Graduate Thesis Research Booklet

Treble In Treme Transitional Housing + Music Library Investigation of Dwelling for New Orleans Homeless Thesis Research and Analysis | AHST 5110 | Maurice Cox

Victoria Bryant

Earnest Hammond, 71, has been living in his FEMA trailer for the past three years as he tries to renovate his home. Hammond, is saving some of his Social Security checks and has collected 1,000 of pounds of tin cans he hopes to sell to pay for re-doi Orleans Parish, Hammond is facing the idea of living in his gutted out home.

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, who grows most of his own food in his garden, was denied Road Home assistance because his property is a triplex. Hammond ng his house where he has lived since 1962 and bought in 1973. With the deadline approaching to remove all FEMA trailers in

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THESIS ABSTRACT .................................................

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THESIS ESSAY .......................................................

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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... 24 PRECEDENT RESEARCH .......................................... 28 SITE RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION ...................

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PROGRAM RESEARCH ............................................. 50 APPENDIX | APPENDICES ....................................... 72

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contents

Homelessness derives from complex sources, including a changing economy, joblessness, and the decline of affordable housing in cities. One of the most recent solutions to homelessness has been the emergence of government sanctioned tent cities. New Orleans’ response to this typology has been makeshift camps underneath Interstate 10. The homeless presence is felt and realized throughout the highway, particularly alongside Claiborne Avenue. Located on an exceptionally loaded site, these camps represent a long history of neglect and abandonment in the once flourishing African-American communities of TremÊ and the Seventh Ward. With rising foreclosures, overcrowding in homeless shelters, and long waiting lists for subsidized housing, it is no surprise why people have begun to look towards the infrastructure of an interstate to provide a most basic human need:

shelter.

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THESIS ESSAY Treme | Interstate 10 | Homelessness in New Orleans

01 Introduction

During the colonial era, Faubourg Treme was home to the largest community of free blacks in the south, immediately becoming a breeding ground for activism and the arts.1 In this collective, black, white, free, oppressed, rich and poor individuals coexisted and labored to foster America’s first civil rights movements. Treme is a neighborhood where jazz was born; a place where space is created through sound and congregation. The community, to this day, preserves and celebrates its traditions of parading, music and assembly.

Yet in all its splendor, Treme is simultaneously disparaged as a threatening and violent region.

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1 Dawn Logsdon, and Lolis Eric Elie: Faughbourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. DVD. Directed by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie. New Orleans: Serendipity Films, 2008.

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Due to exploitation by state and local government, Treme inevitably has acquired an externally imposed negative identity. Catastrophic occurrences, such as the construction of the Interstate 10 and hurricane Katrina, have destroyed Treme’s once thriving black business district. These disastrous events not only ruined commercial business in Treme, but have pushed many individuals residing in area dangerously close to the poverty line.

Over 40 million people live at or below the poverty line.

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A missed paycheck, unpaid bill, or health emergency, are common seemingly minor events that become catalysts for forcing individuals out of their homes. In the realm of housing, increased rent, destruction of existing affordable homes, and cuts in federal housing programs threaten the availability of economical residences. The most critical issue for the low-income population is affordability, and yet in New Orleans there are twice as many low-income families as there 3 are inexpensive accommodations. To further complicate the issue at hand, insufficient government strategies and legislation addressing general and mental health care, child care, and education inhibit the homeless from avoiding their circumstances.

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In such an affluent nation, every human deserves access to the basic amenities a dwelling can provide: shelter, food, water, a hearth, and some element of privacy. With inspiration from the strong cultural traditions of Treme, specifically the resonant influence of music, and by examining the state of the homeless population in New Orleans and their unwavering relationship to the Interstate 10:

2 Karen Weise, “Record U.S. Poverty Rate Holds As Inequality Grows,” Business Week, September 12, 2012, Global Economics section, Northeast edition.

3 National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, “Homelessness & Poverty in America,” NLCHP, http://www.nlchp.org/hapia.cfm (accessed November 19, 2012)

How can designers explore an architectural expression that provides for the homeless while engaging with the rest of society?

When providing for the homeless population of Treme, how can the term “dwelling� be redefined to assist long and short term needs?

Most importantly, can the homeless reclaim the urban infrastructure of the Interstate 10 that they have grown to consider their home, while coexisting with the community of Treme?

