PROJECTS

BIO

Ville Platte Town Square                          Stickney Residence

 Gallery I/O                 D. Wheelahan Residence

McCollam Garconniere                              Urann Residence

High Tech Pavilion                 P. Wheelahan Residence

                                 Freret Street Residence

Baron Residence

Boulet Residence

Glaser Residence

Dutruch Residence

Nius Residence

+ BARON RESIDENCE
New Orleans, LA

The Barons returned from the Katrina evacuation to find that, during the flooding, the water in their low lying Broadmoor neighborhood had risen to 6 feet above the existing grade filling their raised house with 3 ft. of water.  The water totally destroyed their antique Steinway grand piano in the living room as well as virtually all of their furniture and possessions.  A construction crew ripped out everything in the house, including the Steinway, and stripped the house down to the studs, ironically leaving a chandelier in the front room.

The house was raised to meet new flood requirements, and a continuous footing and piers were constructed as the weakened existing piers were tilting in varied directions. The clients are a university music professor and his wife, a librarian who raised 3 children (now adults) in the home. Over the years a number of additions to the house resulted in a circulation path that shifted through rooms in moving from front to back.

While retaining as many walls as possible, a new organization and circulation path is introduced spatially connecting the living/dining room at the front to the master bedroom suite at the rear.  On the parallel side of the house, the back bedroom becomes a master bath and the front bedroom, a study.  Continuous bookshelves line the circulation space down the center of the house (a linear library) and reinforce the spatial connection from front to rear.  The bookshelves act as a thickened threshold as one moves between the served and the service spaces of the house.