New Orleans Summer

I have never been good at keeping a journal so this is my attempt to document the seven weeks I am spending in new Orleans as part of a design corps summer studio program. We are going to be building a bus shelter to serve the Hollygrove neighborhood. There are eleven of us in the studio – 4 guys and 7 girls. We’ve all come from different parts of the world from southern California to New Jersey to Scotland. Most of us are architecture and design, but there are two interior designers, one international relations major and a geographer, so I am excited to see how everyone is able to contribute. The studio is ran by Bryan Bell who has written extensively about public interest architecture or community building. I am really excited to be here as this is a part of architecture and design that I feel very drawn to. Architecture, as many people known already, only serves a small sliver of our society. Our project here in New Orleans isn’t meant to fix the problems that abound here, nor will it really make a dent in the overall picture because there is still so much to be done. The point is to take time out of our lives to help someone else with the skills that we have. I don’t have money to give, but I do have skills to contribute. To the neighborhoods and citizens here all they want is someone to acknowledge that they need help.

It is kind of incredible to be surrounded by people who are as motivated and passionate as I am about this cause. It has really made for a great atmosphere. We are using studio space at Tulane University so I am excited to be able to explore there campus and learn more about their program. The hostel that we are staying at has a gorgeous garden and we had a BBQ last night and bonded listening to 90’s R&B. Everyone in New Orleans has been super friendly, although it might be because everyone is drinking all the time. I went on a walk around the neighborhood the first day with one of the other girls and we saw one guy out walking his dog with a stem glass of red wine, one guy out watering his plants with a pink grapefruit cocktail and a lady, in full jogging gear, running with a beer. There is a lot of porch sitting and rocking everyone says hi, smiles and asks how you are doing. There must be something about our group though because we’ve already been asked twice if we were volunteers and when we said yes, we were thanked profusely. I survived my first southern thunder storm and now I understand why people from the south talk about it so much, it was quite magnificent. It doesn’t phase anyone who is from here though they just go about their day.