A Collaborative Design/Build Project in New Orleans's Seventh Ward

Vision

The projects represented on these pages are the product of collaboration between the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Planning, the Porch Cultural Organization of New Orleans's Seventh Ward, The Neighborhood Story Project, and Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans. The projects are intended to garner community support for rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina, and to promote the cultural traditions and arts of the Seventh Ward.

Working with members of the Seventh Ward community, we have initiated a collaborative design process that has resulted in the installation of several building projects. The projects were all designed and pre-fabricated on the campus of the University of Kansas and transported to their final site in New Orleans. The completed projects include community Notice Boards, a community garden Shade Structure, a community garden Tool Shed, and a Mobile Stage.

Current projects include another Shade Structure and an Outdoor Classroom.

Our inspiration for these projects in this Creole neighborhood is the Creole tradition of craftsmen coming together on weekends to host 'house-raisings' for one another.

Project Documentation

• Click Here for a 56 page (9mb) PDF about the first semester of work installed in the Community Garden.

Project Photos and Video

• For photos of the recently completed Mobile Stage, click here.
• For photos of the Tool Shed and Shading Structure, completed in May 2006, click here.
• For January 2006 photos of New Orleans, click here.
• For February 2006 photos of New Orleans, click here.
• For video shot at a 7th Ward Community Meeting in February 2006, click here.

Media Coverage

• For Lawrence Journal World newspaper articles about the project, click here,  here, and here.
• For Lawrence Channel 6 TV news coverage about the project, click here, here, here, or here.
• For a University Daily Kansan article about the project, click here.

Donate!

• We are accepting cash and in-kind donations to bring this project to completion. All donations are fully tax-deductible through Studio 804, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. If you would like to contribute please contact Nils Gore. Thanks in advance for your support.

Acknowledgements

Grateful acknowledgement is made to those who have contributed time and money to our cause:

• The William T. Kemper Foundation (Kansas City)
• The Students of Central Junior High School (Lawrence, KS)
• University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design
• Yemm and Hart Green Building Materials (Marquand, MO)
• The Kuehn Foundation (Fairway, KS)
• Cottin's Hardware (Lawrence, KS)
• Schutte Lumber (Kansas City)
• Royal Metals (Olathe, KS)
• Danny Zeck Ford Lincoln Mercury (Leavenworth, KS)
• Horizon Systems, Inc. (Lawrence, KS)
• Numerous individual donors

Key Participants

• Rob Corser and Nils Gore, University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design (KU)
• Dan Etheridge, TulaneCity Center
• Willie Birch, 7th Ward Neighborhood Resident and Visual Artist
• Helen Regis, 7th Ward Neighborhood Resident and Louisiana State University Anthropologist
• Lauren Anderson, Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans
• Rachel Breunlin, The Neighborhood Story Project

Articles about the 7th Ward and the rebuilding of New Orleans:

PROGRESS REPORT: ONE YEAR LATER

CHALLENGES

• Rebuilding Affordable Housing in New Orleans
• Small Business in New Orleans-video
• New Orleans Shops Struggle to Survive

HOUSING PROJECTS - NEWS

• 9 Arrested in Action to Reopen New Orleans Public Housing
• Returning Teachers to get Temporary Prefab Homes

FEDERAL FUNDING ISSUES

• Why The Delay In Louisiana Katrina, Rita Recovery
• HUD Katrina Accomplishments – One Year Later
•  Hurricane Katrina: What Government Is Doing

BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES

• Many in New Orleans can't afford insurance
• Thousands still wait on Katrina insurance
• Judge Rules Katrina Suits against
• A Bank Survives Katrina. Now, the Hard Part.

Allstate Must be Filed Separately]

• Judge rules New Orleans flooding not covered by insurance

CULTURAL IMPACTS

• A City's Changing Face
• The Art of Post-Katrina New Orleans
• A New Mix in the South
• A New Spice in the Gumbo

HURRICANE PROTECTION

• Levee Board wants bids on 2 tracts- Merger election casts cloud over strategy
• WETLAND RESTORATION SEEN AS CRUCIAL Delta's marshes, islands form buffers against storm surges, scientists say
• New Orleans' pumps doing better
• Hurricane-proof 'safe houses' are delivered in St. Charles. Essential workers ride out blow there.

