Hoffman Elementary (yes we can!)

Hoffman Elementary (THREATENED), Section showing sun control and ventilation. 2622 Prieur Street, New Orleans, LA. Sol Rosenthal and Charles Colbert, architects, 1948-1954. Image source = Idea: The Shaping Force. SFMPOP Preliminary assessment: "complete replacement"
originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

While it's raining outside, the sun is shining on Hoffman Elementary and the residents of the Hoffman Triangle neighborhood. The Recovery School District has been seeking a demolition permit for Hoffman Elementary, even though the RSD currently does not have funds to rebuild a school on that site.

Yesterday the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee (NCDC) voted to DENY the RSD a demolition permit for Hoffman. The Hoffman structure is well-designed for our extreme climate and could definitely be adapted with contemporary advances in glazing and given a new life. Need inspiration? Look no further. A zeitgeist school design exists in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Munkegaard's School was designed by architect Arne Jacobsen 1952-1956. The Danes have taken good care of the school and it is still in use and fresh as the day it was born.

Thank you NCDC for returning a bit of faith in good government to this nearly weary warrior.

Comments on Wheatley coming soon...

Mystery modernist building

Mystery modernist building, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

This photo arrived in my inbox yesterday. The owners of the photo thought that it may depict the since demolished St. Frances Cabrini School (Curtis and Davis, architects, 1956). I've seen some vintage photos of the school before, but don't remember it having a scalloped roof overhang.

There appears to be a PA system on the roof which could indicate a school.

Anyone recognize this structure?

Sacra Conversazione

DECONSTRUCTION: AN IMPRESSION OF VANISHING TREASURES
new paintings by Nell C. Tilton
June 6-30, 2009

Carol Robinson Gallery, 840 Napoleon Avenue (at Magazine Street)

Statement by the Artist

The focus of this exhibit is a collection of abstract paintings that recall elements of specifically two demolished buildings - one destroyed before Hurricane Katrina, the Rivergate Convention Center, and one demolished after and because of Katrina, St. Frances Cabrini Church in Gentilly.

My emphasis in these paintings is to capture the essence of the buildings and to represent the feeling of turmoil, destruction and a sense of loss for those creations by using form, color, value, and textural properties of the paint.

These structures were treasures because they were the result of a vision, a collaboration of many talented artists and craftsmen expressing their dream and creativity, special skills, abilities and brilliance through their art. They were places for a community to gather, exchange ideas, worship, practice commerce, or come together and celebrate. They were treasures because of the innovative designs and engineering feats that were revolutionary at the time of their construction in the 1960's.

My father, Nathaniel C. "Buster" Curtis, Jr. was an architect, artist, and historian. He loved people, his family, his heritage and his work. He was the Chief Project Architect and Director as well as the designer of the Rivergate Convention Center and held the same title for the Louisiana Superdome. He was a gentle, humble man who was very talented and proud of his accomplishments. He died in 1997, almost two years to the day after the demolition of the Rivergate began. This exhibit is dedicated to his memory and his love of architecture.

Form follows function

Hoffman Elementary (THREATENED), originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

This sectional diagram of the Hoffman Elementary School (Charles Colbert, 1948-1954) illustrates how the inverted steel truss spanning the roof provides both sun control and ventilation. The school is threatened with demolition and is on the NCDC agenda today June 1, 2009. Meeting is at City Hall Council Chambers, 1300 Perdido at 2 pm.

Hoffman Elementary (threatened)

Hoffman Elementary model, 2622 S. Prieur New Orleans, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Hoffman Elementary is on the NCDC Agenda on Monday June 1, 2009. It was the first school designed by Charles Colbert, who later designed McDonogh 36 and the iconic Wheatley Elementary. The following description is from Idea: the Shaping force by Charles Colbert.

