Location : New Orleans, Louisiana

Client: Network for Economic Opportunity (City of New Orleans)

Year : 2017-2018

Status: Completed

Collaborators: Foundation for Louisiana

The CLAIBORNE CULTURAL INNOVATION DISTRICT (CID) is a 19-Block transformation of space beneath the elevated I-10 expressway along Claiborne Avenue, from Canal Street to St. Bernard Avenue. Built with green infrastructure, in addition to being a world-class market with arts, crafts, produce and seafood vendors, the CID will include classrooms and exhibit space, interactive technology and education demonstrations, and will be a site for youth programming, health, environmental, and social services, community projects, workshops, and special events for the residents of the Claiborne Corridor. As a culture based economic driver, the CID will support indigenous entrepreneurs and culture bearers in achieving their goals for equitable and sustainable community development. Heavy on innovation, it will be a resident governed effort focused on providing direct pathways to business ownership, workforce development, and community capacity building, through fulfilling the need for neighborhood serving retail and enhanced neighborhood services. 

CONCEPT DESIGN

Flexible Market Spaces

An outdoor marketplace can fosters the growth of small businesses either owned by those indigenous to the Claiborne area or directly serving the Claiborne community.

Canopy Structure

The communities expressed a want to maintain flexibility within the space as well as a need to mitigate sound pollution. Given the limitation of attaching to the structure and the structural requirements for the overall production of the space an articulated canopy serve all of these purposes well.

Cultural Platforms

Stages to accommodate music, dance, and any other performances by the community. The infrastructure and space surrounding the market can also be used as a blank canvas for street murals done by local artists.

Environmental Justice

The CID is a space that benefits community growth, public health, the environment, and transportation along a vital corridor in the city of New Orleans.

eNGAGEMENT + Process Intention

The groundsetting phase of the Claiborne Corridor Cultural Innovation District project spanned five (5) months and multiple workshops. The focus of the workshops was to provide several entry points for community members to actively participate in the development of ideas and experiences for what is to become the CID. Over the course of eight (8) workshops and over 80 hours of informational and working open dialogue, the community established a core set of considerations that directly address issues of inequity. These workshops, which included panel discussions, community conversations, and design sessions, allowed the participants to consider everything from environmental to economic issues resulting in a breadth of ideas that seek to counteract injustice in the built environment.