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Treme:InternalCulturalPride|ExternalNegativeIdentity Faubourg Treme is a neighborhood full of juxtapositions. It is a vibrant, colorful community teeming with cultural pride and tradition. Simultaneously, Treme is disparaged as a threatening and violent area, leading to an externally imposed negative identity. Located in the heart of New Orleans parish, Treme is not only the home of America’s oldest black neighborhood, but is the site of notable cultural, communal and economic events that have shaped the course of events in Black America for the past two centuries. Culturally, Treme is not a monolithic community. “It is neither entirely black

nor all poor. There are white folks and some who consider themselves Creole. Since Katrina, [latinos] have become more visible. Even within the racial and ethnic groups present, people have different incomes, politics, and religious beliefs.” 4Although Treme has never been totally black, blackness has characterized the neighborhood since the first half of the twentieth century. Various black New Orleans monuments reside in Treme, including Congo Square, Louis Armstrong Park, the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts and Joe’s Cozy Corner. Whether formally a nineteenth-century slave and Indian cultural hub like Congo Square, or a neighborhood

4 Michael E. Crutcher and Jr, Tremé: Race and Place in a New Orleans Neighborhood (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010), 6.

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bar where New Orleans’s musical traditions can be experienced like Joe’s Cozy Corner, the majority of these African-American associated landmarks are tied together through the common thread of music.

Treme is viewed by many as the locus of the city’s parading and musical traditions. One of the earliest neighborhood spaces designed specifically for the creation of music and dance was Congo Square.

The town square was a marketplace where African religious and music customs were practiced on Sundays, the day slaves were given free time.5 For the rest of the 19th century, the square was an open-air market. Brass bands held concerts, providing the foundation for a more improvisational style that would come to be known as Jazz.

Music- jazz in particular- “has unquestionable significance for the development of New Orleans’s tourist landscape.” 6 During it’s early stages, jazz was regarded as a corrupting influence. However, during the 1940s, New Orleans began to praise the formally demonized art and local treasure.7 To this day, Treme is one of the only neighborhoods where live New Orleans jazz can be found in its natural habitat. The sounds of Treme musicians like Kermit Ruffins, Lucien Barbarin and Alphonse Picou can be heard in bars adjacent to North Claiborne Avenue. Yet the city continues to use jazz to lure tourists with performances in “safe cultural chan5 Crutcher, 11.

6 Crutcher, 3.

7 Dawn Logsdon, and Lolis Eric Elie: Faughbourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. DVD. Directed by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie. New Orleans: Serendipity Films, 2008.

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nels”, such as staged performances and apathetically experienced museums, instead of the neighborhoods where the music originated. In Treme, “music serves as a signal that a 9 8 space is open for occupation”.

Other traditions in this established neighborhood that center around music are jazz funerals and parades. The jazz funeral, along with the anniversary parade, is part of New Orleans’s second line parading tradition, a unique institution practiced primarily in the city’s African American communities. For centuries, these parades have passed through New Orleans’s African American neighborhoods, stopping on occasion to commemorate or honor important people and places. These parades are called second-line because they are characterized by the throngs of neighborhood residents, “second-liners,’ who follow behind the procession’s first line, which is comprised of the brass band and the parade’s sponsoring organization.10 Some of the second-line clubs from Treme include the Dumaine Gang, Treme SideWalk Steppers and the Black Men of Labor. (image of second-line). On Sunday afternoons during the fall and spring, these groups celebrate their anniversaries with parades through the neighborhood. One of the most wildly known Treme parading traditions is the Mardi Gras Indian. The tradition stems from the relationship developed between African Americans and Native Americans during the colonial and early American periods.11 Both communities bonded over their oppression during that era. All three traditions, the parade, funeral, and jazz, are colorful, vibrant, musical and rhythmic. “In varying degrees, all can involve spectators through call and response. Each of these traditions 14

8 Crutcher, 3.

9 Crutcher, 3.

10 Crutcher, 2.

11 Crutcher, 16.

is rooted in and produces a unique cultural 12 landscape”.

Treme’s grandeur and tremendous cultural roots are closely intertwined with a history of neglect, abandonment, and violence.

One of the most catastrophic occurrence for 19th-century Treme was the construction of the Interstate 10. During the 1960s, the Federal Highway Administration, with support from the state and local governments, routed Interstate 10 through Treme.

Planners affiliated with the construction of the highway took advantage of marginalized black communities to run infrastructure through their neighborhoods, wiping out residential areas as well as business districts. New Orleans’ North Claiborne Avenue, considered the heart of Faubourg Treme, was the most drastically affected area since the I-10 runs parallel and on top of this thoroughfare. Once serving the commercial, recreational and social needs of the local community, present-day North Claiborne Avenue resembles a wasteland, and has become a temporary dwelling landmark for the homeless. “The project sped the destruction of the North Claiborne Avenue business district, which had catered to downtown blacks excluded from 12 Crutcher, 16.

