TSA Geodesic Dome project 01 1954

TSA Geodesic Dome project 01 1954, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) served a six-week term as visiting critic at Tulane School of Architecture in February and March of 1954. Fifth-year students worked with Fuller to create this 18 foot geodesic dome model of a potential shelter or airplane maintenance hangar for the Marines. Here students raise the lightweight yet sturdy model on the quad of Tulane's front campus.

The Tulane geodesic dome model was constructed of cardboard formed into triangles, painted with plastic and joined with tape. According to an article in the April 1954 edition of The Tulanian, the dome was to be packaged and sent to the military base at Quantico, Virginia accompanied by Dean John Ekin Dinwiddie and several students. They would reassemble the model there for military inspection and it would soon undergo mass production.

I am not sure if the geodesic domes ever went into military production. However in 1958 Fuller returned to Louisiana to construct the Union Tank Car Dome outside Baton Rouge. Upon completion the 384 foot diameter dome was the largest clear span structure in the world and the largest structure of its type.

Tomorrow night please join AIA New Orleans and DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana in a free screening and the Louisiana premiere of director Evan Mather's

A NECCESSARY RUIN: THE STORY OF BUCKMINSTER FULLER AND THE UNION TANK CAR DOME

Wednesday September 8, 2010
Reception at 7, Screening at 8
AIA New Orleans Center for Design
1000 St. Charles Avenue

A Necessary Ruin: The Story of Buckminster Fuller and the Union Tank Car Dome

A Necessary Ruin: The Story of Buckminster Fuller and the Union Tank Car Dome, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

DOCOMOMO US/Louisiana and AIA New Orleans present
"A Necessary Ruin: The Story of Buckminster Fuller and the Union Tank Car Dome" 
a documentary film by Evan Mather
Wednesday September 8
reception @ 7pm, screening @ 8pm
AIA New Orleans Center for Design
1000 St. Charles Avenue


Upon its completion in October 1958, the Union Tank Car Dome, located north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the largest clear-span structure in the world. Based on the engineering principles of the visionary design scientist and philosopher Buckminster Fuller, this geodesic dome was, at 384 feet in diameter, the first large scale example of this building type. A Necessary Ruin relates the powerful, compelling narrative of the dome’s history via interviews with architects, engineers, preservationists, media, and artists; animated sequences demonstrating the operation of the facility; and hundreds of rare photographs and video segments taken during the dome’s construction, decline, and demolition. (Evan Mather, U.S.A., 2009, 29:54)


hand crafted films

Holly + Smith Feasibility Study: Historic Phillis Wheatley CAN Be Reused

Efforts to preserve and reuse Phillis Wheatley Elementary constitute what is arguably one of the most pressing preservation issues facing New Orleans today. Designed in 1954 by New Orleans architect Charles Colbert, FAIA, it is a groundbreaking work of modern engineering and design. Though its cantilevered classroom wing avoided the ravages of flooding after Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Recovery School District (RSD) is pushing for FEMA funds to demolish the National Register-eligible building.

According to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, any such use of federal dollars to demolish or otherwise alter a building must first be subject to the Section 106 review process to determine how such actions can be mitigated through discussion with concerned parties. FEMA began Wheatley’s Section 106 review last fall and the issue erupted into a contentious fight between those for and against preservation. The RSD halted the process to commission the Hammond, LA-based firm of Holly + Smith to perform a feasibility study for the site. Its findings were made public at an RSD-hosted community meeting on July 21st, while the official consultation process resumed July 29th.

Holly + Smith rendering of existing building with addition.

Holly + Smith considered two options for the site, total demolition and replacement with a new school building versus restoration of and addition to the historic building. The firm was not charged with formally designing either scenario, only with assessing current conditions and proposing hypothetical schematics. It found that both options were comparable in most respects, though estimated that the renovation scenario would cost an additional $900,000. The architects neglected to calculate how demolition costs would help to close that gap, but either way, the project would cost between $20 million and $21 million. RSD officials have asserted that either scenario would be completed by 2013.

Despite these findings, detractors still maintain that Wheatley must come down. The RSD claims that it would be impossible to achieve an ideal learning environment for students using the existing building, and some echo this sentiment by insisting that the only way to achieve parity with other public schools would be to construct an entirely new building. These arguments seem somewhat disingenuous in light of the fact that the district already plans to renovate a diverse collection of forty-four existing school buildings, historic or otherwise. If it is possible to bring each of those to a reasonable level of programmatic equality, one is left to wonder why the rehabilitation and reuse of Wheatley is so insurmountable, particularly in light of those conclusions drawn by the RSD’s own consultants.

