The buildings of LSU not only reveal a legacy that goes back to the Renaissance but also serve as a primer of architectural principles that guided the creation of one of the most unique academic environments in the United States. In The Architecture of LSU, author, professor and architect J. Michael Desmond traces the university's development, including photographs, plans, drawings and maps that underscore the contributions of historical figures and the genealogies of the campus's architecture and planning. By detailing the origins and evolution of LSU's architectural core and exploring the fundamentals of American college campus design, Desmond shows the rewards of public environments that integrate natural and constructed elements to meet both practical and aesthetic goals. The Architecture of LSU is available from LSU Press.
Dyke Nelson says his architectural firm will use the $10,000 it received in taking first place in the Grow Mid City business plan competition to purchase additional equipment that will allow it to manufacture more eco-friendly products itself rather than outsource that work. "For example, we recently built a couple bistro tables for Rock-n-Sake. We designed those but had to have them fabricated off-site and then assemble them here," Nelson says. "The idea is to create a real tight circle with our production, keep it all in-house, and ship off products that are truly sustainable—and eventually provide an option to purchase those products through our website." Nelson says his firm uses a "tremendous amount of recycled materials" for its products, which range from furniture and lighting fixtures to panels and installation pieces, many of which come from historic properties. Along with Dyke Nelson Architecture—or DNA Workshop, as it's also known—two other Mid City...
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
Baton Rouge-based Letterman's Blue Print & Supply Co. Inc. has acquired Sign Star of Lake Charles for an undisclosed price. Letterman's, which has offices in New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles in addition to two locations in Baton Rouge, says all operations and employees of the former Star Sign will be relocated to its Lake Charles office. Letterman's says it is the state's largest full-service reprographics company. With a focus on architectural, engineering, industrial and construction sectors, the firm makes outdoor graphics including building and vehicle banners, trade show exhibits, and retail and jobsite signage. Founded in Baton Rouge in 1949, the company's two local offices are located at 344 Third St., Suite 101; and 4726 Government St.
According to a new survey by national consulting firm ZweigWhite, architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms are behind the rest of the business world when it comes to using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to market their services. Just 15% of the firms participating in the survey report using social media to reduce their reliance on "traditional" marketing methods, and 29% of firms say they don't use any social media at all. Steve Maher, principal of Ritter Maher Architects, says he's not surprised. "My competitors, especially here in Baton Rouge, they just don't do social media as much," says Maher. "I'd guess it's just lean times and they don't have the resources to dedicate to it now." Like many design firms, Ritter Maher doesn't have an employee who focuses solely on social media—or even a marketing director. Maher handles most of that himself. "I'm on Facebook personally and Twitter professionally, and I just try to keep up with my...
Jeri and David Kelly's Stanford Avenue home is thoroughly modern, but inspired by a bygone era. Here are some of the durable, state-of-the-art materials the home contains: * The poured concrete columns were formed in a mold that was built using a capital to a column that Jeri Kelly bought on Magazine Street. Concrete columns will never weather or rot. * The cornice is made of concrete that will never rot and placed by a Romanian-trained plasterer. * The home's exterior uses Azeck, a composite material that doesn't rot, expand or contract and can be cleaned using a power washer. * The edges of the porch are brick, which will not rot. * The porch is made of pressure-treated flooring that is not edible by termites.
Kevin Harris can see into the future. And from where he's sitting, it looks quite a bit like the beautiful past. When he launched his local architecture firm 30 years ago, he told his father, pediatric allergist Francis Harris, that he was going to be a radical. "Oh, no," his dad said. "What are you going to do?" His answer: "I'm going to build traditional homes." Now, Harris is renowned for his ability to bolster historically accurate designs with modern materials that can withstand the harsh demands of the South's hot, wet and windy climate. Harris was featured last year in the luxury magazine Robb Report for designing a breathtaking, Tuscan-inspired custom home in Jackson, Miss. He has won more than a dozen national awards for his work and has been featured in The New York Times, Business Week and Southern Living. Harris grew up in the Broadmoor subdivision in Baton Rouge. When he was still a young boy, his parents decided to renovate their home, and...
