Course | Spring 2021 Architecture Studio
Professor | Scott Wall
Location | New Orleans, LA
How does architecture create a variety of programs to serve the community, connect with the surrounding neighborhood, and recognize the past while re-imagining the future? This project addresses a variety of issues, but the underlying goal is to create a unified community driven future in a space that previously represented division. One of the main design choices to address the previous confederate statue site is with an amphitheater space and oculus to create a beacon of light for a hopeful future. The form aims to create a connected path across the length of the site. Following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans experienced a lot of pain and change. Communities were torn apart, but they were also brought together. People had to start over, which meant something different for everyone and everywhere. For the church adjacent to this site, change was not faced without opposition, but it did grow into something beautiful. First United Methodist church, a historically white church, and Grace United Methodist, a historically black church, became two cultures merged into one. This church representing unity is located across the street from a confederate monument that would finally be torn down about a decade later. A monument that stood for segregation and oppression, but First Grace UMC founded a community that celebrates all people.
