topophilia :::::::::::::::: a love of place

The New Orleans mashup for Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery is really gaining momentum. Yesterday as it bucketed with rain, Alan Gutierrez and I had long and productive phone conversations with three of our partners: Denice Warren Ross of the GNOCDC, Andrew Turner of Mapufacture and Karen Gadbois of Squandered Heritage. In the in-between-time, Alan met with the Neighborhood Coworking Project and I created a slideshow of a few of my favorite maps of New Orleans.

But back to the conversations:

New Orleans is a ripe or fertile environment for mapping. - Denice Warren Ross

No one knows this better than GNOCDC. In 1997 the Greater New Orleans Data Center was founded to democratize information from administrative data sets. The GNOCDC is offering us a wealth of wisdom gained through their years of experience. How to actually use this medium to create a map with context: one that tells a story. How to design a product for a specific audience with a specific purpose and then test it in the field. The GNOCDC methodology includes field usability testing for mapping systems. While they will not be supplying us with data, they are offering us the use of some of their seminal maps, especially the Neighborhood Boundaries Map and the Planning Districts Map. Their support of this project provides us with a strong foundation. Thank you, Denise.

Mapufacture provides dynamic, customizable geographic information and collaborative mapping. - Andrew Turner

Andrew is the project engineer on our team. Two days ago, I posted in the GIS Forum a recipe for a demo map for us to help us tell the story of the plight of the public schools in New Orleans. And just 3 hours later, Andrew had presented us with a preliminary mashup of various data set with the School Facilties Master Plan building reports. This is a work in progress. The ultimate product should incorporate photos from Flickr on a historic basemap. I can't say thanks enough, Andrew.

Dead House Walking - Karen Gadbois

Karen and I talked at length last night about her story. She began Squandered Heritage in April of 2006 after returning home. Her neighborhood lost a significant block of houses to fire. Pritchard Place at South Carrollton. Can we all put our heads together and conjure up that memory? I know I've tried. Karen tried. She went searching for photos and could turn up no visual archive. So Squandered Heritage began as a Memory Project. Which is a lot. But it's become much more. It started as place to visually document the memory of buildings. And as the stories of the buildings got told, it became more focussed on the various plights of the people who have lost so much. We are all indebted to Karen for continuing to fight, for continuing to keep us informed. For her diligence and dedication to the defense of New Orleans culture, our varied architectural heritage and the preservation of our neighborhood communities.

We all saw those 24 pages of addresses of houses to be demolished that was published in the Times-Picayune in the summer of 2007. I sat and stared at that paper. Gutted. I've spent years developing a New Orleans Virtual Archive (coming soon... coming soon). But my collection is based heavily in the 19th century city, the sliver by the river, the aisle of denial. We got that documented. But what about the other 80% that sat under water? What I could I do? How does one begin to tackle that scale of a documentation project? The scope of loss was Unfathomable. But while I sat frozen at the kitchen table, Karen started working. She is an absolute inspiration to me. Her success gave me the confidence to attempt to document modernism in New Orleans. Muchas muchas gracias.

Now for a shout out for that Times-Picayune insert. If anyone has it, please please please let me borrow it and scan it. I would really like to take it to netSquared. It's a perfect artifact to help tell our story.

Manifesto for a Mashup

At the end of the month Alan Gutierrez of Think New Orleans, Andrew Turner of Mapufacture and I will pitch a Mashup for Citizen Monitoring of the Recovery in the 2008 NetSquared Mashup challenge.

Challenge, indeed. As an artist-curator-historian, I'm not exactly Silicon Valley savvy.

But I do know what I like in a map: Layers. Think about this with me.

Imagine a Google map that allows one to select a historical view of the topography, New Orleans before or after the storm. Imagine being able to integrate past and present. Being able to view current data on the recovery on old Sanborn maps. And historic data from archives on contemporary maps. And being able to turn on and off different sets of data simultaneously. In this way, one could see if a historic house is on a demolition list. Imagine that. Making information more accessible, meaningful and interesting.

Mapping gives life to spreadsheets (demolition lists or building permits). Suddenly these droning lists of addresses form patterns and relationships. We can now go to a house, photograph it, blog it and sometimes actually save it. Usually not. But in the very least, it has been documented before it's history. The current push for demolition before the FEMA money runs out weighs heavy on the collective soul of New Orleans.

As we plan for the future, we ought to revisit the past. I'm thinking about Storyville and the Iberville Housing Projects. The "Big Four" are almost gone. What will rise up in their place? Can we see their old street grids amidst the live oaks? I'm thinking about having a better understanding of the history of all our neighborhoods, not just the 19th century ones.

The 20th century city of New Orleans suffered the most from the flooding. It had nothing to do with race or income. It's geography. Mapping is destiny and people all over the city are trying to map the madness away. Citizen created content in Google Maps track housing demolitions, housing project locations, shootings in 2008, mid-century modern architecture, unopened schools, schools to be demolished, the Housing Conservation District Review Committee (HCDRC) agenda, and of course New Orleans music.

I'm obviously keen on the idea of integrating geo-tagged photos as well. So this Mashup could potentially link recovery data, archival data and geo-tagged photos into a central space with layers of historic and contemporary maps of the city. The humble hope: to assist the recovery of New Orleans by increasing awareness of what we have, what is lost and for what we will fight to the end to preserve.

on the road + online

Lake Ponchartrain Causeway, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.
Photo courtesy of the New Orleans Virtual Archive (coming soon!)

I'm working on a method of translating the processes learned in this semester's course into a system for capturing the digital photos taken by summer study programs and travel fellowships. I have a number of recommendations for integrating or mashing up different technologies. The online toolkit includes: EditGrid, MapBuilder, Flickr and Blogger.*

ITINERARY IN EDITGRID.

