Global Green Sustainable Design Competition
New Orleans, Louisiana

Our design for a housing and daycare complex located in the Holy Cross community of New Orleans developed from the premise that sustainable ideals are incontrovertibly linked to the lives of the people who will live there. Therefore, the buildings must have a sense of permanence and substance, as well as fulfill the principles of sustainability and sound environmental practices. The design should establish a place that speaks of home, and in sustaining its use and viability - stewardship. Our meetings with the Holy Cross community only reinforced this perspective, while enabling us to reinterpret traditional vernacular design. In the end, we responded to such fundamental ideas as high ceilings, shaded views, private and public outdoor areas, windows and porches that encourage neighbor interaction, and in general, the desire to see the community rebuilt, more sustainable than before.

By implementing sustainable site and design solutions, as well as incorporating green technology systems, our proposal would achieve LEED Platinum certification and function as a net-zero energy use complex.

The arrangement of the site alludes to the Spanish influence of courtyard settings within the French Quarter, with the apartment building hovering above a levy. Its South facing façade is clad in a veil of locally-harvested Cyprus planks that recalls the window blinds of the old houses of the city, and is also an important tool in providing shade and ventilation to the apartments.

To ensure a psychological, if not tangible, level of security against flooding, the residential units are raised fifteen feet above the ground on pre-cast concrete panels. Coupled with

more >

high ceilings within the units, this system provides for superior flow-through ventilation. The pre-cast panels also work as part of a geothermal system to provide radiant cooling and heating by thermal mass from the concrete walls that divide the units. During the intense humidity of the summer months, the radiant cooling is supplemented with a liquid desiccant technology system self-sustained by photovoltaic panels on the site. These panels also generate enough power during the day for minimum electrical use, and any excess energy could be sold back to the power company for a net economic gain.

Water collection on roofs and structures provide water management and reclamation to control rainwater runoff while including systems to drain, filter excess water, and store a three-week capacity of potable water in cisterns. It is the design and location of the cisterns, along with individual planters, that are emblematic of the project as a whole. The recessed areas on top of the cisterns and planters are designated as planting areas, and are assigned to apartments according to apartment size. It is the responsibility of the residents to maintain their private garden for whatever purpose they deem fit, such as growing produce for sale to restaurants, a time-honored tradition before Hurricane Katrina. These gardens, like much of the physical property and green technology of the project, must be maintained to succeed for the long term. In this environment, the habitat and the inhabitants become interdependent; they become sustainable when working together. The habitat because it needs the ongoing maintenance and care from its inhabitants; and its inhabitants, because maintaining and caring for the site provides them knowledge, purpose, and a sense of ownership.

< back

The real catalyst of this project is the concept that education is a gift that is inherently reciprocal. The users of the site have many opportunities to be informed about the world; in the literal sense, the community center can provide education for adults and children outside of the traditional school. Residents can then volunteer their time back in the maintenance of the sustainable aspects of the site. The goal is to provide a sense of stewardship over land that is in constant environmental, cultural, and political change.