Additional arguments against preservation come from those attributing a host of educational and social ills to the building itself. Wheatley was poorly maintained for decades, and prior to Hurricane Katrina it, like most of New Orleans’ public schools, was failing. Overall mismanagement was, after all, what spurred state takeover of the city’s school system by the RSD in the first place. These problems were endemic citywide, not unique products of Wheatley’s design. Others claim that the building, completed the same year as the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, painfully encapsulates the era of segregation in New Orleans and therefore should be demolished to start anew. One wonders then why those same detractors are not arguing for the demolition of all of the city’s historic school buildings, the vast majority of which were completed prior to World War II; the answer likely lies in the fact that these are mostly Classical Revival style structures which are more widely accepted as “historic.” In either case, these arguments reveal a disturbing brand of selective memory on the part of those seeking demolition most ardently.

Holly + Smith’s feasibility study, which states that Phillis Wheatley Elementary is a viable resource, should be seen as a positive starting off point for creative solutions to satisfy all. Those arguing for preservation – including DOCOMOMO/US Louisiana, Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, National Trust for Historic Preservation, World Monuments Fund, and citizens throughout New Orleans – believe that this historic building can indeed be incorporated into a 21st century school to benefit children for years to come. After all, that is the ultimate goal of preservation – to insure that future generations will inherit the architectural legacy of those who came before, rather than allow short-sighted thinking to deprive them of that opportunity.

Help Protect Landmark Neon Signage

The Preservation Resource Center's Advocacy Department has announced that the Walgreen's Pharmacy located at 900 Canal Street has applied to the Historic District Landmarks Commission to replace its Moderne neon signage with LED (light-emitting diode) signage.

Louisiana governor Huey Long’s favorite firm, Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth, designed this pharmacy (1938) as well as the State Capitol (1932). The Moderne pharmacy is illuminated by its original neon sign. The year of the structure's completion, Canal Street was awash in neon lights and colored paving:

“A breadth of 171 feet is distributed between two spacious sidewalks, and a wider neutral ground; both the sidewalks (called banquettes in New Orleans) and the neutral ground are paved in modernistic style with red and white terrazzo marble, reflecting the brilliant sunlight by day and the flood of electric lights by night.” (WPA Guide to New Orleans, 1938)

From the 1930s-1960s, Canal Street’s signage was almost exclusively neon (undated postcard shown above). Today, very few of its historic neon lights survive. To see other pictures of the signage and comment on the proposal, click here.

National Trust :: Modernism in New Orleans

Many of the Big Easy's Midcentury Buildings Face Demolition.

By Jennifer Farwell | Online Only | Aug. 2, 2010 

Whitney Bank, New Orleans

Credit: Trevor Meeks

The year is 1955; the place, New Orleans. Progressive Architecture magazine has just held its second annual Design Awards, juried by Bauhaus School founder Walter Gropius. The list of winners brings a surprise: New Orleans and Louisiana capture six of the awards—more than any other city and state in the nation. The awards recognize the work of five different architectural teams, including the noted firm Curtis and Davis, whose later work will include the 1975 Superdome.

read more..... 

A Building's Resume: International Acclaim

Charles Colbert, architect. Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, Tremé Neighborhood, New Orleans, LA. (1955).

Recent Recognition

2009 Watch List, World Monuments Fund

2008 NOLA 9, Louisiana Landmarks Society

Awards/Exhibitions

1959 Annual Exhibition, Architectural League of New York

1958 U.S. State Department Architecture Exhibition, Moscow

1957 U.S. State Department Architecture Exhibition, Berlin

1955 Citation Award, Progressive Architecture

1954 Top Award for "Better School Design Competition" The School Executive

Intelligent Design with Principles of Sustainability and Modernism in Mind

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is already elevated above the 100 year flood elevation - one of the most important factors for any building located in the city. Even though the classrooms did not flood after Hurricane Katrina, the school has remained shuttered for five years.

The open design of the building adds to the positive learning environment by creating an unrestricted open air feel. The original design utilized a beautiful glass wall exterior to allow large amounts of natural light into the classroom. Natural light has since been proven to aid in the learning process and combat depression.

The boarded window downgrade was likely to combat the heat element. However, since then glass and window construction tech has drastically improved so that double and triple pane Argon filled panels could be utilized to to reduce heat transfer yet retain the architectural beauty of the original design.

Due to the large flat roof and large glass windows, electricity needs could be subsidized through the use of solar panels. This is a vital point, since New Orleans is one of the largest solar cities in America and mid-century pieces were designed to be easily upgraded as technology advanced.

This unique school facility provides abundant sheltered play space, natural light and ventilation. Supports are in the middle of the building. The extensions are cantilevered about 35 feet from the supports - a very muscular kind of support, more often seen in bridge design. The elevated structure has a regional architectural sensibility. The earliest buildings of the French Quarter and around Louisiana were all elevated, not just for flood protection, but also to increase natural ventilation. The breeze is always a little bit stronger when you get above ground.

New facilities (performance spaces, band rooms, kindergarten) can be sympathetically constructed on the site adjacent to a renovated historic modern school.

The Mahalia Jackson Elementary School (also by architect Charles Colbert 1954) has been significantly renovated. The new Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood Family Learning Center is now serving the Central City community. If they can do it in Central City, why not Tremé?