© Timothy Hurlsey

Designed to vertically re-imagine the typically horizontal condition of New Orleans’ dense French Quarter blocks, the project is organized to create a communal amenity floor at the 9th level, reinterpreting the courtyard housing typology for urban, high-rise living. At this raised “courtyard” level, shuttle elevators transfer from garage to tower in order to instigate opportunities for residents to cross paths with one another in a shared, communal space as opposed to the typical, introverted experience found in most high-rise residential developments.

More photographs, drawings, and description of this 21 story, 462,000 square foot mixed-use residential project including ground floor retail and 250 residential apartments above a 500-car garage following the break.

Architect: Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Mechanical Engineer: Mechanical Construction Co
Structural Engineer: Morphy Makofsky Inc
Electrical Engineer: Canzoneri & Associates
Civil Engineer: Morphy Makofsky Inc
Geotechnical Engineer: Eustis Engineering
MEP Engineer: Moses Engineers (Contract Administration Only)
Contractor: Gibbs Construction Company
Client: Brian Gibbs Development, LLC
Project Area: 462,000 sqf
Project Year: 2010
Photography: Timothy Hurlsey

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Upon its completion in October 1958, the Union Tank Car Dome, located north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the largest clear-span structure in the world. Based on the engineering principles of the visionary design scientist and philosopher Buckminster Fuller, this geodesic dome was, at 384 feet in diameter, the first large scale example of this building type.

“A Necessary Ruin” tells the history of the Union Tank Car Dome via interviews with architects, engineers, preservationists, media, and artists; animated sequences demonstrating the operation of the facility; and hundreds of rare photographs and video segments taken during the dome’s construction, decline, and demolition.

Visit handcraftedfilms.com for more information and to purchase the DVD.

Southwest View © Trahan Architects

Trahan Architects have shared their plans to completely transform an existing Municipal Dock into a mixed-use development.   The dock is nestled between LSU and Downtown Baton Rouge – an emerging pedestrian thoroughfare that is full of potential for future public infrastructure developments – and Trahan’s vision will further activate the growing connection between these urban areas in Louisiana.

More images, great diagrams and more about the project after the break. read more »

© Timothy Hursley

Architects:  Eskew+Dumez+Ripple / Guidry Beazley Architects
Location:  Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Consultants:  J.B. Mouton, Inc. – General Contractor, Associated Design Group – MEP Engineers, Bellard and Associates – Structural Engineer, Visual Acuity – Visualization Systems, Global Data Systems – Communications/IT, Jon Emerson & Associates – Landscape Architect
Client: Lafayette Economic Development Authority
Project Size: 61,040 square feet
Year of Completion: 2006
Photography: Timothy Hursley read more »

Using their award-winning campus master plan as a guide, the new international school in Baton Rouge, LA designed by Trahan Architects has just entered into the schematic design phase.  The facility will be comprised of a gymnasium, stage, classrooms and an administrative suite.   After interviewing Trey Trahan and being introduced to several of his projects, it is evident that the firm’s emphasis on understanding the context, in terms of both built form and culture, continually provides the backbone for their design process.

More images and more about the project after the break. read more »

We have received an update on the design of the Baton Rouge Downtown Library by Trahan Architects, which clarifies several aspects of the circulations, the relation with the surroundings and details of the facade.

The facade looks very interesting, and on the diagrams you can see how the exterior envelope varies along the elevation to achieve the folded paper like look. A detail of the section reveals further information about this.

All the diagrams/drawings, courtesy of Trahan Architects, after the break.

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© Trahan Architects

Louisiana based Trahan Architects, a firm with expertise in institutional design and religious architecture (check the Holy Rosary Church Complex, remarkable project), recently unveiled conceptual design for the renovation and expansion of the River Center Branch Library.

The project stands at the intersection between civic buildings and the city’s arts and entertainment district, overlooking a new town square. This new building becomes an urban piece, exposing the interior activity to the outside with a rippled translucent skin. But also the library takes care of the exterior, with reading areas and a urban patio.

© Trahan Architects

As with changes on how people consume information, the typical library approach as a storage/reading facility gets obsolete. In response to this, the project is a public place for gathering and sharing around information, with circulation patterns that place stationary structures in the center of the floors and create space for staff and patron interaction, with movable parts and multiple paths along the perimeter.

During this days, the changes of information trough technology challenge library designs, while offering an opportunity to become important public spaces among our cities. In this way, I think this concept has a good start.

More images courtey of Trahan Architects after the break.

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