KU News Release

Dec. 1, 2006
Contact: Rob Corser or Nils Gore, KU School of Architecture and Urban Design, (785) 864-3904 or (785) 864-4102; or Dan Etheridge, Tulane University, (504) 988-3889.

KU architecture designs for New Orleans earn regional, national top honors

LAWRENCE — Designs by University of Kansas architecture and urban design students to help residents of New Orleans’ Seventh Ward rebuild their community are gaining recognition not only in the Big Easy but also within regional and national communities of architects.

This fall, the Kansas City, Mo., chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City selected the KU projects for the Seventh Ward for top honors.

A community tool shed and a garden shade structure designed in architecture studios taught by Nils Gore, associate professor, and Rob Corser, assistant professor, won Merit Awards in the AIA Kansas City Design Awards program in November. KU’s School of Architecture and Urban Design competed with professional firms.

The awards honor KU students’ designs for structures capable of withstanding hurricane force winds and can be pre-fabricated and shipped to a construction site. In May, the students did the pre-fab construction at KU and transported the units to New Orleans. In about three days, Gore’s studio 401 students constructed the tool shed, and Corser’s studio 301 students installed the shade structure, which provides an open-air meeting place near the shed.

In January, a new group of studio 301 students will construct pre-fab units for a second shade structure for the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition “Design for the Other 90%.” The exhibition will focus on designs for the 90 percent of the world’s population not traditionally served by designers. It will be on display at the museum from May 4 to Sept. 23.

When the exhibit concludes, the shade structure will be disassembled and shipped to New Orleans for a permanent home in a Seventh Ward neighborhood traditionally home to Creole craftsmen, skilled professionals and laborers.

Since January 2006, Gore, Corser and their students have been working with residents of a 28-square block area in the Seventh Ward represented by The Porch Cultural Organization. The group evolved after Hurricane Katrina as part of the community’s effort to preserve not only homes but also the area’s unique cultural heritage.

“Buildings in this area suffered more wind damage from Katrina than flood damage. Our projects support the social fabric of the neighborhood,” Gore said.

“The area has a large number of rental homes and a lot of absentee owners,” Corser said. One of their goals is more local home ownership — particularly for low-income residents.

To date, KU students working with CITYBuild, a new national consortium of university-based programs currently hosted by Tulane University School of Architecture and its Tulane City Center faculty, and with The Porch organization have designed and constructed:

— Four weather-resistant message boards first used as communication for residents before phone and cable lines could be restored. The boards also feature Seventh Ward Speaks, a collaborative poster series by The Porch and the Neighborhood Story Project at the University of New Orleans
— The community tool shed, an initial step in the neighborhood’s long-range plan to provide education for home repair and home ownership
— The garden shade structure for neighborhood gatherings (a second shade structure will be installed in fall 2007)
— A portable outdoor stage is being pre-fabricated this semester to be installed in New Orleans in early January. The stage is part of a community effort to educate school children in the rich heritage of two elite cultural groups in New Orleans — the Social and Pleasure Clubs and the Mardi Gras Indians. Both have historical roles in Mardi Gras and originally provided social services typically denied to blacks because of racial segregation.

Corser and Gore are hopeful that the Cooper-Hewitt exposure will help in raising funds to support The Porch Cultural Organization’s rebuilding plans.

At KU, fundraising for materials and trips to New Orleans is a major challenge, Gore said, noting that the shade structure alone cost about $3,000.

Yet the greater KU community responded to the KU professors’ first requests for funds last spring. Central Junior High School students in Lawrence contributed $4,000 from their annual Fun Run project. Other major contributors included the William T. Kemper Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.; the dean’s office in KU’s School of Architecture and Urban Design; and area residents and businesses. This fall, KU students raised additional funds to support their 2007 projects.

Gore and Corser made the rebuilding of New Orleans the focus of their studio projects following a post-Katrina symposium on the role of universities and architecture schools in rebuilding New Orleans at KU in 2005. The KU professors hope to continue that focus at least through 2010.

Students in studio classes in spring 2006 and fall 2006 are listed below by hometown, level in school, major, parents’ names, high school (when available) and studio course.

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