13 Dawn Logsdon, and Lolis Eric Elie: Faughbourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. DVD. Directed by Dawn Logsdon and Lolis Eric Elie. New Orleans: Serendipity Films, 2008.

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shopping in segregated Canal Street establishments”.14 Originally, North Claiborne was a lively business district, full of people rushing to work, shopping, and transitioning onto and off of public transportation. In the 1920s and 30s, Dumaine Street had become part of the business hub (include diagram of my site and business areas). Jazz guitarist and historian Danny Barker remembers the corner of Dumaine and Claiborne as “one of the most famous corners in New Orleans. Dumaine and Claiborne, Dumaine and Robertson [one block south]: these were swinging corners”.15Some of the local landmarks of the time were Chattard Brothers barbershop and Big Al Dennis’s shoe shine stand, both which served as local meetings places.16 Along with the destruction of the main black business district in New Orleans, the construction of the interstate was also the catalyst that spurred the elimination of the oaktree-lined neutral ground, a place of leisure for the community, particularly on Mardi Gras, when downtown African Americans gathered to celebrate. Claiborne Avenue’s neutral ground also provided black children, who were excluded from most of the city’s recreational spaces, with a place to play. According to a 1929 report on public recreation facilities, African Americans had access to only one playground, the Thomy Lafon Playground, located 17 Uptown at Magnolia and Sixth. No buildings were destroyed for the roadway itself, since it ran over the Claiborne neutral ground, but three sets of ramps required the destruction of 125 structures that housed 170 residences and 50 businesses.18

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14 Crutcher, 13.

15 Crutcher, 57.

16 Crutcher, 57.

17 Harland Bartholomew and Associates, Preliminary Report on Civic Centre, Toronto: City of Vancouver Archives, 69.

18 Daniel Samuels, “Remembering North Claiborne: Community and Place in Downtown New Orleans,” University of New Orleans (2000): 78.

By 1970, one of New Orleans’s most important public spaces for downtown blacks had been demolished. There are still remnants of activity centered around cultural pride and tradition in Faubourg Treme, however the majority of the liveliness that once filled the area between northbound and southbound lanes of Claiborne Avenue, in the shadow of the highway, is a quickly fading memory.

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The Dwelling | Homelessness in New Orleans “This is new to me. This is not where I want to be,” said Byron Turner, 37, a large man nursing a mild case of pneumonia, as he lay bundled under a dome of blankets, beneath the Claiborne Avenue overpass—the patch of concrete and car fumes he’d called home for nearly seven months. “But I’m basically trying to make it,” he said. “I’m trying to make the best out of what I can.”- Lizzy Ratner Homelessness derives from complex sources, including a changing economy, joblessness, and the decline of affordable housing in cities. With rising foreclosures, overcrowding in homeless shelters, and long waiting lists for subsidized housing, it is no surprise that dislocation has become a pressing issue for our present day society. With approximately 4,900 homeless individuals, the New Orleans metro area has the second highest rate of homelessness in the nation.19 In the wake of hurricane Katrina, overnight working men and women who always lived with

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Number of Homeless Persons (by shelter type and region)

Source: Erin Matheny, “2011 Homeless Needs and Demographics Survey” (presentation, meeting of the Louisiana Interagency Action Council on Homelessness, Baton Rouge, LA, April 21, 2011)

19 Sean Cockerham, “7 years after Katrina, New Orleans homeless twice pre-storm level,” The Seattle Times, August 04, 2012, News section, Northwest edition.

20 Katy Rechdahl, “Report places New Orleans’ homeless rate at second in the nation,” The Times-Picayune, February 05, 2012, News section, Greater New Orleans edition.

21 Cockerham, The Seattle Times.

roofs over their heads found themselves sleeping outside in the elements. The most vulnerable were individuals with mental illness or addiction disorders, who inevitably have fallen deeper into homelessness, with little to no aid. Although a good number of individuals can be spotted underneath the I-10, the clearly visible population is only a small percentage of the city’s homeless. The majority of the homeless can be found squatting inside abandoned buildings in blighted neighborhoods.20 Despite a lower overall post-Katrina population, the homeless community in Jefferson and Orleans parishes is 70 percent higher than it was before the storm, largely due to a lack of 21 affordable housing. According to a report by UNITY, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and services to the homeless, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than two-thirds of the housing stock in New Orleans, including 51,000 rental units.22 With rent costs almost twice as much as pre-Katrina levels, and wages remaining largely the same, it is no wonder the homeless population is multiplying at a rapid rate. Instead of investing money into restoring New Orleans’s devastated rental housing stock, Congress used 85 percent of all Road Home program funds for homeowners, “a far more desirable demographic than renters”, leaving a mere 15 percent for rental housing.23 Although there are many formidable visions and solutions to help end homelessness, most of these proposals require exorbitant amounts of funds from the government that typically get allocated elsewhere. One goal UNITY hopes to achieve by 2013 is to house 2,500 homeless people using funds from two Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants. “A $1.08 million grant will house 33 more disabled people, while a $149,000 grant will improve intake and data collection at local shelters”.24Another proposal conceived

