The Extraordinary vs. the Everyday Catastrophe: Part 2

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Derek Hoeferlin
August 23-27, 2010
(5 years ago on August 23, 2010 Hurricane Katrina formed as a Category 1 over the Bahamas)

What is most impressive about Jess Garz’s work with Transforma Projects has been the ability for a small group with limited funding to mobilize a large network of artists and designers. What have resulted are unique recovery projects that ultimately bring legible awareness to pre-Katrina issues (Plessy vs. Ferguson, lead contamination, etc.), but ultimately through the lens of the post-Katrina New Orleans context.

I think this is what Jess and I are getting after – how can we continue to achieve similar design implementation success without relying on post-Katrina New Orleans or other disasters; how can we achieve results without relying on losses of ecologies, cities, cultures, properties, and most unfortunately, lives? I don’t know if I have the magic bullet answer.

But, I think part of getting to the answer is that architects, artists and designers have the ability to create extreme legibility through the process of research and design. Legible, yet creative, propositions that are informed by diligent research and careful understanding of context can get us to exposing the everyday conditions beset by most metropolitan American cities and landscapes.

My work with graduate and undergraduate architecture and urban design students at the Sam Fox School’s College of Architecture & Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis has operated at multiple scales, programs and venues throughout post-Katrina New Orleans since January, 2006.

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Multiple Scales (backyard to city), Programs (chicken coops to water strategies) and Venues (non-profits to collaborations). image credits: Photos by Derek Hoeferlin: left column and lower right; Drawings by Gutter to Gulf studio: top right and middle right

First things first – my work in New Orleans dates back to 1992, so the strange place is no stranger to me, and that’s crucial in understanding place. The academic, yet reality-based and broad-ranging work includes the above-mentioned fully functioning NOLA Chicken Coop for God’s Vineyard Community Garden, led by Earl Antwine and Noel Jones, in the Lower Garden District neighborhood of New Orleans (www.nolarecipe.blogspot.com) in 2008.

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image credit: photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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God's Vineyard Community Garden Site Photo and Plans. image credit: drawing by Kathleen Johnson and Washington University in St. Louis undergraduate architecture studio, led by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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NOLA Chicken Coop pre-fabricated design and installation sequence in God’s Vineyard Community Garden, 2008. image credit: drawings by Kathleen Johnson and Washington University in St. Louis; photo sequence by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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sustainable cycle of God’s Vineyard Community Garden. image credit: drawings by Kathleen Johnson and Washington University in St. Louis undergraduate architecture studio, led by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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Interior of NOLA Chicken Coop. image credit: photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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Translucent polycarbonate panels for diffuse light attached to galvanized steel structure; transparent operable polycarbonate louvers and lapped corrugated steel roofing for ventilation for cooling and so coop doesn’t explode due to methane build-up! image credit: photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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NOLA Chicken Coop all lit up at night, Spring 2008. image credit: photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

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Hen with polycarbonate. image credit: photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2008

From 2008-2009, my students collaborated with city planning graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning, guided by Karl Seidman, for adaptive re-use designs and business development plans for historic buildings for two prominent New Orleans non-profit groups – Broad Community Connections, led by Jeffrey Schwartz and the Good Work Network, led by Phyllis Cassidy.

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Existing and proposed Robért’s grocery store and site re-design, New Orleans, Fall 2009. image credits: upper photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Fall 2009, design and business development plan by Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts students Philip Burkhardt and Brendan Wittstruck and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies & Planning students Jacquelyn Dadakis and Aditi Mehta

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Renderings of proposed renovation to Robert’s grocery store with roof farm and site improvements, New Orleans, Fall 2009. image credits: upper photo by Derek Hoeferlin, Fall 2009, design and business development plan by Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts students Philip Burkhardt and Brendan Wittstruck and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies & Planning students Jacquelyn Dadakis and Aditi Mehta

Since 2009 and to continue for multiple years is our collaborative work with the University of Toronto department of landscape architecture, directed by Jane Wolff and Elise Shelley, on the “Gutter to Gulf” initiative (www.guttertogulf.com) that is advocating for integrated water management strategies within New Orleans since 2009.

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image credits: photos by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2009. “Gutter to Gulf” studios - Springs 2009, 2010 Students: Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts: Jordan Adsit, Nicole Andersson, Sofia Balters, Philip Burkhardt, Daniela Covarrubias, Erin Dorr, Jonathan Dowse, Annemarie Gray, Zachary Gong, Saima Gullabar, Brandon Hall, June Kim, Valerie Michalek, John Monnat, Julian Pelekanakis, Jim Peraino, Rebecca Rowney (Teaching Assistant), Eric Soifer, Andy Sternad, Brendan Wittstruck, Steve Waldron, Michael Wyrock University of Toronto Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design: Zahra Awang, Laura Baltodano, Caitlin Blundell, Adam Bobbette, Martina Braunstein, Matthew Brown, Jenny Bukovec, Fionn Byrne, Justin Cheung, Laurel Christie, Alessandro Colevecchio, Nadia D’Agnone, Shadi Edarechi Gilani, René Fan, Kenny Fung, Marc Hardiejowski, Martin Hogue, Yuda Huo, Maxwell Kerrigan, Nicole Napoleone, Shadi Katami, Ayda Khazaei Nezhad, Yeu Ma, Anson Main, Stefania Mariotti, Fadi Massoud, Karen May, Justin Miron, Maria Muszynska, Shikha Narula, Wei Pang, Denise Pinto, Maxwell Probyn, Tara Razavi, Juan Robles, Scott Rosin, Jameson Skaife, Lada Semeniuk, Todd Smith, Brett Snyder, John Vuu, Gregg Warren, Li Xu, Xuekun Yang, Lu Zhang

