Brandi Hamilton, St. Louis
Simon Mance, Milwaukee
“Our New Orleans project brought a sense of reality to our studio work in both design and construction. It’s an honor to take part in an urban project that addresses social issues.”
— Brandi Hamilton
Class of 2009
For Architecture and Urban Planning students like Hamilton and Mance, creating projects that support a New Orleans neighborhood makes studio work real. Since 2006, more than 50 architecture and urban planning students have contributed to the rebuilding of a 28-square-block area in the city’s Seventh Ward.
After Katrina, faculty members Nils Gore and Rob Corser made the Big Easy the focus of their third- and fourth-year studio courses. Projects have included weather-resistant message boards, a community tool shed, garden shade structures for neighborhood gatherings, a mobile stage and an outdoor classroom.
The tool shed and shade structures — in competition with professional firms — won Merit Awards from the Kansas City chapter of the American Institute of Architects. A second shade structure was exhibited at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. Support from the William T. Kemper Foundation helped make the projects possible.