by Mayor Mitch Landrieu is a ten-year plan to end homelessness. In 2011, the mayor signed an executive order establishing the Homeless Services Working Group, an official Mayoral Advisory Committee, tasked with developing a master plan to prevent, reduce, and end homelessness in New Orleans.25Three civic support projects have been discussed in hopes ending homelessness in New Orleans: the Downtown/Home Partnership, a collaboration between the city and the Downtown Development District, plans to fund outreach that 22 Lizzy Ratner, “Homeless in New Orleans,” The Nation, February 08, 2008, News section, Southeast edition.

23 Rechdahl, The Times Picayune.

24 UNITY of Greater New Orleans, “55 homeless moved from under the Pontchartrain Expressway to shelters,” Evanston Public Library, http://www.unitygno.org (accessed November 19, 2012) 25 Charles Maldonado, “Mayor Landrieu’s 10-year plan to end homelessness,” Gambit, November 28, 2011, News section, Southeast edition.

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focuses on reducing homelessness in high traffic areas.26The creation of a Homeless Community Resource Center is another work of civic infrastructure being conceived. Their goal is to redevelop a portion of the former downtown VA Hospital site for a homeless resource center. Last, the New Orleans Homes Trust, a public-private partnership housed at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, also plans on funding a 27 design that will serve the New Orleans homeless population.

Ironically enough, with all of the city’s aspirations, few encouraging developments have been made in light of the mayor’s ten-year proposal. The most successful interventions have been led by nonprofit organizations. “In this postdiluvian reality, nonprofits, not government, often do the heavy lifting.

They find homes for the homeless, manage their cases and often front the money for the28 whole operation while public agencies dither and dawdle”. With such a large number of homeless people unsheltered, the crisis response system must be improved. To be without a home and to reside in public space illustrates fundamental inadequacies in the functioning of society. Generally, low income and high housing costs, combined with a lack of supportive services for those who need them, make many people vulnerable to homelessness. Permanent supportive housing is one solution that has proven effective, however how can society address and support individuals who would prefer living on the streets as opposed to dealing with the complications that occasionally arise in homeless shelters (sexual assault, theft, drug abuse, and many other negative influencing agents)?

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26 Maldonado, Gambit.

27 Maldonado, Gambit.

28 Ratner, The Nation.

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04 Conclusion

Through an investigation of the Faubourgh Treme community’s strong cultural ties to music and celebratory traditions, and the current conditions of the New Orleans homeless population, the goal of this thesis is to provide support and sustain two disparaged populations through the programmatic intervention of a Jazz Music Library, and transitional housing for the homeless. It is important to acquire a better understanding of “dwelling�, and what this term means to those chronically without a home. Much like the homeless, the community of Treme has acquired an externally imposed negative identity. Through their connection as neglected and abandoned communities, there is potential to create a support system between the homeless and legal residents of Treme.

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Annotated Bibliography Books Crutcher, Michael. Tremé: Race and Place in a New Orleans Neighborhood. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Michael Crutcher’s Treme: Race and Place in a New Orleans Neighborhood establishes Treme’s significance in New Orleans’s contemporary political and cultural economy.

By determining how the Treme neighborhood became significant, and pin-pointing its downfall, Crutcher is able to paint an accurate and thorough picture of this once affluent community. Throughout the work, Crutch zeros in on themes of exclusion, segregation, targeted destruction, and displacement. This work of literature pertains to my thesis because it highlights the numerous disruptive and de-territorializing

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practices carried out against this repressed community. By acquiring a better understanding of Treme and the needs of its residents, there is potential to cater to and support this community in need through programatic intervention.

Kyle, Ken. Contextualizing Homelessness: Critical Theory, Homelessness, and Federal Policy Addressing the Homeless. New York & London: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Ken Kyle’s Contextualizing Homelessness is a critical analysis of homelessness.

Through analysis of homeless policy, specifically the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Act of 1987, he is able to look at how the homeless are portrayed in popular culture, the press,

by President Bush who was in office at the time, and in Congressional discourse. Kyle concludes his research with the view that a liberal approach to poverty and homelessness has never been the norm and may never be fully accepted in the US. This book is helpful in relation to my thesis research since it uses policy and critical theory to better understand what has been unsuccessful in the fight against homelessness. By acquiring a sense of what has worked and what has not, one can begin to think of potential architectural interventions that will positively affect the homeless community.

