The University of Tulane’s School of Architecture completed their studio final review on May 10th at the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design Facility. The main focus for the Tulane studio is a non-traditional use of precast components in the development of the “Lafitte Greenway” space between Bayou St. John and North Broad Street in New Orleans, LA.
As anyone from the New Orleans area will tell you, water management is a big deal. The purpose of the studio is to find ways to manage water within this greenway space, particularly during heavy rain events. The space currently has a canal that runs parallel to it. The task for the students was to create a way to contain as much as 450,000 CF of water and then slowly release it back into the canal system.
The students were told that this volume of water can accumulate in as little as 30 minutes during a heavy rain event. As witnessed over the years, the students once again thought “outside the box” with possible solutions to this issue.
The following were reviewers of the Tulane studio projects: Alexis Gregory, Associate Professor, Mississippi State University, Il Kim, Architecture Chair, Auburn University, Brooke Morris, Principal, Procella Design, Dan Eckenrode, Director, PCI Gulf South, Kevin P. Centanni, Board of Directors, Friends of the Lafitte Greenway, Andrea Bardon de Tena, Research Assistant Professor, TuSA, Emmanuel Osorno, Architecture and Social Innovation Fellow, 2021-3, TuSA.
PCI Gulf South would like to personally thank Professor Kentaro Tsubaki and Assistant Professor Charles Jones for being a part of the PCI Foundation program and championing the study of precast concrete over the past 4 years. It’s always a sad affair when we do a “final” final review as this is Tulane’s last studio under the current PCI Foundation program. It has been a pleasure working with Tulane University and we wish all the students the best of luck in their future endeavors.
