Student Stories
Brandi Hamilton
St. Louis
Class of 2009, architecture and urban planning
“Our New Orleans project brought a sense of reality to our studio work in terms of both design and construction. It’s an honor to take part in an urban project that addresses social issues.”
For students like Brandi Hamilton, 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 Studio 301 and 401 courses. Students consulted with neighborhood residents to design and build projects that support the social fabric of the area, traditionally home to Creole craftsmen, skilled professionals and laborers.
Projects have included weather-resistant message boards (used before phone and cable lines were restored), a community tool shed, garden shade structures for neighborhood gatherings, a mobile stage and an outdoor classroom.
“Our project, a community stage, serves as an outreach tool that brings organization and optimism to the people,” Hamilton said. “I approach architecture not only as the built environment, but also as a catalyst which encompass humanities, arts, and cultures. All of these are necessary in a devastated community, such as New Orleans.”
The tool shed and shade structure projects, 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.