Before the trip, I can assist the faculty in setting up a spreadsheet for the base itinerary in EditGrid.** EditGrid is a online spreadsheet that can be shared and updated by multiple users. It's a great tool for a collaborative project.

ITINERARY DATA WILL BE USED TO GENERATE DESCRIPTIONS AND TAGS FOR PHOTOS.

1. We will keep the data simple and relevant:building name, architect(s), and location (street address, city, country).
2. We will also add a group tag or ID to all sites: This could be a course ID (DSGN652) or relevant word string (TSAJapan08). Essentially, this tag that will identify any images uploaded to different Flickr accounts as being part of this image collective.
   

ITINERARY UPDATES.

1. The EditGrid itinerary spreadsheet should be updated regularly to reflect actual sites visited.
2. This task can be delegated and shared by members of the group.
3. If anyone in the group has an iPhone, the itinerary can be updated in real time.

MAPPING THE INTINERARY.

1. In EditGrid, export as csv.
2. Then go to MapBuilder, and import the intinerary.
3. MapBuilder will generate coordinates for latitude and longitude.
4. One can also then export the data from MapBuilder and import it into Google Maps or Google Earth via GPSVisualizer.

IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS IN FLICKR.

• Upload images to Flickr using the Flickr Uploadr relevant to your OS:
• Upload images of a single building at a time
• Place them into a Set
• Set name = Building name
• Copy and paste the relevant line of data from the EditGrid itinerary
• into the description
• and into the tag
• Photographers should also add their own name
• into the description
• and as a tag
• Tags
• Place phrases in quotes.
• Individual words do not need quotes.
• ex. "Bibliotheque Nationale" "Henri Labrouste" "11 Quai François-Mauriac, Paris, France" tsaParis08 "Victor Jones"
• Images should also be mapped / geo-tagged in Flickr.
• Flickr> Map> Organize > Your Map
• Select: Your non-geotagged content
• Shift-select images to map
• Find a location: enter location data
• Drag images to the appropriate point

BLOGGING THE TRAIL. Travel groups or fellowships may wish to set up a blog to create an online travel journal. Then one can simply select an image in Flickr and click "blog this" to generate a post.

Presentation at Tulane School of Architecture on Wednesday, April 30 at 11 am. Richardson Memorial Hall (#4 on campus map) room 204.

*One will need to register in EditGrid and MapBuilder. Flickr requires a yahoo mail account and Blogger requires a Google mail account.

**I would have used EditGrid in our course mapping project, but I only discovered it (with thanks to Alan Gutierrez) after the maps had been created.

Music and Architecture

Nick Spitzer and Jonn Hankins are coordinating a discussion of the relationship between our rich architectural and musical heritage on Friday April 18 at 8 pm at the Sound Café, 2700 Chartres Street.

The discussion will be a component of the Center for Black Music Research conference on the black music diaspora. It will feature banjoist and bandleader Don Vappie, rhythm and blues pianist Eddie Bo, trumpeter and singer Lionel Ferbos, saxophonist and clarinetist Alonzo Bowen, and Earl Barthé, a plasterer who views music as an influence in his work.

Our music, architecture are linked, Lolis Eric Elie

George Williams Band, Jazz Funeral on Hilary Street, Bernard Lemann, photographer. New Orleans Virtual Archive, Tulane School of Architecture

21st century in the 11th ward

UrbanBuild Prototype 03, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

This is a whole lotta house on a seriously small lot. The Tulane URBANbuild Protoype 03 house is approaching completion at Seventh and Dryades in Central City. Students developed multiple protoypes in a semester-long design studio prior to the build this spring. The design is sensitive to our vernacular architecture in spirit, but not in style. The house is raised on piers to protect it from minor street flooding and benefit from a cooling breeze underfoot. The mandatory front porch is ample and inviting. An upper balcony provides a more discreet view of the street theater that often unfolds in the neighborhood.

The URBANbuild house may not have the brackets or columns and cast iron details that typify our 19th century housing, but it is not a replica of a facsimile.* It has integrity. As the students labor to complete the house in the next few weeks, stop by and check it out. This is a fine example of Regional Modernism.

* Much of the new housing being constructed in the city are pale and cheap imitations of our historic architecture.

National Maritime Union

National Maritime Union, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

by Ben Wasserman

In the early 1950s Albert Ledner got the commission for the National Maritime Union’s hiring hall through a close friend. He was to complete 14 buildings for the Union between 1954 and 1968 – in cities from San Francisco to San Juan. This included 3 in New York City and one in New Orleans. The most famous and dramatic of these is the Curran/O’Toole Building in Greenwich Village, NYC. These NMU buildings were striking examples of Ledner’s eccentric take on Modernism. Due to the similarity of these buildings and the number of different cities they were built in, looking at the New Orleans building will be an excellent way of analyzing the regional character of the building.

New Orleans Civic Center

New Orleans Public Library, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

De Lesseps “Chep” Morrison’s tenure as mayor of the City of New Orleans was characterized by a wave of new construction – highways, bridges, schools, etc. The crowning achievement in this building frenzy was the Civic Center, serving as a physical manifestation of the transparent, efficient, streamlined and functional government he sought to give the people of New Orleans. Comprised of City Hall, the State Office Annex Building, the Civil Courts Building, and the Main Library, the Civic Center was an $18 million investment. The list of architects who collaborated on the complex reads like a roster of the most notable practitioners of the modern style in this city: Goldstein, Parham & Labouisse; Favrot, Reed, Mathes & Bergman; August Perez and Associates; and Curtis & Davis. Now, with two of the buildings on the verge of being demolished, one wonders how the built integrity of the entire complex as well as the legacy of Mayor Morrison, a politician who believed in the social potential of architecture, can fully be preserved.

by Megan Lubaszka