Thomy Lafon Elementary School

Thomy Lafon Elementary School, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Looking a bit more closely at the plan of the Thomy Lafon School today. Preparing a lecture on case studies and will discuss Lafon in relation to Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye.

The form of the school has been obscured / marred by the unsympathetic addition of those horrible corrugated red hoods. But the plan better illustrates how this school functioned without corridors. The kindergarten wing was accessible by a playful ramp to the upper story. Beyond the kindergarten, classrooms were paired to share a staircase and toilet facilities. Architect Nathaniel C. Curtis described the plan as "the next logical step after the finger plan."* His partner architect Arthur Q. Davis describes the form as "a long, thin classroom wing, gracefully bent to avoid monotony."**

Here the pilotis serve many functions. The elevation of the classroom wing amplifies available play space which also offers shelter from rain and needed shade.This would also keep the classrooms cooler as there is a greater breeze at higher elevation. This is of course an old French Colonial tradition. Finally, the pilotis saved the classrooms from flooding post-Katrina. The Survivors Council fought to re-open the school in 2007, but to no avail. It has remained shuttered. The RSD has no plans for the reuse of the building. However, it could be adapted to serve the Harmony Oaks community as an early childhood center.


* In 1952 the first modern school was built in New Orleans, designed by Curtis and Davis. It was originally known as McDonogh 39 (later renamed Avery Alexander School) and followed a finger school plan with a series courtyards between the wings. School Facilities Plan called for its demolition. It was on the Louisiana Landmark's New Orleans Nine Most Endangered list in 2009, along with Lafon, Wheatley and Carver. Quote is from Talk About Architecture, Heard, Lemann and Klingman, 1993

** It Happened by Design, Arthur Q. Davis, 2009

Sacra Conversazione

DECONSTRUCTION: AN IMPRESSION OF VANISHING TREASURES
new paintings by Nell C. Tilton
June 6-30, 2009

Carol Robinson Gallery, 840 Napoleon Avenue (at Magazine Street)

Statement by the Artist

The focus of this exhibit is a collection of abstract paintings that recall elements of specifically two demolished buildings - one destroyed before Hurricane Katrina, the Rivergate Convention Center, and one demolished after and because of Katrina, St. Frances Cabrini Church in Gentilly.

My emphasis in these paintings is to capture the essence of the buildings and to represent the feeling of turmoil, destruction and a sense of loss for those creations by using form, color, value, and textural properties of the paint.

These structures were treasures because they were the result of a vision, a collaboration of many talented artists and craftsmen expressing their dream and creativity, special skills, abilities and brilliance through their art. They were places for a community to gather, exchange ideas, worship, practice commerce, or come together and celebrate. They were treasures because of the innovative designs and engineering feats that were revolutionary at the time of their construction in the 1960's.

My father, Nathaniel C. "Buster" Curtis, Jr. was an architect, artist, and historian. He loved people, his family, his heritage and his work. He was the Chief Project Architect and Director as well as the designer of the Rivergate Convention Center and held the same title for the Louisiana Superdome. He was a gentle, humble man who was very talented and proud of his accomplishments. He died in 1997, almost two years to the day after the demolition of the Rivergate began. This exhibit is dedicated to his memory and his love of architecture.