SEVENTH WARD

• Seventh Ward Neighborhood: Housing & Housing Costs
• Seventh Ward Snapshot

REGIONAL CONCERNS

OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS

• Building Blocks

RELOCATION STORIES

• Lost and Found In Relocation
• Scattered by Katrina, Linked by a Church
• Experiences of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees in Houston Shelters: Implications for Future Planning
• Out Of Luck With The 504 Area Code

IMPACTS ON CRIME

• New Orleans Area Gets Held Up With More Crime
• Series of robberies linked, bar owners, residents told

HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

• The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Medical and Health Care Infrastructure (PDF)
• After the Storm- Health Care Infrastructure in Post-Katrina New Orleans
• EDITORIAL: A hurdle to mental health

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

• As storms destroy, they can also renew
• Canal sediment will go to landfill- Move appeals to both industry, activists
• COMMERCE SECRETARY ANNOUNCES GULF SEAFOOD SAFE TO EAT
• Bioremediation in New Orleans
• Bay Area bioremediators at work in New Orleans
• Metal Distributions in New Orleans Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: A Continuation Study
• New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, and the Oil Industry

VOLUNTEER SYSTEM, (OTHER PROJECTS)

• Common Ground Collective
• Surviving Katrina: Covenant House New Orleans

WHAT'S UP WITH FEMA?

• FEMA closes recovery office in New Orleans, claiming local officials failed to meet their planning obligations after Hurricane Katrina.
• FEMA Welches New Orleans
• FEMA: Ready for 2006 Hurricane Season

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

• Need for house gutting seems endless in N.O.
• Post-Katrina Labor Crunch Hurts Builders

THE FUTURE: DESIGN CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

• CHARTING THE COURSE FOR REBUILDING A GREAT AMERICAN CITY (PDF)
• Designing the Future of New Orleans
• TEN-POINT PLAN FOR REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS

THE PORT BUSINESS

• Port now linked with planners. Council move aims to speed up funding.
• N.O. port security still needs attention. Safer since 9/11, but not safe enough

HOW ABOUT SOMETHING OPTIMISTIC?

• Saints Provide Antidote to Katrina

NEW ORLEANS GENERAL

• Is New Orleans Heading Backward or Forward? (T-P article, 1.17.06)
• Official 'Action Plan' for New Orleans (released 1.11.06) (PDF)
• Rebuilding Proposal Gets Mixed Reception (1.12.06)
• The Impact of Katrina: Race and Class in Storm-damaged Neighborhoods (Brown University study, 7mb PDF)
• Realism Urged in Planning N.O.'s Future
• Planners Brainstorm New Ideas for N.O.
• A Shared Uncertainty
• New Orleans a Year after Katrina

SEVENTH WARD

• How the Seventh Ward was Built
• Seventh Ward Snapshot
• Article about Tootie Montana and the Mardi Gras Indians.
• Times Picayune Article about Tootie Montana's Death.
• Gambit Article about Tootie Montana's Death.
• Article about Tootie Montana's Funeral.

Model Programs to Learn From

TOOL LENDING LIBRARY

• Phinney Neighborhood Association Tool Lending Library (Seattle)
• Columbus (Ohio) Mobile Tool Library
• Rochester, (NY) NEAD
• MUD (Missoula, MT) Tool Library
• Temescal Tool Lending Library (Oakland, CA)
• Article: \"Start Your Own Tool-Sharing Program (Mother Earth News)

WELL HOME PROGRAM

• Phinney Neighborhood Well Home Program (Seattle)

REUSABLE BUILDING MATERIALS EXCHANGE PROGRAM

• 2Good2Toss.com

PRESERVATION RESOURCES

• Preservation Resource Center -see Programs