Click here for a slideshow of Kevin Harris's work. Kevin Harris can see into the future. And from where he's sitting, it looks quite a bit like the beautiful past.
The work of several Baton Rouge architects and design firms on projects near and far—in one instance as far away as China—was recently recognized as being the best in the state by the American Institute of Architects at the 2012 Rose Awards Gala in Baton Rouge. Local architects and firms receiving Rose Awards this year are: —Plusone Design and Construction, which received a Gold Rose Award for its "scissors house" residential project in Baton Rouge. —Tipton Associates, which received a Silver Rose Award for its design of a Sam Houston State University dining facility. —Jim Sullivan, who received a Rose Award for his design of a YMCA pavilion in Old South Baton Rouge. —Coleman Partners, which received a Silver Rose Award for its design of the Marriott's Crystal Shores hotel in Marco Island, Fla.
Baton Rouge architect Trey Trahan says he has purchased a vacant building at 309 Magazine St. in New Orleans for an undisclosed amount and will relocate the majority of his firm, Trahan Architects, there in late 2013 or early 2014. Designs are under way for the renovation of the 10,000-square-foot property located near Gravier Street, between Canal and Poydras streets, and work is slated to begin before the end of this year. Trahan says he and most of his staff will relocate to New Orleans in the first quarter of 2013, leasing office space until the new Magazine Street headquarters is completed. Some Trahan Architects staff may remain in Baton Rouge so that the firm can maintain, in Trahan's words, a "Baton Rouge presence." However, he adds, anyone staying put will not work out of the firm's current office at City Plaza downtown. The architect says he has had his eye on this move for several years, and has only been waiting on the right location. "I think it is not only a great...
You've probably seen the McMahon House, even if you don't know it by name. The yellow two-story home has sat vacant in the heart of downtown for about 30 years, at 310 Convention St., behind the City Club of Baton Rouge.
Architect Mike Sullivan doesn't work in the city planning office, but he has a vision for Baton Rouge and he's putting it in place one neighborhood at a time.
You've probably seen the McMahon House, even if you don't know it by name. The yellow two-story building has sat vacant for about 30 years in the heart of downtown, at 310 Convention St., behind the City Club of Baton Rouge. "It would certainly be the last Victorian house in the central business district," says Darryl Gissel of Oak Real Estate, who represents the sellers of the 5,561-square-foot residence, which was built in 1905 and is priced at $700,000. Carolyn Bennett, executive director of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, says there used to be many houses like the McMahon House downtown but that they were either demolished or moved out to the suburbs. "So that's a real treasure," she says. The heirs of the McMahon estate, who declined to be interviewed for this story, renovated the exterior of the home and added a new roof, Gissel says. The interior is not renovated. "The house is hermetically sealed," Gissel says. It was put on the market a year ago, which was about a...
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son. "Don't go play in the water!" she would call after him, her words chasing small, swift footsteps on thick summer gusts. "You'll end up in the bayou with the currents." He speaks softly, but often. Victor F. Trahan III likes to say people's names while talking with them. He likes to connect and thinks buildings should do the same. Everyone, even family, calls him Trey. Maybe it's the Cajun in him, but he's a storyteller, and his conversations are peppered with quotes. A local priest, an ex in Austin, Frank Lloyd Wright, his grandfather—the dairy farmer, the first Victor F. Trahan: Each gets equal airtime, sometimes within the same conversation. To draw a parallel to his architecture, Trahan's wardrobe relies on a look of simplicity, consistency and contrast. Pick any given workday, and Trahan can be...
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son. "Don't go play in the water!" she would call after him, her words chasing small, swift footsteps on thick summer gusts. "You'll end up in the bayou with the currents." He speaks softly, but often. Victor F. Trahan III likes to say people's names while talking with them. He likes to connect and thinks buildings should do the same. Everyone, even family, calls him Trey. Maybe it's the Cajun in him, but he's a storyteller, and his conversations are peppered with quotes. A local priest, an ex in Austin, Frank Lloyd Wright, his grandfather—the dairy farmer, the first Victor F. Trahan: Each gets equal airtime, sometimes within the same conversation. To draw a parallel to his architecture, Trahan's wardrobe relies on a look of simplicity, consistency and contrast. Pick any given workday, and Trahan can be...
