Tulane House
Saw this in the Times-Picayune yesterday, and just thought I would share (by the way, I wouldn't have to post the whole article if nola.com would keep stories archived for longer than 14 days):
NEW FROM OLD
A prototype home based on age-old New Orleans building principals debuts in Treme
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
By Leslie Williams
The first of four houses built and designed by Tulane University School of Architecture students was unveiled Monday in Treme as an example of the type of affordable homes that can be constructed in historically underserved neighborhoods in New Orleans.
Ila Berman, associate dean of the school and co-director of URBANbuild, a program to create designs for affordable homes, hopes this prototype and the three other yet-to-be-designed houses will be replicated elsewhere in Treme and throughout the city.
In addition to being a model for sustainable housing, the 1,300-square-foot blue house at 1930 Dumaine St., with high ceilings, porches and plenty of ventilation, will be sold to a low-to-moderate income resident via Tulane's partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans Inc., a nonprofit agency created to increase home ownership.
"We plan to sell it for $125,000," said Lauren Anderson, the nonprofit's executive director. "We've gotten more calls about the architectural plans for the house than calls from people who want to buy it. It can be replicated anywhere. Ultimately, we plan to sell the architectural plans with Tulane."
NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit agency created by Congress in 1978 to revitalize communities, has contributed $30,000 for the Dumaine Street house, which will be used to provide a soft second mortgage in which the purchaser will need a mortgage of $95,000 to qualify for the home, Anderson said.
"At least two more houses are in the works now," said Reed Kroloff, dean of Tulane's School of Architecture.
One is planned for Central City and the other in the 7th Ward. Construction should begin on both in January, Berman said.
The fourth house also will be built in Central City, said Berman, who came up with the idea of creating URBANbuild as a program to rehabilitate and revitalize areas of the city dominated by blight and abandonment. A different group of students will design the remaining three prototypes.
URBANbuild is financed in part by a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than 40 schools of architecture, about half of the schools of architecture in the United States, competed for that grant, Kroloff said. Berman, also the grant writer, is co-director of the URBANbuild program with Byron Mouton, a Tulane clinical professor of architecture.
The three-bedroom, two-bath house in Treme was built in 15 weeks, starting in the middle of May, by "smart, but unskilled students" in the School of Architecture, said Mouton, the project architect. Anthony Christiana was the contractor, he said.
"Some students may have never held a shovel before," said Sam Richards, who oversees the woodworking and metalwork shop in the university's School of Architecture and guided the students. "It was a fantastic educational experience for them because they helped build as well as design it."
The structure sometimes has been referred to as the Home Depot house because many of its components were built with off-the-shelf items, Mouton said. It demonstrates what can be done by people with minimal experience, he said.
"I'll never look at a building the same way anymore," said Robert Deacon, a fourth-year student in the school's five-year master's program in architecture, who was among eight of 14 students who worked on the theory-and-practice project all 15 weeks. "You'd get lumber twisted and bent, not exact like in the computer.
"It's almost like I have X-ray vision now," said Deacon, noting that he no longer can look at a building without thinking about how its interior is put together.
The house was designed with the typical New Orleans lot, 30 feet by 90 feet, in mind, said Emilie Taylor, who began the project as a student and ended it as a graduate of the School of Architecture and project manager.
It builds on the traditional shotgun plan, "creating the maximum amount of useable, climate-responsive space with a minimum amount of materials and labor."
The house on Dumaine, however, abandons the traditional shotgun configuration that requires a visitor to walk through bedrooms to get to the kitchen, Taylor said.
It has a hallway. Openings via doors as well as horizontal and vertical windows produce much ventilation, reducing the need for costly air conditioning.
Tulane URBANbuild is a two-semester graduate level design/build studio focusing on affordability and innovation for design and construction in New Orleans. Students are exposed to the impact architectural practices have on design. All of the students who worked on the Dumaine Street project received course credit.
