

2016-07-13T15:44:00-04:00

The thousands of new old houses in New Orleans reveal the ethos of a people in a place nearly destroyed. New Orleanians have embraced their city’s architectural heritage as they’ve rebuilt for an uncertain future.

What does post-Katrina architecture look like in New Orleans? And what does it reveal about its society? In their survey in Places, Richard Campanella and Cassidy Rosen discover that historical styles are 14 times more popular than contemporary styles in the rebuilt city, despite the focus of media coverage on experimental projects like Make It Right. The retro revival pays homage to 19th-century New Orleans and a past that has become both a refuge from the present and a cicerone to the future.

The architect who wants New Orleans learn a lesson or two from Amsterdam

2015-09-03T14:54:00-04:00

David Waggonner is an urban and environmental architect. Since Hurricane Katrina decimated his city, he’s been focusing on urban stormwater management, mapping out designs for New Orleans that would mimic the way Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam deal with water. In the Netherlands, people “invite water into the city,” meaning water is visible everywhere. [...] “In New Orleans, we’ve hidden and squandered the asset.”

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