New Orleans BioInnovation Center - 2015 AIA Top Ten Green Project

Built on a brownfield site, this LEED-Gold research facility is designed as ‘urban acupuncture’, a modest project that helped trigger the revitalization of a neighborhood, generating over 200 jobs. The program includes a flexible 100-person conferencing center, breakout spaces, and a 2,000-square-foot café. The design reinterprets vernacular regional climate-responsive strategies—the slatted shutter, the landscaped courtyard water feature, the sheltered porch—to provide a facility that is both of its place and of its time. Architect: Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
Location: 1441 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, United States

Jury comment: We like the floor plan and purpose of the building and admire the shading system. The building is simple, elegant, and beautiful. The shading system is the most striking part of the building. It also demonstrates loose fit: the entire plan was modular and the building has a variety of clients floating in and out, so the plan is loose fit in action. They have demonstrated very high levels of energy performance, especially given a very challenging climate. This is difficult to accomplish in New Orleans. The façade treatment had thoughtful and well-proportioned shading on the SW elevation.

Project data Client: New Orleans BioInnovation Center
Gross floor area: 64,000 square feet
Completion: August, 2011
Costs: US-Dollar 38 million