Tulane University and the city of New Orleans are places of rich physical character. Our design proposal expands upon this sense of place, while addressing the practical needs of a sophisticated university program.

Tulane University and the city of New Orleans are places of rich physical character. Our design proposal expands upon this sense of place, while addressing the practical needs of a sophisticated university program.

Our proposal begins with the restoration of the 1894 Richardson Building, designed by Harrod and Andry, and the removal of later additions. We extend the original building’s limestone base northward to serve as a plinth for a new addition—a pure rectangular volume with a brick core, an intermediate enclosure of glass and metal, and an outer screen of red stone.

The internal organization of the expanded Richardson Building is purposefully simple. Public spaces occupy the ground floor, where they are readily accessible to students and visitors. The upper levels accommodate more private functions. The Murphy Institute and the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs share a double-height vaulted space on the second floor of the Richardson Building. The addition houses seminar rooms on the second floor, the Departments of Economics and Philosophy on the third floor, and suites for visiting scholars on the landscaped rooftop.

Through its placement alongside the main axis of the campus, our addition reinforces the Richardson Building’s role as a gateway between Gibson Quad and the rest of Tulane. The transparent ground floor allows visibility into and through the addition. The red-stone screen that wraps the upper floors echoes the brick color and horizontal lines of neighboring buildings, and shades the interior like the shutters and balconies of traditional New Orleans architecture.