Harvard GSD Studio: People in Motion / Location: New Orleans / Professor: Odile Decq & Nicolas Hannequin
The studio is a research and design studio with a theme of movement. The research is on human movement in response to nature, with a focus on water and water infrastructure in cities. I did a series of case studies looking at how cities deal with the natural forces of water and how water has transformed the growth and development of these following cities: Venice, Netherlands, San Francisco, and Harie. Ideas and questions were pulled from these case studies and served as a thesis for my project in New Orleans.
The research of New Orleans revealed a vulnerable city situated mostly below sea level and protected by a series of flood walls and levees. It is the modern medieval fortress against nature. The project asks a simple question, what happens when we begin to puncture the flood walls and let water in? How does it begin to transform and re-shape New Orleans and give it a new identity that embraces water?
