Architecture students go to New Orleans

Students from SIUC's School of Architecture traveled to New Orleans last weekend to present plans for a community market in one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Presenting a vision — New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward residents got the opportunity to see the visions for a community market designed by SIUC students during an open house Monday. The School of Architecture's presentation graphics and models are visible at the left.

Residents there reviewed display panels representing master planning proposals, power point slide shows and models generated by senior architectural studies students, Robert S. Clodi, Christopher J. Malone and Benjamin J. Boyles. Clodi and Boyles, along with assistant professor Michael D. Brazley and associate professor Robert H. Swenson, presented their ideas for a simple market Monday to the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association.

The organization's open house for its new community center — the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development — was Monday. The SIUC group left Saturday morning and returned at 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Swenson was pleased by the response. SIUC had the largest display and was the primary school whose plans related to master planning.

"It really stood out so people got a good chance to see it," Swenson said.

Everything but the SIUC College of Applied Science banner was left for residents to review, he said.

The students took photographs and measurements of buildings where the community market will be located, and will begin working on the market's design proposal. Swenson anticipates the students will return again at the end of the semester. Because of the long-term relationship with the Lower Ninth Ward, Swenson anticipates that more students, including current sophomores and juniors, will become involved.

The School of Architecture has been working on several projects since the August 2005 hurricane tore through the Gulf Coast. Clodi, Malone and Boyles were among approximately 34 School of Architecture students who paid their own way last fall and surveyed about two-thirds of the Lower Ninth Ward, photographing the condition of each house and property. The three students then began an independent study course this semester to continue their relationship with residents in that area, and were asked to provide proposals for the community market, Swenson said.

"The students were passionate about it; you could see the passion," Brazley said. "It was wonderful. They took something away from the experience."

There is only one convenience store in the area and the thought is to have a community market located at one of the main intersections to help residents re-center and provide a common place for people to meet, Swenson said. Only about 15 percent of the approximately 22,000 pre-hurricane Lower Ninth Ward residents — about 3,000 people — has been able to return so far, Swenson said.

"To see the extent of Katrina and what it did to a major urban area is an incredible learning experience on its own," he said.

Charles E. Allen III, is assistant director for external relations at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, and also vice president of the Holy Cross Neighborhood.

The work by SIUC students on this and other projects "is wonderful and most beneficial," he said.

"Their work further helps our community have a clear and attainable vision for how we wish to see our community redeveloped post-Katrina," Allen said.

"Their current work for us is focused on a community market, which we hope will be a market that fully exemplifies the concept of passive survivability, in the event of another hurricane or major storm," he said.

"Our community has gone through a tremendous 2006 year of strategic recovery planning and the SIUC architecture students and faculty have helped us greatly articulate various elements and projects of our overall sustainable recovery plan," he said. "We greatly appreciate SIUC and consider them to be life-long partners of our community."

Boyles is the son of James and Sharon Boyles of Morrison; Malone is the son of Michael Malone and Dianne Terrell-Malone of Fairview Heights; and Clodi, from Kankakee, is the son of Richard Clodi and Denise Whitaker.

The School of Architecture is part of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts. Dean Paul D. Sarvela said the project is a credit to everyone involved.

"We are just proud that our faculty and students have been invited to present ideas on how to improve the community," he said.

The SIUC projects extend "from the top to the bottom of the delta, and it is allowing us to share our expertise with each other," Sarvela said. "It's a great learning experience for our students and a wonderful example of how SIUC is trying to make a difference not only in Illinois, but beyond."

A second group of SIUC architecture students are now working on building designs at Tulane University's RiverSphere complex. Both Meffert and Allen visited the SIUC campus for two days earlier this semester, reviewing student proposals.

Brazley agrees that a partnership has been forged with New Orleans residents. It is also providing an "invaluable" opportunity for SIUC architecture students and faculty, he said. Students are getting the chance to work with real clients and receiving first-hand client-architect contact, he said.

- Pete Rosenbery