'Hoffman Elementary (1948), first referred to by the School Board as "that cowshed," was designed before the general use of air conditioning and responded to such educational concerns of the day as variable classroom sizes, direct access to outdoor instructional area, sun and breeze control devices, and the reduction of visible distractions. A scale model of a typical classroom was used to determine the precise distribution of natural light; while entire walls of operating doors and windows allowed the passage of evaporative breezes over the students' bodies. Classrooms were isolated from corridor activities by a barrier wall as air movement was directed upward by a sloping ceiling above. An inverted truss created a sun protective overhang on the air entry side, while on the opposite side of the classroom, the sun was refiected from the flat corridor roof to the inclined interior ceiling, for diffusion to work surfaces below. The use of the inverted truss resulted from two functional necessities, air movement and the distribution of daylight. A study model was used to determine the most effective angle for the overhead ceiling at New Orleans' particular latitude. The use of the inverted roof truss merely accommodated these dictating needs. The profile of the roof truss is exposed on the exterior of each building wing by colorful enamel panels. The dictates of light, sound, air movement and the elimination of unnecessary visual distractions actually shaped the cross section of the building. The building's exterior shape was merely the result of interior requirements.'

Thesis Exhibit at the Ogden

Thesis 2009, Auto-mated Bloom: Bio-farming in the Atchafalaya Bay, Greg Barton, Tulane School of Architecture, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Please join us for the opening of

PROVOCATIONS: Tulane School of Architecture Thesis Projects 2009
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
925 Camp Street, New orleans, LA 70130

Friday May 8, 2009

6pm - 7pm RECEPTION
5th floor, Stephen Goldring Hall at the Ogden Museum

7pm - 8pm IMPRESSIONS
Commentary by
Billie Tsien, Tod William Billie Tsien Architects, New York
Mack Scogin, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Atlanta

Hosted by Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA, Dean
Tulane School of Architecture in collaboration with
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art

For information, call 504-314-2361
Exhibition is Wednesday May 6 - Sunday May 10

Arthur Q. Davis: Legacy of a Modern Architect

Arthur Q. Davis, FAIA, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

press release: Ogden Museum of Southern Art

Arthur Q. Davis: Legacy of a Modern Architect
Exhibition highlighting local architect’s career and debut of his new biography

In 1947, a time in which few New Orleans-based architects were advancing modern architecture, Arthur Q. Davis and his partner, Nathanial C. Curtis, established their practice in the city. The Curtis and Davis firm was best known for designing the Louisiana Superdome and modernist landmarks in New Orleans, including the New Orleans Rivergate Exhibition Center; the New Orleans Public Library; Royal Orleans Hotel; St. Francis Cabrini Church; the Caribe Building; the Automotive Life Building; private residences (including Davis’ own); Thomy Lafon Elementary School; and the George Washington Carver Elementary, Junior and Senior High schools. In later decades, under his Arthur Q. Davis, FAIA, and Partners firm, he designed the New Orleans Arena, a new town project in Indonesia and numerous other projects.

On April 23, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art will open the exhibition “Arthur Q. Davis: Legacy of a Modern Architect,” an overview of Davis’ long and illustrious career. The exhibition will showcase images, drawings and related archival materials to create a cohesive look at Davis’ life and work. The exhibition will be on view until July 19, 2009.

“This exhibition and the related publication seek to increase the public’s awareness of his legacy, and that of his architectural partners, while also focusing attention on the significance of many of these now endangered modernist landmarks,” says Ogden Museum of Southern Art Director J. Richard Gruber.

Arthur Q. Davis at Exhibition Opening and Booksigning on Thurs. April 23

Davis will be at the Ogden on Thursday, April 23, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (during Ogden After Hours) to open the exhibition and sign copies of his recently released book “It Happened by Design: The Life and Work of Arthur Q. Davis” (University Press of Mississippi/Ogden Museum of Southern Art). Davis’ co-author, Ogden director J. Richard Gruber, will also be at the event. (Ogden After Hours is the Ponderosa Stomp Preview featuring Bobby Rush.)

About Arthur Q. Davis, FAIA
Arthur Q. Davis was born in 1920 in New Orleans. After graduating from Isidore Newman School, he entered Tulane University’s School of Architecture at age 17. Davis met his wife, Mary Henriette Wineman Davis, while he attended Tulane and she—a native of Detroit, Michigan—attended Newcomb College. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then advanced his architectural studies at Harvard University under noted masters Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer before working with Eero Saarinen. As a partner in the firms including Curtis and Davis, and more recently Arthur Q. Davis, FAIA, and Partners, Davis worked on a number of notable projects in United States and abroad, including Vietnam, Aruba, Scotland, Indonesia, and Berlin, Germany. Today, at age 89, Davis is still active in the community.