Regional Modernism Ogden Museum of Southern Art Through July 15
An exhibition at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans offers a glimpse of modernism in Southern Louisiana. The built works of local firms include sleek glass curtain walls and airy covered plazas—not the sort of structures that, in the blink of a post-Katrina minicam, normally show up as the backdrop for updates on the hurricane-ravaged Big Easy. That’s partly because the exhibition reaches out for contemporary architecture in Baton Rouge and southern Mississippi.
But there’s the rub. The show is part of a post-Katrina series on architecture in a region where even the best buildings were subjected to hurricane-force winds that tipped the scale of history. At the opening on May 25, there were a few gasps as visitors were treated to glossy images of buildings that had suffered storm damage, according to Stephanie Kaston, who helped publicize the show.
The exhibition was organized by Melissa Urcan, executive director of AIA New Orleans, and Ammar Eloueini, associate professor at Tulane University’s School of Architecture. They selected a range of works, from houses to public libraries, which exemplified the theme of sustainability. Along with models, renderings, and photos, interviews with architects play in a loop. Among the most photogenic of the buildings are the New Orleans Public Library by Curtis&Davis (above, left) and the Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge (above, right), an elegant concrete, glass, and metal box with surprising cutouts by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple.
The buildings are grounded in reality, which is a far cry from where this exhibit series began, with the optimism-laden “Newer Orleans: A Shared Space.” In that joint project of the Netherlands Architecture Institute and Tulane, three Dutch and three American design firms developed approaches to rebuilding New Orleans that were unbridled by politics or budgeting.
Still, work by the likes of Charles Colbert, John Desmond, Ledbetter Fullerton, James Lamantia, Al Ledner, Perez, APC, Trehan Architects, VJAA, Wayne Troyer Studios, and others shows plenty of potential for a revival in southern Louisiana. www.ogdenmuseum.org
The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island Center for Architecture Through Aug. 25
New Yorkers already are reinventing Staten Island by turning a landfill into a recreational wetland. And the High Line is set for conversion from an unused rail line to an elevated park on Manhattan’s West Side. Next up is Governors Island, a historic, some say destitute, 172-acre locale in New York harbor, with 18th century fortifications, Victorian houses, and drop-dead views of Manhattan.
The island’s future as the Next New Superpark is the subject of a summer exhibition at the Center for Architecture. The island passed from military base to state and city control in 2003, and the ruling Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp. is still trying to figure out who should develop it—and into what. Housing and casinos were ruled out with the transfer. A Nickelodeon theme park has been dismissed, along with an auto racetrack. Developers shied away when it turned out they’d have to pay for infrastructure, according to Frederic Bell, executive director of the AIA New York Chapter and a member of the advisory council.
An 2006 appeal for ideas generated responses from 29 teams representing 65 firms in 10 countries. The field has now been pared to a manageable five: Ramus Ella Architects/Michel Desvigne; Hargreaves Associates/Michael Maltzan Architecture; West 8/Rogers Marvel/Diller Scofidio + Renfro/Quennell Rothschild/SMWM; Field Operations with Wilkinson/Eyre Architects; and WRT + Urban Strategies.
Their contest boards will go on display while the overseers seek public comments. The design brief asked for preservation of parkland and pathways. The concepts—framed by New York magazine as a battle between a “grid,” a “necklace,” a “path,” a “shell,” and a “nest”—only begin to answer the key question facing New Yorkers (other than who will foot the bill): What would make you take a ferry to get there? Nantucket, anyone? www.aiany.org