This post-Katrina replacement high school for the Louisiana Department of Education’s Recovery School District was commissioned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as one of the first high schools rebuilt after the storm. The original school was founded in 1938 as the first high school in Algiers that African-American residents could attend and only the second black high school established in Orleans Parish, therefore retaining a significant place in the city’s history.
The design establishes academic ‘houses’ for each high school grade level. These are provided within two featured classroom wings, located at the second and third floors of the building. Located below the classrooms are the school library and a neighborhood health clinic, each designed to allow independent access to the public for after-hours use. These wings are organized to create a central courtyard for use as an outdoor gathering space for the student body focused around a mature existing Magnolia Tree that was retained on the site. The courtyard is wrapped with expansive glazing connecting the interior spaces with the outdoors.
The public assembly spaces of the auditorium and gymnasium are located at the second floor, where an expansive public lobby is accessed by a monumental stair. Here, a graphic “ribbon” of inspirational quotes wraps the upper walls of the double-height space. Overhead, a large clerestory is strategically located above the perforated metal ceiling that washes the space with daylight that changes constantly over the course of the day.