Journal Articles Harland Bartholomew and Associates. “Preliminary Report on Civic Centre.” City of Vancouver Archives (1927): 69.

Although Harland, Bartholomew and Associates Preliminary Report on Civic Centre primarilty focuses on the creation of a Civic Centre in Vancouver in the 1920s, this work pertains to this thesis because it evaluates how public buildings can be grouped without sacrificing the functions they are expected to perform. The Civic Firm utlizes a plethora of examples that inspire their ultimate goal of creating a desirable civic center in Vancouver.

One example they look towards is North Clairborne Avenue, specifically evaluating how the people who reside in close proximity to North Claiborne avenue utilize its neutral ground as a public recreational space. The firm pinpoints the fact that there are no public green 25

spaces in the Treme area during this time period, which became a catalyst for the utilization of the neutral ground space to provide green space for the community.

Samuels, Daniel. “Remembering North Claiborne: Community and Place in Downtown New Orleans.” University of New Orleans (2000): 78.

Daniel Samuels Master of Urban and Regional Planning thesis provides a thorough investigation of North Claiborne Avenue and its relationship to the Treme and Seventh Ward community. Various themes discusses in this work include North Claiborne’s significance as a major corridor of commerce for black New Orleanians, a condition which emerged due to the enforcement of Jim Crow laws that prohibited African Americans from shopping in the main commercial area of the time, downtown Canal Street. Samuels also discusses the Interstate 10, and its negative affects on the community of Treme during the 1960s up to present day. Samuels’ research pertains to my thesis because of his focus on the relationship between North Claiborne Avenue, my thesis site, and its relationship to the people that reside in close proximity to this important thoroughfare.

News Paper Articles Weise, Karen. “Record U.S. Poverty Rate Holds As Inequality Grows.” Business Week, September 12, 2012, Global Economics section, Northeast edition.

In this article, Karen Weise sheds light on an increase in the United States poverty line from 2006 to 2012. According to the Census Bureau’s analysis of poverty in the US, approximately 46.2 million people live below the poverty line, the highest number in almost two decades. Weise highlights a rising gap in the incomes of upper and middle class in the US. She attributes the rise in income inequality to gains at the upper end of the income spectrum and declines in the middle class. The income of the wealthiest members of the United States rose 1.6 percent, and more even more shocking, the top 5 percent of these earners saw income increases of 4.9 percent. Simultaneously, the net middle-class income dropped 1.9 percent. Weise’s article is important to this thesis because it sheds 26

light on conditions that ultimately can lead to homelessness. It is imperative to understand the various ways an individual can be forced to live on the streets, in order to better understand how to provide for this community in need.

Cockerham, Sean. “7 years after Katrina, New Orleans homeless twice pre-storm level.” The Seattle Times, August 04, 2012, News section, Northwest edition.

Sean Cockerham’s article looks at New Orleans’s homeless population seven years after hurricane Katrina. In present day New Orleans, the homeless population is approximately 4,900, almost two and half times bigger than before the storm.

The majority of this population resides in abandoned buildings, which is an easy solution since there are roughly 40,000 vacant homes in the city. The conditions in these abandoned buildings are abysmal, including a lack of running water or electricity. Unity of Greater New Orleans, a non-profit organization that aims to help the homeless of New Orleans, has a team of homelessoutreach workers that lead searches in the city’s abandoned buildings. At times they are able to find individuals and take them to shelters in city, yet on occasion, these 27

teams have found people in desperate shape, or lying dead on bedrolls.

Rechdahl, Kathy. “Report places New Orleans’ homeless rate at second in the nation.” The Times-Picayune, February 05, 2012, News section, Greater New Orleans edition.

Kathy Rechdahl’s article centers around the issue of homelessness in the New Orleans metro area. According to a report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, New Orleans’ homeless population is estimated at approximately 6,700, the second highest rate of homelessness in the nation. Rechdahl reveals that a majority of the homeless population either resides underneath the Interstate 10, or are squatting inside abandoned buildings. The article paints an accurate lens on the day-to-day lives of a homeless person residing in the streets of New Orleans, and what various programs are available to utilize around the city.

Maldonado, Charles. “Mayor Landrieu’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.” Gambit, November 28, 2011, News section, Southeast edition.