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son.
I can tell when someone has cleaned up the house specifically in preparation for an interview or a photo shoot. Typically, the hallway and bedroom doors are closed.
With the Metro Council having approved a $1.5 million design contract for a new downtown library by a 7-4 vote last week, a joint venture by Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture and Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston can finally begin the process of taking the long-stalled project from vision to fruition. Though it's not clear exactly how long the design process will take, Library Board of Control Co-director Mary Stein says the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard—currently under construction with a budget of $44 million—took a year to design. Unlike the Main Library, the downtown facility is expected to shut down during construction, according to Jim Frey, an architect with East Baton Rouge Department of Public Works. The Metro Council previously allocated $19 million for the new downtown library at the Baton Rouge River Center. How that $19 million will be spent on the project—which has been hotly debated by the council and community at large for years...
With the Metro Council on Wednesday approving a $1.5 million design contract for a new downtown library by a 7-4 vote, a joint venture by Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture and Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston can finally begin the process of taking the long-stalled project from vision to fruition. Though it's not clear exactly how long the design process will take, Library Board of Control Co-director Mary Stein says the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard—currently under construction with a budget of $44 million—took a year to design. Unlike the Main Library, the downtown facility is expected to shut down during construction, according to Jim Frey, an architect with East Baton Rouge Department of Public Works. The Metro Council has previously allocated $19 million for the new downtown library at the Baton Rouge River Center. How that $19 million will be spent on the project—which has been hotly debated by the council and community at large for years...
By design
The buildings of LSU not only reveal a legacy that goes back to the Renaissance but also serve as a primer of architectural principles that guided the creation of one of the most unique academic environments in the United States. In The Architecture of LSU, author, professor and architect J. Michael Desmond traces the university's development, including photographs, plans, drawings and maps that underscore the contributions of historical figures and the genealogies of the campus's architecture and planning. By detailing the origins and evolution of LSU's architectural core and exploring the fundamentals of American college campus design, Desmond shows the rewards of public environments that integrate natural and constructed elements to meet both practical and aesthetic goals. The Architecture of LSU is available from LSU Press.
Dyke Nelson Architecture wins Grow Mid City competition
Dyke Nelson says his architectural firm will use the $10,000 it received in taking first place in the Grow Mid City business plan competition to purchase additional equipment that will allow it to manufacture more eco-friendly products itself rather than outsource that work. "For example, we recently built a couple bistro tables for Rock-n-Sake. We designed those but had to have them fabricated off-site and then assemble them here," Nelson says. "The idea is to create a real tight circle with our production, keep it all in-house, and ship off products that are truly sustainable—and eventually provide an option to purchase those products through our website." Nelson says his firm uses a "tremendous amount of recycled materials" for its products, which range from furniture and lighting fixtures to panels and installation pieces, many of which come from historic properties. Along with Dyke Nelson Architecture—or DNA Workshop, as it's also known—two other Mid City...
City Park, sans golf course?
Edging closer to 1,000 signatures, an online petition is bringing the debate about City Park's golf course back into the limelight. Should the 9-hole course be maintained and City Park grow around it, or should it be eliminated and the grounds added to the park's existing green space?
Room to grow
See a slideshow of McKernan's home here.
B.R. firm acquires Lake Charles company
Baton Rouge-based Letterman's Blue Print & Supply Co. Inc. has acquired Sign Star of Lake Charles for an undisclosed price. Letterman's, which has offices in New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles in addition to two locations in Baton Rouge, says all operations and employees of the former Star Sign will be relocated to its Lake Charles office. Letterman's says it is the state's largest full-service reprographics company. With a focus on architectural, engineering, industrial and construction sectors, the firm makes outdoor graphics including building and vehicle banners, trade show exhibits, and retail and jobsite signage. Founded in Baton Rouge in 1949, the company's two local offices are located at 344 Third St., Suite 101; and 4726 Government St.
Raise the roof
That's the question we asked the team at Remson Haley Herpin Architects in Baton Rouge.
