Tulane’s School of Architecture undertook this two and a half year design/build project to design a four acre farm that would hire and mentor local high school students through meaningful work. I took part in the second semester of the project where we worked in collaboration with classmates, and the client. Working in teams of three, each group was tasked with developing certain areas of the project. My group, Team Toilet, was tasked with researching and implementation of a composting toilet. We also experimented with casting concrete for a custom sink. The project scope also included an outdoor hand and foot washing station.
Published:
Architectural Record, July 2013, http://archrecord.construction.com/features/critique/2013/1307-Urban-Oases.asp
New Orleans Magazine, March 2013 http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/March-2013/Best-New-Architecture/
Social Economic Envirionmental Design (SEED) Documentary, June 2012 http://www.seedocs.org/projects/grow-dat-youth-farm/
Award: SEED Design Award: February 2012
Team Toilet: Vicky Leung, Erin Vaughn and Nichole Waggon.
The current Louisiana Children’s’ Museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans has outgrown its space and is expanding and moving to a new location in City Park of New Orleans. The new site is located across from the existing New Orleans Museum of Art, sculpture garden and outdoor event and festival field. The building is curved to straddle the space between the curving road and lagoon and to reflect the picturesque landscaping of City Park.
Project Team: Chamberlaine Beard and Vicky Leung
This design project required the use of Revit to design a home integrating as many passive eco-friendly options available. Features included using light colored paints, larger roof and shading structure, and rain water harvesting and irrigation.
Project Team: Katlyn Leach, Vicky Leung, and Melissa Longano.
How can we live with water as a flexible soft infrastructure that can function multi-purposefully in an ecologically sustainable manner?
The current New Orleans water management practice to channel all the water away from houses and buildings towards the outfall canals where the water is then pumped out to Lake Pontchartrain as soon as possible is an unsustainable way of living for New Orleans. This practice is causing soil subsidence because water is not being allowed to percolate back into the ground and to keep the water table up. According to many other experts in ecology, water should be allowed back into the ground to recharge the ground water system and to prevent further ground erosion and sinking of the city through purposeful water management practices. Rainwater needs to be allowed to percolate back into the ground where it hits the ground in order to slow down, if not stop soil subsidence. Many plans and proposals have been set forth to show how people can live with water, but are often met with criticism and resistance because people have not had many positive interactions with water. Three prototypical houses in the Gentilly neighborhood will be proposed to develop previously proposed plans for a new water management system based on “soft infrastructure”. In Gentilly, with its many vacant lots available for rebuilding, it is important to show the community how they can live in a healthy and sustainable manner consistent with the natural topography. This project will demonstrate water as an urban amenity through water sequestration, percolation and flexible accommodation and thus will engage the neighborhood with the wet environment.
Capitalizing on New Orleans entrepreneurial spirit and love of food, this culinary school was designed to help grow the cottage food industry. This school is located in Central City, New Orleans on an empty lot that borders a neighborhood business corridor and residential homes. This school taught business, cooking, and health and safety classes. This school is geared towards adults with varying levels of skill and knowledge. There are classrooms, teaching kitchens, and private kitchens for small business use. An urban garden also supplements the food received by vendors to encourage farm to table dining.
