The typical New Orleans porch which is seen as a threshold, the material language of the historic city block mostly made up of wood, cement and wrought iron and the volumetric density of the grid are reassembled as a vertical network of extruded spaces where the composition of jazz provides the syncopated procession into and around its core. The structure for the tower’s circulation is directly proportionate to the structure of jazz; after a specific amount of ‘notes’ played or steps taken, there is an interruption of flow where porch-like volumes extend towards the city allowing strategic views and places of rest in all four directions. This system of measured beats allows for the tower’s organization of program and spiraling layers to unfold and become engaged with one another.
The tower explores the relationship between the contextual fabric of the French Quarter and the cultural legacy of jazz music at Congo Square. It sits directly on axis with Jackson Square in order to provide a visual connection to the history of the site and against the pedestrian edge of Rampart Street to cause an interruption of flow the same way that syncopation causes a disturbance of rhythm in jazz.