Most architects, engineering firms lag behind on social media marketing
According to a new survey by national consulting firm ZweigWhite, architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms are behind the rest of the business world when it comes to using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to market their services. Just 15% of the firms participating in the survey report using social media to reduce their reliance on "traditional" marketing methods, and 29% of firms say they don't use any social media at all. Steve Maher, principal of Ritter Maher Architects, says he's not surprised. "My competitors, especially here in Baton Rouge, they just don't do social media as much," says Maher. "I'd guess it's just lean times and they don't have the resources to dedicate to it now." Like many design firms, Ritter Maher doesn't have an employee who focuses solely on social media—or even a marketing director. Maher handles most of that himself. "I'm on Facebook personally and Twitter professionally, and I just try to keep up with my...
Building a following
History is unfolding all around us and for many people, including Kevin Harris, it's happening online.
A solid foundation
Jeri and David Kelly's Stanford Avenue home is thoroughly modern, but inspired by a bygone era. Here are some of the durable, state-of-the-art materials the home contains:
* The poured concrete columns were formed in a mold that was built using a capital to a column that Jeri Kelly bought on Magazine Street. Concrete columns will never weather or rot.
* The cornice is made of concrete that will never rot and placed by a Romanian-trained plasterer.
* The home's exterior uses Azeck, a composite material that doesn't rot, expand or contract and can be cleaned using a power washer.
* The edges of the porch are brick, which will not rot.
* The porch is made of pressure-treated flooring that is not edible by termites.
'inRegister': B.R. architect wins international acclaim
Kevin Harris can see into the future. And from where he's sitting, it looks quite a bit like the beautiful past. When he launched his local architecture firm 30 years ago, he told his father, pediatric allergist Francis Harris, that he was going to be a radical. "Oh, no," his dad said. "What are you going to do?" His answer: "I'm going to build traditional homes." Now, Harris is renowned for his ability to bolster historically accurate designs with modern materials that can withstand the harsh demands of the South's hot, wet and windy climate. Harris was featured last year in the luxury magazine Robb Report for designing a breathtaking, Tuscan-inspired custom home in Jackson, Miss. He has won more than a dozen national awards for his work and has been featured in The New York Times, Business Week and Southern Living. Harris grew up in the Broadmoor subdivision in Baton Rouge. When he was still a young boy, his parents decided to renovate their home, and...
Master of the house
Click here for a slideshow of Kevin Harris's work.
Kevin Harris can see into the future. And from where he's sitting, it looks quite a bit like the beautiful past.
Several B.R. architects net AIA Rose Awards
The work of several Baton Rouge architects and design firms on projects near and far—in one instance as far away as China—was recently recognized as being the best in the state by the American Institute of Architects at the 2012 Rose Awards Gala in Baton Rouge. Local architects and firms receiving Rose Awards this year are:
—Plusone Design and Construction, which received a Gold Rose Award for its "scissors house" residential project in Baton Rouge.
—Tipton Associates, which received a Silver Rose Award for its design of a Sam Houston State University dining facility.
—Jim Sullivan, who received a Rose Award for his design of a YMCA pavilion in Old South Baton Rouge.
—Coleman Partners, which received a Silver Rose Award for its design of the Marriott's Crystal Shores hotel in Marco Island, Fla.
Trahan Architects moving headquarters to N.O.
Baton Rouge architect Trey Trahan says he has purchased a vacant building at 309 Magazine St. in New Orleans for an undisclosed amount and will relocate the majority of his firm, Trahan Architects, there in late 2013 or early 2014. Designs are under way for the renovation of the 10,000-square-foot property located near Gravier Street, between Canal and Poydras streets, and work is slated to begin before the end of this year. Trahan says he and most of his staff will relocate to New Orleans in the first quarter of 2013, leasing office space until the new Magazine Street headquarters is completed. Some Trahan Architects staff may remain in Baton Rouge so that the firm can maintain, in Trahan's words, a "Baton Rouge presence." However, he adds, anyone staying put will not work out of the firm's current office at City Plaza downtown. The architect says he has had his eye on this move for several years, and has only been waiting on the right location. "I think it is not only a great...
Old kid on the block
You've probably seen the McMahon House, even if you don't know it by name. The yellow two-story home has sat vacant in the heart of downtown for about 30 years, at 310 Convention St., behind the City Club of Baton Rouge.
