Finished Projects

URBANbuild 18 is a two-bedroom, two-bath scheme designed to enhance the quality of life for an occupant undergoing end-of-life care. The house is a continuation of UB’s collaboration with Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Crescent Care to create a low-income housing community for families dealing with illness.

The dwelling is two-stories tall to conserve space on the lot for future additions to the multi-family complex. As the first ever multi-family UB scheme, the exterior responds directly to the decisions of the adjoined UB 17. This allowed students the opportunity to more thoughtfully consider interior options and features that prioritize the quality end-of-life experience for the prospective occupant. This priority was realized as a first floor bedroom that opens up to the rest of the house and the outside world, to give a bedridden occupant a greater connection to their home, family, and nature.

URBANbuild17 marks the next phase of research which is both a reflective and a critical continuation of past efforts. This next phase of research challenges students to envision a larger scale phased approach to urban intervention. The two bedroom ADA accessible dwelling is the first phase of a 4 year multi-family housing masterplan in collaboration with Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

As the fabrication of URBANbuild16 was underway, a relationship was established with members of the neighboring Bethlehem Lutheran Church – the oldest historically black Evangelical Lutheran Church in the continental United States. Bethlehem owns two properties in Central City. One is located at 1823 Washington Avenue, and a portion of that lot holds their current Church building. The other property is a large empty “Key” lot directly across the street at 1822 Washington Avenue which houses URBANbuild17.

URBANbuild 16 builds upon URBANbuild 12 through 15’s body of research, the dwelling unit once again provides the necessities of a single-family home. A local infill site was provided by NHS; the site is located at 2721 Baronne Street. Also, additional sites for replication were identified locally and afar. A duplex dwelling prototype, consisting of a two bedroom, two bath “primary” unit and smaller “efficiency” unit, was developed for construction.

Students were challenged to envision and fabricate an affordable dwelling prototype of high construction and spatial quality. The scheme aims to function equally well as either a single family dwelling or a repetitive unit within a multifamily assembly. Comparative analysis was made between past URBANbuild achievements, and those observations directed this growing body of research.

URBANBuild 15’s research agenda focused upon the creation of a prototype that could be repeated side by side, thus producing dense urban multifamily options. This base single-story unit possesses two bedrooms and two baths, and schematic developments critically questioned the need for the two courtyards of UB14. Instead, UB15 possesses a single generous open-air courtyard that is located as a continuation of the entryway porch that’s roofed by a translucent cladding system.

URBANbuild 9 marked a return to the program’s partnership with NHS. By this point, URBANbuild completed six projects within a few block radius in Central City, and a body of work was beginning to emerge. Continuing this trend, this year’s home would become the first of three neighboring projects to be built on a single block bounded by Harmony and Toledano streets. Completing these three homes was an ambitious goal on a block that was in the greatest need—its water and sewer lines were broken, and its storm drains were not functional – so URBANbuild worked with the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board to repair the storm water drainage system.

The year of URBANbuild 5, Program Director Byron Mouton’s private firm, BILD Design, was invited to work with Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation. URBANbuild’s student team then collaborated with BILD Design and TKO Construction on a house project for Make It Right. This relationship allowed students to work with materials and systems in compliance with “cradle to cradle” goals.

Provided with access to geothermal cooling systems, solar energy systems, heating systems of greater efficiency, and the opportunity to work alongside an established contractor, students were able to achieve a project of greater scale.

The URBANbuild 4 studio focused on pursuing LEED certification. The project achieved a LEED Silver rating through the provision of an energy-efficient building in compliance with national energy standards and requirements. The house also responded to the city’s new hurricane preparation requirement through the invention of a shutter system using impact-resistant polycarbonate materials. In doing so, it also provided a home with remarkable qualities of diffused natural light.

URBANbuild 1 was initiated in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) in response to a HUD grant recieved after Hurricane Katrina, when many New Orleanians were just returning to the city. This grant presented an opportunity to prove the program could work—that a group of students could build a house on time and on budget in the space of 14 weeks. Achieving this goal required inventing a system in which students engage with licensed professionals when necessary in order to fully complete each project within the time frame of a single academic semester.