Charles Maldonado’s article centers around Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s ten year plan to end homelessness in New Orleans. The goal was initiated with Landrieu signing an executive order establishing the Homeless Service Working Group, an official Mayoral Advisory Committee, tasked with developing a strategic master plan to prevent, reduce, and end homelessness in New Orleans. He hopes to increase available resources that provide aid to the homeless, and aims to improve coordination and collaboration between the various homeless organizations in the New Orleans metro area. The article is intriguing because although the initiative was founded in June 2011, the number of homeless individuals living on the streets has only increased since Mayor Landrieu established this scheme. Although it is a plan which was conceived to be completely carried out by 2021, it is a testament to where the government’s priorities lie, since conditions have only gotten worse in the last year.

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precedents Treme | Interstate 10 | Homelessness in New Orleans

Light

healing | spiritual | illumination | animate

FOLD

shelter | comfort | embrace | versatility

01 Koshino House

Tadao Ando | Ashiya, Hyogo | 1980-1984 “Light is the origin of all being. Striking the surface of things, light grants them an outline; gathering shadows behind things, it gives them depth.

Things are articulated around borders of light and darkness, and obtain their individual form, discovering interrelationships, and become innately linked.� -- Tadao Ando (right: Charcoal Light Study)

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V & A at Dundee

Kengo Kuma | Dundee, Scotland UK | Currently under construction The V&A at Dundee is a system of public spaces that will connect the existing city center of Dundee to the new cultural facility of the V&A. This space will include a railway station, an urban plaza, and a new Museum Plaza, all of which will reshape Dundee’s riverfront with a social spaces. This work exudes texture and tactility due to the way light interacts with the building’s concrete facade. (right: Watercolor Light Study) 36

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Studio-o cahaya

Mamostudio |Jakarta, Indonesia |2007-2009 Since the client is a photographer and an art collector, light is an important element for his works. What possibilities become available when we think about light as a material?

Namostudio spent a year studying the characteristics of light, and found angles that relate to time. They studied how light can penetrate to a volume by making numerous models. By observing the phenomena of sunlight, light became the main tool of the design. By utilizing light as the material the space acquires an air of animation and activity. (right: Charcoal Light Study)

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chapel in villeaceron Chapel in Villeaceron | S.M.A.O | Almadén, Ciudad Real, Spain | 1996-2001 The Chapel is developed around the study and manipulation of a “box-fold”. The proposed fold in the box highlights the material choice of concrete, which captures all the nuances demanded of the volume. Light engulfs the space and takes on the role of a second material in the Chapel – a material that contrasts with the concrete – fragile, changing, mobile, unstable; dominating or vanishing. (right: Light Charcoal Study)

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riverside clubhouse Riverside Clubhouse | TAO | Yancheng, Jiangsu, China | 2010 The design takes Mies’ Farnsworth as a prototype concept and creates a new form through a series of actions: stretch, loop, and fold. These actions lead to following results: smaller building depth with better views, introversive courtyard space offering more privacy, getting closer to water and accessible roof as extension of landscape. The transparency dematerializes architecture. The concern to physical form of building is replaced by desire to create flowing and see-through space to maximize visitors’ experience of natural environment outside. (right: Paper Fold Study)

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Hypar pavilion Hypar Pavilion | Diller Scofidio + Renfro with FXFowle | New York, NY | 2010 Hypar Pavilion at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is home to a public lawn and restaurant. The dual program of a restaurant and public green space is resolved through a single architectural gesture of a sloping fold. Elizabeth Diller comments, “Hypar Pavilion’s moment of invention came when we discovered how to design a destination restaurant without consuming public space on the Lincoln Center campus. The roof became a new kind of interface between public and private, with an occupiable twisting grass canopy over a glass pavilion restaurant.” (right: Paper Fold Study)

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Site research Treme | Interstate 10 | Homelessness in New Orleans

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Site description Corner of Dumaine & N. Claiborne: Present Day Thesis Site: Present Day

> Boundaries: Dumaine St. | N. Claiborne Ave Orleans Ave | I-10 entry ramp

The site of this thesis proposal is located in the neighborhood of Faubourg Treme, engulfed by North Claiborne Avenue, Dumaine St, and Orleans This particular site was chosen due to its proximity to the I-10, an infrastructure the homeless have grown to call home. The highway divides the site, creating an intriguing obstacle to resolve in the design process. By integrating the I-10 into the design of this architectural work, it is my hope that this proposed architectural intervention will revitalize the currently under utilized area underneath the I-10, while still leaving it as an entity the homeless can claim as a part of their context.

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Dumaine & N. Claiborne: Present Day North Claiborne Ave: 1968

> Before construction of I-10

North Claiborne Ave: Present Day > After construction of I-10

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Corner of Dumaine & N. Claiborne: Present Day Proposed Mall: 1976

> Claiborne Avenue Design Team Report� study.

