Jacob Patnode
The Big, Easy Greenway
From the third-year graduate research studio “what if…? then…,” Spring 2020
Faculty: Sarah Dunn
About the studio:
In an effort to engage the city productively, this seminar and studio sequence explored the formal and programmatic possibilities of invented large-scale metropolitan architecture. We posited that architecture can be both/and—about both growth and the environment, through the manipulation of form and the tactical deployment of social and ecological systems.
About the project:
What if the levee system in New Orleans was architecturalized in order to prevent the catastrophic flooding that has historically occurred in the area? Then a new greenway that rings the entire Greater New Orleans area becomes a levee to protect the city from flooding, a new way of life for the occupants, and a public amenity for the entire city. This new building—composed of a “mat building” that lines Lake Pontchartrain and a “wall building” along the Mississippi River—increases density, absorbing programs that are currently in place and adding green space.