New Orleans Mission Family Center Honored
Student-Designed LEED-Registered Homeless Housing Facility for Families Affected by Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina Receives National “Collaborative Practice” Award from Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
HomeAid, a leading national non-profit provider of housing for today's homeless, proudly announced that its New Orleans Mission Family Center received the 2008 Collaborative Practice Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). Students from Tulane University's School of Architecture designed the LEED registered homeless housing facility, which was privately funded through donations made to HomeAid's Gulf Coast Rebuilding Fund in the aftermath of the hurricanes of 2005. Honoring excellence and distinguished achievement in architectural education, the award recognizes programs that demonstrate how faculty, students and community/civic clients work to realize common objectives.On behalf of HomeAid and the student design team, Stephen Verderber, Arch.D, the faculty team leader for the Family Center project, received the award during a ceremony at the ACSA's 96th annual meeting on March 28 in Houston. Officially, the award was bestowed to the following project team members: Stephen Verderber, Tulane University School of Architecture; HomeAid; New Orleans Mission; Perez APC; Schrenk & Peterson Consulting Engineers, Inc.; D Kanter Engineering; JaRoy Construction; Rodney Dionisio; John Anderson, LEED consultant; and Breeze Glazer, assistant project coordinator. "HomeAid is extremely proud of our ACSA award recipients and everyone else who made it possible to build a housing facility that will serve New Orleans' homeless families and contribute to the City's drive toward sustainable, environmentally friendly building," said Genette Eaton, chief executive officer of HomeAid. "The Family Center is a great example of the community's architectural, building, educational and non-profit partners coming together to realize a common objective of revitalizing the Central City neighborhood." The Family Center is located on the site of the historic New Orleans Mission, located one-quarter mile southeast of the Louisiana Superdome at 1130 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard. The Family Center was dedicated in August 2007 in conjunction with the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The facility's completion follows the re opening of the renovated Women's Center, which was completed by HomeAid in 2006. Perez APC served as the project's architect of record, working in association with Tulane University and Rodney Dionisio, a local architect and former Tulane School of Architecture graduate. With Tulane University, HomeAid has registered the Family Center project with the U.S. Green Council's LEED program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and is expected to obtain Silver level certification. Among the sustainable materials to be used in the home include bamboo flooring on the first floor; cork flooring on the second floor; "EcoSurfaces" in the children's playroom, an innovative material made of recycled tires and other post-consumer waste plastics; "3-Form" wall panels, an Eco-resin composite that enables a closed-loop recycling process, and can be broken down and re-used an infinite number of times; and HardiPlank exterior siding, a recycled wood fiber and cement-based composite that is impervious to water and insects. The Family Center also incorporates Georgia-Pacific's DensArmor PlusTM from G-P Gypsum, a new generation of paperless drywall designed as a replacement for traditional paper-faced drywall for residential interiors that resists moisture and mold. In addition, Energy Star kitchen appliances were donated by General Electric. The facility is equipped with efficient energy systems, including a Geothermal HVAC system; strategic glazing on the building to minimize sun exposure and reduce internal heat loads and energy requirements; and stack ventilation in each second-floor bedroom that includes a sloping, high ceiling that enables hot air to rise and escape through operable windows. Even the garden is eco-friendly. The project consists of a large landscaped yard that utilizes many different plants, including several native to Louisiana, and large amounts of bamboo, a rapidly growing grass that is extremely renewable. Corporate partners in the Gulf Coast Rebuilding Fund include: Georgia-Pacific Corporation; General Electric; Beazer Homes; Pella Corporation; James Hardie; CALPASC; Shea Homes; Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.; MBK Homes; Taylor Morrison; Crestwood Communities; Suncoast Post-Tension; Goodman Manufacturing; David Weekley Homes; Tilson Home Corporation; Doyle Stuckey Homes; Green Mountain Building Co.; Bassenian/Lagoni Architects; Masco Corporate Foundation and Owens Corning Foundation, Inc. ________________________________________ About ACSA
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a non-profit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. Members consist of all college and universities that offer accredited degree programs in architecture in the United States and Canada, candidate schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for two-year and international programs and others ineligible for accreditation. Through these schools, over 5,000 architectural faculty are represented. In addition, over 500 supporting members composed of architecture firms and practitioners, product associations, individuals and students add to the breadth of the association's constituencies and programs. For more information, visit www.acsa-arch.org.
|
Email