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Proposed Mall: 1976

> Claiborne Avenue Design Team Report� study.

Corner of Dumaine & N. Claiborne: 1959 51

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Who Are We catering to?

Corner of Dumaine & N. Claiborne: Present Day

Demographics

> Predominantly an African-American neighborhood

demographics

Color Key more dense

less dense

white population

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black population

latino population information provided by GNOCDC

Corner of Dumaine & N. Derbigny: Present Day

Neighborhoods | Wards | Police Districts

> Although the site is located in Treme, the infrastructure of I-10 connects the site to other communities with similar disparaged contexts

borhoods | wards | Police districts 8TH WARD

ST ROCH

BAYOU ST JOHN

5 3

SEVENTH WARD MIDCITY

7TH WARD

5TH WARD

TREME/ LAFITTE MARIGNY

1

6TH WARD

TULANE/ GRAVIER IBERVILLE

FRENCH QUARTER

3RD WARD 4TH WARD

B.W. COOPER CENTRAL CITY

15TH WARD

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

New Orleans neighborhoods

2ND WARD

8

6 4

New Orleans wards

Police districts information provided by GNOCDC

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View of site from I-10: Present Day

Population Density Population Density

Color Key more dense

less dense

Pre Katrina | 2000 54

Post Katrina | 2012 information provided by GNOCDC

Housing Cost Burden

(By percent of renters and national comparison)

Source: UNITY of Greater New Orleans, Search and Rescue Five Years Later Survey. Affordable housing expenses comprise less that 30% of renters’ income. Cost-burdened renters spend 30%-50% of their income on housing expenses.

Severely cost burdened renters spend more than 50% of their income on housing expenses.

Vacancy Vacancy Density Density Vacancy Density

Color Color KeyKey more more dense dense

lessless dense dense

PrePre Katrina Katrina | 2000 | 2000

Post Post Katrina Katrina | 2012 | 2012 information information provided provided

by GNOCDC

by GNOCDC

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Landmarks

carver theater |195 lafitte public housing |1940’s lemann pool| 2009

tent City louisiana superdome |1975 new orleans arena |1999

municipal clock | 1960 charity hospital | 1939 city hall | 1957 union passenger terminal |1954

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50 s 9

“roman by terry” meeting point nola art house | 2004 mardi gras indian meeting point

circle food store | 1938 mardi gras indian meeting point & skate park

roman by terry

Site

MGI meetup

iberville housing projects | 1940’s louis armstrong park mahalia jackson theater |1973

backstreet cultural museum | 1999 african-american museum |1991 joe’s cozy corner lil’ dizzy’s cafe | 2004 mother-in-law lounge |1994

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Corner of St. Ann & N. Claiborne: Present Day

Existing Streets > Major infrastructure I-10 > Major Streets Dumaine, N. Claiborne & Orleans

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Existing Green Space > Current site is overgrown and unkept > Commercial industries along Claiborne & Dumaine

Existing Buildings > Heavily Residential > Commercial industries along Claiborne & Dumaine

Corner of Orleans & N. Claiborne: Present Day

Existing Residential > Majority of site is residential

Existing Commercial > Majority of industries located on major roads N. Claiborne, Dumaine & Orleans

Existing Residential > Residential | Abandoned | Commercial

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Program

Treme | Interstate 10 | Homelessness in New Orleans

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Project description This hybrid program is a cyclically supportive combination of transitional housing for current and formally homeless individuals, and a music library.

These two programs function under the umbrella of a non-profit organization that provides facilitated work opportunities for transitional housing residents, through the program of the New Orleans Music Library. The library is a public entity that unites the residents of the site with the rest of Treme’s population, with the goal of lessening the negative stigma associated with homelessness. In this condition, the workers are able to provide for the public while providing for themselves financially. The resi-

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dential program is divided into three categories of dwelling, organized by time: day-to-day (temporary dwelling), month-to-month (transitional dwelling), year-to-year (permanent dwelling). As a whole, the residential facilities provide a home, support services and rehabilitation for the homeless. The temporary dwellers are provided with basic amenities through architectural interventions. The transitional dwellers reside in aggregated Single Room Occupancy units. For these residents there is a communal kitchen/ dining area, built in order to ensure each individual is being properly fed, while maintaining a sense of community in a population experiencing a grueling transition. There will also be supportive and rehabilitative services in close proximity to the SRO units. The permanent residence is comprised of one and two bedroom apartments. These residents were once transitional and even potentially temporary dwellers on the site, and have graduated to a stable and lasting environment. Since they are in close proximity to people in the process of making a similar transition, there are opportunities for these individuals to be supportive role models and inspiration for the rest of the residents on site.

