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wyliepoon

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From Architectural Record

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Superdome Restoration Design Contract Awarded

November 18, 2005

On Nov. 10, the Louisiana Architects Selection Board commissioned a team led by Baton Rouge’s Trahan Architects to bring the Hurricane Katrina-damaged Superdome back into operation. This is a critical step in restoring a New Orleans economy that relies heavily on conventions and tourism. The scope of the first phase of the work will be to restore the Dome to its previous condition, and to explore possible functional and amenity enhancements in a later phase.

Serving as consultants will be the New Orleans firms Billes Architecture and Sizeler Architects, with Kansas City sports architects Ellerbe Becket. Ellerbe has previous Superdome experience and conducted the damage assessment on the building. Trahan has recent sports facility experience and has won three national AIA design awards in the past five years.

So far the Superdome's structure has been judged to be sound, and the breached roof has been temporarily sealed. The team has 120 days to assess the situation and draw up first-phase recommendations, with repair work beginning within this period. It will also explore methods of making the Superdome more effective as a natural disaster evacuation shelter in the future. It played this role several times before Katrina, but was never formally designed for this purpose. The exterior metal cladding of the opaque monolith is damaged in places, and Trey Trahan, AIA, principal of the lead firm, will be exploring the possibility of opening up the exterior with glass elements. Preliminary cost estimates for the restoration range between $125 and $200 million.

John Pastier
 
Glad to hear they aren't tearing it down. However, when did they change their minds? In the post-Katrina weeks, it seemed every expert said it wouldn't be saved as it was "un-saveable."
 
i'd like to see the damage memorialized. turn the holes in the roof into skylights. reclad everything below the high water mark in highly reflective blue glass (or, alternately, pitch black granite). add a waterfall on the inside of the building
 
"In the post-Katrina weeks, it seemed every expert said it wouldn't be saved as it was "un-saveable."

They probably thought New Orleaners would never set foot inside the place again after what happened. People died in there.
 

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