Below the Sill Plate: New Orleans East Struggles to Recover

Soon after Hurricane Katrina, architect Deborah Gans traveled from New York to New Orleans to participate in a HUD-funded grant focused on relief housing for the large low-lying district of New Orleans East. Here she describes several years of design work — with colleagues and students at Pratt, as well as CUNY and NJIT — framed not just as disaster response but more broadly as "re-envisioning the coastal suburb in the age of global warming." Gans is candid about the limited results so far. "The current failure of this project," she says, "is coincidental with a much larger crisis in the rebuilding effort."
READ MORE

KIAN GOH

Queer Beacon

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Rebellion — which erupted in response to a police raid on a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village — sparked the gay liberation movement, which will be celebrated this weekend in Pride Parades nationwide. Today the Village continues to attract LGBT youth, who arrive fleeing oppressive and often dangerous situations, seeking community and acceptance. Architect Kian Goh analyzes the challenges they face in upmarket Manhattan, where the recently renovated Stonewall Inn is a tourist attraction and the West Village home to some of the priciest real estate in the city.
READ MORE

ADELHEID FISCHER

Starry Night

"Grand Canyon is among the few parks in the lower 48 whose nighttime skies are virtually untouched by artificial light pollution. Here, some 5,500 stars are visible to the naked eye; the profound darkness lends uncommon clarity and brilliance to the heavens." Environmental writer Adelheid Fischer — as we mark the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere — describes the growing night-sky movement, which rose in response to the increasing incidence of light pollution. As Fischer notes, the bright lights of Las Vegas illuminate no fewer than eight national parks in the American West.
READ MORE

FROM OUR SPONSORS

More than a decade ago Sappi Fine Paper North America established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who generously donate their time and talent to a wide range of charitable activities. Enter your Idea to win money for your pro-bono project. Design is the power to affect the world.
Enter Ideas that Matter here >>
See stories of change here >>
Find out more about Sappi here >>

Mohawk launches new Recommendations section: Use the online Paper Wizard and find the perfect paper for the project. Design Observer readers get 10% off! Enter THX10 at checkout.
Recommendations Wizard >>
Special for Design Observer readers >>
Mohawk Fine Papers >>

ALICE T. FRIEDMAN

Girl Talk: Marion Mahony Griffin, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Oak Park Studio

Earlier this week Despina Stratigakos described the feminist politics that inspired the early 21st-century Architect Barbie. Now architectural historian Alice Friedman examines the early 20th-century career of Marion Mahony Griffin, the first woman licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, and for more than a decade a valued associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. But as Friedman emphasizes, Griffin's accomplishments were extraordinary. "In the late 19th century and much of the 20th," she writes, "women architects were often viewed with contempt and suspicion, not only by fellow practitioners but also by members of the building trades and potential clients."
READ MORE

BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK | FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

The leading health conference where design matters.
Register today >>

Good design can influence positive change! Learn more
Ideas that Matter >>

Use our online Paper Wizard.
Design Observer readers get
10% off their next order >>

PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 2008

Growing Water

Growing Water is a bold proposal by a team of Chicago urban designers for how cities can ensure the availability of an increasingly scarce resource.
READ MORE

PARTNER SCHOOL

University of Miami, School of Architecture
The School of Architecture's mission is founded in the faculty commitment to community and its focus on the city as a work of art and architecture. The school is a forum for the work of New Urbanism, an international movement with a charter of 27 principles addressing issues ranging from the scale of a region to individual buildings. Those principles form a vision which guides the programs of the UMSA.

RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED

American Glamour
Alice T. Friedman

Reading the American Landscape: An Index of Books and Images
Lex ter Braak, David Hamers, Anne Hoogewoning, Erik de Jong, Frank van der Salm, Dirk Sijmons and Hanneke Schreiber

Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City
Richard Weller


WEEKLY EMAIL: JUNE 29, 2011
FEATURED THIS WEEK : DEBORAH GANS Below the Sill Plate: New Orleans East Struggles to Recover Soon after Hurricane Katrina, architect Deborah Gans traveled from New York to New Orleans to participate in a HUD-funded grant focused on relief housing for the large low-lying district of New Orleans East. Here she describes several years of design work — with colleagues and students at Pratt, as well as CUNY and NJIT — framed not just as disaster response but more broadly as "re-envisioning the coastal suburb in the age of global warming." Gans is candid about the limited results so far. "The current failure of this project," she says, "is coincidental with a much larger crisis in the rebuilding effort." READ MORE
KIAN GOH Queer Beacon On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Rebellion — which erupted in response to a police raid on a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village — sparked the gay liberation movement, which will be celebrated this weekend in Pride Parades nationwide. Today the Village continues to attract LGBT youth, who arrive fleeing oppressive and often dangerous situations, seeking community and acceptance. Architect Kian Goh analyzes the challenges they face in upmarket Manhattan, where the recently renovated Stonewall Inn is a tourist attraction and the West Village home to some of the priciest real estate in the city. READ MORE ADELHEID FISCHER Starry Night "Grand Canyon is among the few parks in the lower 48 whose nighttime skies are virtually untouched by artificial light pollution. Here, some 5,500 stars are visible to the naked eye; the profound darkness lends uncommon clarity and brilliance to the heavens." Environmental writer Adelheid Fischer — as we mark the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere — describes the growing night-sky movement, which rose in response to the increasing incidence of light pollution. As Fischer notes, the bright lights of Las Vegas illuminate no fewer than eight national parks in the American West. READ MORE FROM OUR SPONSORS More than a decade ago Sappi Fine Paper North America established the Ideas that Matter grant program to recognize and support designers who generously donate their time and talent to a wide range of charitable activities. Enter your Idea to win money for your pro-bono project. Design is the power to affect the world. Enter Ideas that Matter here >> See stories of change here >> Find out more about Sappi here >> Mohawk launches new Recommendations section: Use the online Paper Wizard and find the perfect paper for the project. Design Observer readers get 10% off! Enter THX10 at checkout. Recommendations Wizard >> Special for Design Observer readers >> Mohawk Fine Papers >> ALICE T. FRIEDMAN Girl Talk: Marion Mahony Griffin, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Oak Park Studio Earlier this week Despina Stratigakos described the feminist politics that inspired the early 21st-century Architect Barbie. Now architectural historian Alice Friedman examines the early 20th-century career of Marion Mahony Griffin, the first woman licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, and for more than a decade a valued associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. But as Friedman emphasizes, Griffin's accomplishments were extraordinary. "In the late 19th century and much of the 20th," she writes, "women architects were often viewed with contempt and suspicion, not only by fellow practitioners but also by members of the building trades and potential clients." READ MORE		BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK \| FOLLOW US ON TWITTER The leading health conference where design matters. Register today >> Register by the early deadline and save up to $200. Pivot the AIGA Design Conference >> Good design can influence positive change! Learn more Ideas that Matter >> Use our online Paper Wizard. Design Observer readers get 10% off their next order >> PLACES ARCHIVE: WINTER 2008 Growing Water Growing Water is a bold proposal by a team of Chicago urban designers for how cities can ensure the availability of an increasingly scarce resource. READ MORE PARTNER SCHOOL University of Miami, School of Architecture The School of Architecture's mission is founded in the faculty commitment to community and its focus on the city as a work of art and architecture. The school is a forum for the work of New Urbanism, an international movement with a charter of 27 principles addressing issues ranging from the scale of a region to individual buildings. Those principles form a vision which guides the programs of the UMSA. RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED American Glamour Alice T. Friedman Reading the American Landscape: An Index of Books and Images Lex ter Braak, David Hamers, Anne Hoogewoning, Erik de Jong, Frank van der Salm, Dirk Sijmons and Hanneke Schreiber Boomtown 2050: Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City Richard Weller
Privacy Policy \| Contact Us You are subscribed as \| Unsubscribe Copyright © 2011 Observer Omnimedia LLC. All rights reserved. Design Observer, P.O. Box 159, Falls Village, CT 06031, USA