Archinect Celebrates 20 Must-Watch Emerging U.S.-Based Architecture Practices

How would you define your practice within the greater context of architecture firms in the South?

studio^RISE is a small firm based in New Orleans, LA, that collaborates with clients at multiple scales. While we’re a relatively new firm, we like to think that we’re having an impact on each project for the betterment of the client, the project, and the community. Being based in New Orleans, we look to balance the needed respect for the context and place in which we live with the need for forward-thinking design.

What is unique about the architecture in your city/region in particular?

Specific to New Orleans, as residents and practitioners, we have a very strong regard for historic preservation and adaptive reuse, working to respect the place. We also acknowledge the changing landscape regarding environmental impacts, population shifts, and the need not to recreate history. New Orleans provides opportunities to insert new moments of design while incorporating proper materials and proportions. In the end, the relationship between New Orleans and our work is one of forward-thinking respect.

New Orleans’ rich architectural landscape often leads to a very interesting and thoughtful way of addressing projects. This requires us to immerse ourselves in the site and surroundings. Particularly on projects with new elements, no matter if new construction, addition, or adaptive reuse, we review the context and work to incorporate important relationship-based decisions to create a final project that feels of New Orleans today while carrying traits of previous generations.

Do you have a new or memorable project you can share with our readers? Completed or in progress?

We are currently working on an expansion of a local microbrewery in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, a historically mixed-use area of industrial buildings and residential. The existing building consists of a single shotgun and a two-story metal warehouse that was built attached to the shotgun. The expansion is renovating the vacant 2nd floor into expanded seating and bar area with an expansive balcony overlooking the existing beer garden. The balcony form responds to the site usage by the owner, existing beer garden elements, and the Public Belt railroad tracks that create the angled property line along the eastern edge of the property.