PROJECTS

BIO

RETIREMENT FROM TULANE

RESUME

+ MICHAEL NIUS
Principal

Michael Nius has maintained an architectural practice in New Orleans for the past three decades, while also coordinating and teaching design studios as a faculty member in the Tulane School of Architecture.  His professional work is enriched by the design research undertaken in academia.  He is committed to an architecture that is both functional and inspiring.  In each project he seeks to efficiently utilize available resources to maximize the use and experiential quality.  In transforming existing buildings, workable components are altered only to service an improved organization and spatial experience.  He has executed numerous projects that in renovation totally transform a difficult existing condition into a clearly organized and rich spatial environment.

The body of work he has undertaken in practice includes institutional, commercial, and residential projects.  His work has been published in local and national journals and received numerous awards.  His firm has been selected for a number of closed competitions and exhibits.  A major local exhibition, “Six City Sites,” which included a team led by Charles Moore, displayed his firm’s design for a multi-unit housing project on St. Charles Avenue.  The intent of the exhibition was to inform the public as to the potential for the insertion of quality contemporary architecture into a historic context.  A pavilion, “A Stage for Viewing,” designed in collaboration with sculptor Steven Kline was the winning entry in a closed competition for a public art project, and was constructed in Audubon Park overlooking the Mississippi River.  A major unbuilt design commission was the High Tech Pavilion for the 1984 World Exposition held in New Orleans.  The Stickney Residence, built in Uptown New Orleans and widely published, represents his commitment to a modern architecture that explores dynamic spatial possibilities and makes a positive contribution to the urban context.