. . . . . . .
Leslie Williams can be reached at lwilliams@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3358.
NEW FROM OLD
A prototype home based on age-old New Orleans building principals debuts in Treme
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
By Leslie Williams
The first of four houses built and designed by Tulane University School of Architecture students was unveiled Monday in Treme as an example of the type of affordable homes that can be constructed in historically underserved neighborhoods in New Orleans.
Ila Berman, associate dean of the school and co-director of URBANbuild, a program to create designs for affordable homes, hopes this prototype and the three other yet-to-be-designed houses will be replicated elsewhere in Treme and throughout the city.
In addition to being a model for sustainable housing, the 1,300-square-foot blue house at 1930 Dumaine St., with high ceilings, porches and plenty of ventilation, will be sold to a low-to-moderate income resident via Tulane's partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans Inc., a nonprofit agency created to increase home ownership.
"We plan to sell it for $125,000," said Lauren Anderson, the nonprofit's executive director. "We've gotten more calls about the architectural plans for the house than calls from people who want to buy it. It can be replicated anywhere. Ultimately, we plan to sell the architectural plans with Tulane."
NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit agency created by Congress in 1978 to revitalize communities, has contributed $30,000 for the Dumaine Street house, which will be used to provide a soft second mortgage in which the purchaser will need a mortgage of $95,000 to qualify for the home, Anderson said.
"At least two more houses are in the works now," said Reed Kroloff, dean of Tulane's School of Architecture.
One is planned for Central City and the other in the 7th Ward. Construction should begin on both in January, Berman said.
The fourth house also will be built in Central City, said Berman, who came up with the idea of creating URBANbuild as a program to rehabilitate and revitalize areas of the city dominated by blight and abandonment. A different group of students will design the remaining three prototypes.
URBANbuild is financed in part by a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than 40 schools of architecture, about half of the schools of architecture in the United States, competed for that grant, Kroloff said. Berman, also the grant writer, is co-director of the URBANbuild program with Byron Mouton, a Tulane clinical professor of architecture.
The three-bedroom, two-bath house in Treme was built in 15 weeks, starting in the middle of May, by "smart, but unskilled students" in the School of Architecture, said Mouton, the project architect. Anthony Christiana was the contractor, he said.
"Some students may have never held a shovel before," said Sam Richards, who oversees the woodworking and metalwork shop in the university's School of Architecture and guided the students. "It was a fantastic educational experience for them because they helped build as well as design it."
The structure sometimes has been referred to as the Home Depot house because many of its components were built with off-the-shelf items, Mouton said. It demonstrates what can be done by people with minimal experience, he said.
"I'll never look at a building the same way anymore," said Robert Deacon, a fourth-year student in the school's five-year master's program in architecture, who was among eight of 14 students who worked on the theory-and-practice project all 15 weeks. "You'd get lumber twisted and bent, not exact like in the computer.
"It's almost like I have X-ray vision now," said Deacon, noting that he no longer can look at a building without thinking about how its interior is put together.
The house was designed with the typical New Orleans lot, 30 feet by 90 feet, in mind, said Emilie Taylor, who began the project as a student and ended it as a graduate of the School of Architecture and project manager.
It builds on the traditional shotgun plan, "creating the maximum amount of useable, climate-responsive space with a minimum amount of materials and labor."
The house on Dumaine, however, abandons the traditional shotgun configuration that requires a visitor to walk through bedrooms to get to the kitchen, Taylor said.
It has a hallway. Openings via doors as well as horizontal and vertical windows produce much ventilation, reducing the need for costly air conditioning.
Tulane URBANbuild is a two-semester graduate level design/build studio focusing on affordability and innovation for design and construction in New Orleans. Students are exposed to the impact architectural practices have on design. All of the students who worked on the Dumaine Street project received course credit.
. . . . . . .
Leslie Williams can be reached at lwilliams@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3358.
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