Basic Human Needs | Music Library Amenities provided for temporary dwelling occupants

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Primary Programatic spaces

Music Library

Transitional Dwelling

Permanent Dwelling

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Temporary Dwelling & Green Space

interior space sq ft 30 %

46,800 sq ft

Music Library 30% 46,800 sq ft

Library: (50%) 23,400 sq ft Performance space: (25%) 11,700 sq ft Cafe: (20%) 9,360 sq ft Offices: (5%) 2,340 sq ft

Permanent Dwelling 20 % 31,200 sq ft

20 % 31,200 sq ft 20 % 31,200 sq ft 30 %

46,800 sq ft

1 & 2 Bedroom Apts: (95%) 29,640 sq ft (40) Lobby: (2%) 624 sq ft Laundry: (3%) 936 sq ft

Transitional Dwelling 20 % 31,200 sq ft

SRO Units: (58%) 18,096 sq ft (40) Communal kitchen: (20%) 6,240 sq ft Social living room: (5%) 1,560 sq ft Counseling facilities: (15%) 4,680 sq ft Office: (2%) 624 sq ft Green Space: N/A

Temporary Dwelling 30% 46,800 sq ft

Sleep: n/a Eat: n/a Wash: n/a Warmth: N/a Public landscaping: (45%) 21,060 sq ft 65

Open vs Secure space diagram The darker circles represent the most secured and protected programmatic elements on site. Lighter circles represent spaces that will be open to the public.

secure Music Library

Transitional Dwelling

permanent Dwelling open

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Temporary Dwelling & green space

Light vs Dark | Open vs Secure diagram The lightest circles represent programmatic elements that will require the most natural lighting. This diagram illuminates the fact that the majority of the site will utilize and require a large amount of natural light. Although the music library is represented as the darkest space on site, it will be a space that aims to use dramatic lighting, as shown in my previous precedent studies, to emphasize light acting as a primary material.

Dark Music Library

Transitional Dwelling

permanent Dwelling

Temporary Dwelling & green space

light

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02

Bridge Homeless Assistance Center Overland Partners | Dallas, Texas | 2010 “The Bridge� Homeless Assistance Center in downtown Dallas is now the world’s model for homeless center design, since winning the International Rebranding Homelessness Competition. The competition honors homeless initiatives around the world that seek to develop a new language, and new approaches to addressing homelessness, challenge perpetuating myths and perceptions, and demonstrate viable alternatives, both to homelessness and to the way in which homelessness is dealt.

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03

Baton rouge downtown library Trahan Architects | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | TBD The concept of the Baton Rouge Downtown Library was inspired by the pages of a worn book, with its rippling exterior envelope resembling folded paper. Its translucent facade offers visual continuity inside and outside, exposing the activities within the building, and at night, becomes a glowing ‘beacon’ in downtown Baton Rouge. What’s fascinating is the investigative process of pulling the edges of a stack of paper which reveals ‘slabs’, and which later translate into circulation spaces.

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Appendix | Appendices Crutcher, Michael. Tremé: Race and Place in a New Orleans Neighborhood. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2010.

Burt Martha, et al. Helping America’s Homeless: Emergency Shelter or Affordable Housing? Washington, DC: Other Urban Institute Press, 2001. Print.

Cockerham, Sean. “7 years after Katrina, New Orleans homeless twice pre-storm level.” The Seattle Times, August 04, 2012, News section, Northwest edition.

Harland Bartholomew and Associates. “Preliminary Report on Civic Centre.” City of Vancouver Archives (1927): 69.

Kyle, Ken. Contextualizing Homelessness: Critical Theory, Homelessness, and Federal Pol72

icy Addressing the Homeless. New York & London: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Kohn, Margaret. Brave New Neighborhoods: The Privatization of Public Space. Great Britain: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Maldonado, Charles. “Mayor Landrieu’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.” Gambit, November 28, 2011, News section, Southeast edition.

Rechdahl, Kathy. “Report places New Orleans’ homeless rate at second in the nation.” The Times-Picayune, February 05, 2012, News section, Greater New Orleans edition.

Samuels, Daniel. “Remembering North Claiborne: Community and Place in Downtown New Orleans.” University of New Orleans (2000): 78.

Tent Cities in America: A Pacific Coast Report. National Coalition for the Homeless. Washington, DC: March 2010. Print.

Weise, Karen. “Record U.S. Poverty Rate Holds As Inequality Grows.” Business Week, September 12, 2012, Global Economics section, Northeast edition.

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2012