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Gutter to Gulf Spring 2009 collaborative design studio “layered systems” model of New Orleans. image credits: photos by Derek Hoeferlin, Spring 2009

In addition, the work in 2008 would not have been possible without the on-the-ground help of the CITYbuild Consortium of Schools, hosted by Tulane School of Architecture.

Working on all of these projects within a collaborative multi-disciplinary network has been rather successful. In other words, the clients are happy with the results. That makes me and more importantly the students happy as well. For example, in our collaboration with MIT we have helped secure a total of $40,000 in project seed money for the two above-mentioned non-profit groups by placing first in the 2008 and second in the 2009 Chase Community Development Competition, hosted by Enterprise Community Partners in New Orleans.

...unfortunately I believe all of these grassroots efforts do not add up to a sustainable whole.

But I hate saying this – unfortunately I believe all of these grassroots efforts do not add up to a sustainable whole. Many may disagree with me in terms of the grassroots mobilizations and the unprecedented power of them in New Orleans, now known as the “brain gain.” But what lies on the 2050-horizon, for not just the New Orleans deltaic region, but also within New Orleans itself, in terms of big-scale issues like sea level rise, disappearing wetlands and a sinking city is not just daunting, but if we continue down the same path of design activism without larger and long-term visions, I believe is deeply irresponsible.

Obviously part of the problem is lack of political will and leadership, coupled with unclear funding streams. We all too well know these failures with all of the last administrations – local, state and federal. But the optimist architect in me truly believes the new mayoral administration under Mitch Landrieu not just is beginning to just address, but maybe already reverse, the previous political incompetence. Let’s keep our fingers crossed, regardless of our political party affiliations.

However, something else is truly spatially amiss, and this is where architects, artists, designers, ecologists, engineers, landscape architects, urban designers, etc., fit in what needs to become a much more multi-disciplinary equation. At present, this equation, policy decisions aside, is guided by one discipline – engineering. And within this engineering discipline these – mostly static – solutions are largely designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. I think it’s futile and beyond this conversation whether to point blame at design flaws made by the Corps (there are already independent commissions who have revealed such gross negligence), or to blame the US Congress who gives the design directives to the Corps (because often times we don’t even know if the Corps even follows such directives), or to blame the Flood Control Act of 1928 that pretty much releases any liability to the Corps for such flood protection failures. It is true the post-Katrina upgrades by the Corps are highly visible, but this “building strong” system of perimeter defense is definitely questionable. (The comedian Harry Shearer pointed out in his TEDxNOLA talk that the Corps has trademarked the motto “Building Strong.” So if you build something strong, Shearer guesses you owe the Corps money).

What is not futile to discuss is our collective and complete lack of understanding of what it means to inhabit the ground, more specifically our continually shifting deltaic landscapes. First of all let’s be clear, as my partner-in-crime Jane Wolff, director of the landscape architecture department at University of Toronto, says, “New Orleans is the product of ongoing interaction between engineering intentions and the dynamic natural processes of the Mississippi Delta. The delta is a landscape in flux, and our engineering interventions haven’t stopped its fluctuation: instead, the forces for change have been redirected in ways that we didn’t expect (and don’t always like).”

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image credit: © Stan Strembicki

There’s no turning back. But we must get a better grip of what it means to live in a deltaic region. And wholesale abandonment I believe is a moot point. Most nations’ economies find their sources in the deltas, in terms of resources and transports; and, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of the world’s population lives in deltas. Abandonment and blatant avoidance is not the answer.

Quickly, the post-Katrina regional planning for Louisiana has been quite successful.

And then the BP oil spill hit.

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image credit: © Stan Strembicki

But if there’s one thing the BP oil spill did do, it finally brought national awareness to the dire need for wetland restoration. President Obama even explained the “one-football-field-every-30-minutes-wetland-loss” thing in a national address. This is of continental consequence, simply from an economic standpoint. In other words, different projects, from multiple lines of defenses that take cues from Dutch water management models, to legitimate discussions of Mississippi River sediment diversion projects to re-grow the wetlands, are taking root at the regional level. But are these the only answers?

And even some say the wetlands actually may be exhibiting resilience to the oil onslaught. But what is really happening underneath the water with what we can’t see? What are the long-term implications?