Man with a vision
Architect Mike Sullivan doesn't work in the city planning office, but he has a vision for Baton Rouge and he's putting it in place one neighborhood at a time.
Downtown's 'last Victorian home' on the market
You've probably seen the McMahon House, even if you don't know it by name. The yellow two-story building has sat vacant for about 30 years in the heart of downtown, at 310 Convention St., behind the City Club of Baton Rouge. "It would certainly be the last Victorian house in the central business district," says Darryl Gissel of Oak Real Estate, who represents the sellers of the 5,561-square-foot residence, which was built in 1905 and is priced at $700,000. Carolyn Bennett, executive director of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, says there used to be many houses like the McMahon House downtown but that they were either demolished or moved out to the suburbs. "So that's a real treasure," she says. The heirs of the McMahon estate, who declined to be interviewed for this story, renovated the exterior of the home and added a new roof, Gissel says. The interior is not renovated. "The house is hermetically sealed," Gissel says. It was put on the market a year ago, which was about a...
Different by design
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son. "Don't go play in the water!" she would call after him, her words chasing small, swift footsteps on thick summer gusts. "You'll end up in the bayou with the currents." He speaks softly, but often. Victor F. Trahan III likes to say people's names while talking with them. He likes to connect and thinks buildings should do the same. Everyone, even family, calls him Trey. Maybe it's the Cajun in him, but he's a storyteller, and his conversations are peppered with quotes. A local priest, an ex in Austin, Frank Lloyd Wright, his grandfather—the dairy farmer, the first Victor F. Trahan: Each gets equal airtime, sometimes within the same conversation. To draw a parallel to his architecture, Trahan's wardrobe relies on a look of simplicity, consistency and contrast. Pick any given workday, and Trahan can be...
'225': Different by design
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son. "Don't go play in the water!" she would call after him, her words chasing small, swift footsteps on thick summer gusts. "You'll end up in the bayou with the currents." He speaks softly, but often. Victor F. Trahan III likes to say people's names while talking with them. He likes to connect and thinks buildings should do the same. Everyone, even family, calls him Trey. Maybe it's the Cajun in him, but he's a storyteller, and his conversations are peppered with quotes. A local priest, an ex in Austin, Frank Lloyd Wright, his grandfather—the dairy farmer, the first Victor F. Trahan: Each gets equal airtime, sometimes within the same conversation. To draw a parallel to his architecture, Trahan's wardrobe relies on a look of simplicity, consistency and contrast. Pick any given workday, and Trahan can be...
Different by design
Forty acres is a long distance to run, but the boundaries of the family rice farm jutting against Bayou Plaquemine outside of Crowley rarely satisfied Valerie Trahan's young son.
On minimalism…and stuff
I can tell when someone has cleaned up the house specifically in preparation for an interview or a photo shoot. Typically, the hallway and bedroom doors are closed.
Downtown library moves forward a step
With the Metro Council having approved a $1.5 million design contract for a new downtown library by a 7-4 vote last week, a joint venture by Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture and Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston can finally begin the process of taking the long-stalled project from vision to fruition. Though it's not clear exactly how long the design process will take, Library Board of Control Co-director Mary Stein says the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard—currently under construction with a budget of $44 million—took a year to design. Unlike the Main Library, the downtown facility is expected to shut down during construction, according to Jim Frey, an architect with East Baton Rouge Department of Public Works. The Metro Council previously allocated $19 million for the new downtown library at the Baton Rouge River Center. How that $19 million will be spent on the project—which has been hotly debated by the council and community at large for years...
Downtown library moves forward a step
With the Metro Council on Wednesday approving a $1.5 million design contract for a new downtown library by a 7-4 vote, a joint venture by Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture and Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston can finally begin the process of taking the long-stalled project from vision to fruition. Though it's not clear exactly how long the design process will take, Library Board of Control Co-director Mary Stein says the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard—currently under construction with a budget of $44 million—took a year to design. Unlike the Main Library, the downtown facility is expected to shut down during construction, according to Jim Frey, an architect with East Baton Rouge Department of Public Works. The Metro Council has previously allocated $19 million for the new downtown library at the Baton Rouge River Center. How that $19 million will be spent on the project—which has been hotly debated by the council and community at large for years...