Located on the primary commercial thoroughfare of New Orleans within walking distance of numerous public amenities including the Louisiana Superdome, CBD, and French Quarter, the program for this 21 story, 462,000 square foot mixed-use residential project includes ground floor retail and 250 residential apartments above a 500-car garage base.
As a means to recreate the social interaction found in the courtyards of the city’s historic quarter, the design consolidates all tenant amenities at the ninth floor in order to condense their programmatic force. At this raised “courtyard” level, shuttle elevators transfer from garage to tower to promote opportunities for residents to cross paths with one another in a shared, communal space as opposed to the typical, introverted experiences found in most high-rise residential developments.
Anchoring this level is the “sky lobby”, a dramatic glass box that cantilevers out from the façade and offers spectacular views of the downtown skyline. This double-height lounge serves as an extension of the tenant’s living spaces, with coffee bar and movie screening lounge set among informal groupings of furniture. Outside the sky lobby is an expansive pool deck, with a tiered bleacher rising from the pool to a sunning platform at its top. Tucked beneath these bleachers is the facility’s fitness center. A series of townhomes along the south side – with front door access directly off the pool deck – create an architectural edge and produce the effect of a ground level courtyard on the garage rooftop.
Instead of pursuing the overglazed “glass box” approach of recently completed residential towers in other cities, the project utilizes glazing selectively, incorporating a light-and-view-flooded common space sky lobby while providing dwelling units with strategically located floor-to-ceiling columns of view.
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