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image credit: © Stan Strembicki

New Orleans is the product of ongoing interaction between engineering intentions and the dynamic natural processes of the Mississippi Delta. The delta is a landscape in flux, and our engineering interventions haven’t stopped its fluctuation: instead, the forces for change have been redirected in ways that we didn’t expect (and don’t always like). - Jane Wolff

But within the leveed confines of the City of New Orleans itself, these ecological understandings of what it means to live with the landscape, and more specifically to live with water as not just security, but spatial and therefore economic amenity as well, has been largely absent. However, an effort titled “Dutch Dialogues” (www.dutchdialogues.com) was initiated and has been sustained by New Orleans architect David Waggonner of Waggonner & Ball Architects, with critical support from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington D.C. – notably Dale Morris, and further support from the American Planning Association – notably Paul Farmer. For the past few years Dutch Dialogues has been a lonely advocate for a comprehensive water strategy within the City of New Orleans, not just the New Orleans region. There have been three Dutch Dialogues workshops in New Orleans with Dutch experts and their American counterparts to bring awareness to what it means for a sustainable New Orleans future to live with water within the urban landscape. I have been fortunate to be an active participant in these workshops.

The University of Toronto and Washington University in St. Louis “Gutter to Gulf” (www.guttertogulf.com) effort is meant to support the mission of “Dutch Dialogues.” Then too, Gutter to Gulf is greatly indebted to Dutch Dialogues, the geographer Richard Campanella, and most importantly Waggonner & Ball Architects for base information and constant feedback. Mainly via thorough research into the existing hydrological condition of New Orleans, the effort is to legibly make visible, in effect to classify and to expose, the current “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” water conditions that define New Orleans. In doing so, Gutter to Gulf aims to reveal the contradictions that exist between development of New Orleans and its physical conditions vis-a-vis water – past, present and future; in addition to analyzing the incongruity between hydrological, jurisdictional and planning district boundaries of New Orleans. Students speculate on a vocabulary for a water plan for hybrid architecture, landscape architecture and urban design interventions, from the scale of the lot (the Gutter) to the scale of the city and beyond (the Gulf). Without citing specific projects or addresses, the speculations are meant to better explain to the public the positive possibilities of living with water. A new Gutter to Gulf website currently is being developed to legibly disseminate both the existing environmental and drainage conditions and the supplemental water management design possibilities.

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Lower Ninth Ward levee wall at Industrial Canal, constructed post-Katrina. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2009

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Various flood protection in New Orleans. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2009

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Out-of-sight, out-of-mind. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Springs 2009, 2010

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Analysis of below grade sub-drainage unit within drainage basin 1 of New Orleans. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students - Jonathan Dowse, Brendan Wittstruck; University of Toronto students-Justin Cheung, Marc Hardiejowski, Juan Robles, Scott Rosin

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Analysis of below grad sub-drainage unit within drainage basin 1 of New Orleans. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, spring 2010. Washington University students - Jonathan Dowse, Brendan Wittstruck; University of Toronto students-Justin Cheung, Marc Hardiejowski, Juan Robles, Scott Rosin

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Below grade drainage system taxonomy. image credit:Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students - Jonathan Dowse, Brendan Wittstruck; University of Toronto students-Justin Cheung, Marc Hardiejowski, Juan Robles, Scott Rosin. Left photos – US Army Corps of Engineers

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Open canal drainage system taxonomy. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students - Philip Burkhardt, Julian Pelekanakis; University of Toronto students- Kenny Fung, Karen May, Denise Pinto, Tara Razavi

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Historical development of drainage system. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students – Jordan Adsit, Michael Wyrock

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Historical development of drainage system. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. University of Toronto students – Adam Bobbette, Gregg Warren, Lu Zhang

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Historical development of Mississippi River edge. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students – Erin Dorr, June Kim

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Analysis of jurisdictional boundaries as they relate to hydrology – “policy-physical city”. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2010. Washington University students – Saima Gullabar, Valerie Michalek, Steve Waldron; University of Toronto students –Jenny Bukovec, Yuda Huo, Karen May, Jameson Skaife

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Proposals from the scale of the lot to the scale of the city. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2009. “House and Garden” – John Monnet (WU); “Forest” – Lara Semeniuk (UT); “Parcel” – Brett Snyder (UT); “Park” - Martina Braunstein (UT); “Decontamination” - Laurel Christie & Anson Main (UT); “Street Detail” – Matthew Brown (UT); “Street Network” – Andy Sternad (WU); “Levee” – Jim Peraino (WU); “Tank Farm” – Zachary Gong (WU); “Fish Farm” - Fadi Masoud (UT); “Canal” – Annemarie Gray (WU); “Jursidiction” – Martin Hogue (UT)

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Proposal for urban forestry of cypress trees for water uptake that leads to economic return for immediate neighborhood. image credit: Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2009. University of Toronto student – Lara Semeniuk

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Proposal for street water network in Gentilly neighborhood for multiple uses of water as both security and amenity. image credit : Gutter to Gulf, Spring 2009. Washington University student – Andy Sternad

This article was first published by Archinect on 10 Sept, 2010 and it has been republished by Architects for Peace with due permission from its authors.

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