RESTORING GROUND: REMEDIATION AND EMPOWERMENT IN TREMÉ, NEW ORLEANS Project Overview Like many urban communities, the neighborhood of Tremé in New Orleans suffers from high concentrations of heavy metals and petroleum byproducts in its soil, resulting in a legacy of elevated rates of childhood lead poisoning and other negative health outcomes. While in many cities soil contamination persists unrecognized, post-katrina soil testing has increased public awareness of the problem in New Orleans, where new toxins may have been deposited by Katrina s floodwaters. The citywide scale of soil contamination makes standard engineering solutions, such as soil excavation, financially infeasible. In response to these conditions, a diverse team of artists, architects, engineers, scientists and community organizations are designing and building a demonstration landscape on Ujamaa Square in the heart of Tremé. Led by faculty and students from the Department of Architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology, the project is being completed in conjunction with Ujamaa Community Development Corporation (a local affordable housing developer and community service organization), the People s Environmental Center (a non-profit resource recently formed by scientists, lawyers, engineers, architects and activists) and Tulane University s CityBuild consortium. The project began in early 2006, with Wentworth students gutting a house, conducting a community design charrette, documenting the urban site and surrounds, and preparing master plans for re-development of the square itself. This second phase will focus on construction. Twenty-one Wentworth students, three faculty and one staff member began this phase with a trip to New Orleans in January 2007, renovating, constructing, designing, scraping, and painting for the People s Environmental Center. In March, a second trip completed construction of the garden, designed and built a porch for workshop presentations as well as community events, and finished work on various interior and exterior renovation projects. The demonstration landscape will educate local residents on the risks of soil contamination and existing strategies for risk mitigation and soil remediation. The landscape will feature several soil treatment options, including (1) heavy metal neutralization to reduce the risk of human exposure, (2) emplacement of clean soil to reduce the amount of heavy metal on the soil surface, and (3) bioremediation and phytoremediation (the use of plants and soil-living microorganisms to reduce soil toxicity). Walking paths throughout the site will lead visitors to learning stations, where signage will guide them through the steps, costs, and time requirements for each soil treatment option. Wall panels attached to the paths will establish a permanent exhibit on the risks of soil contamination and strategies for limiting recontamination with common household chemicals, such as pesticides. Scientists and organizers from the adjacent People s Environmental Center will assist visiting residents in testing and developing strategies for treating the soil in their yards. The exhibition garden will encourage learning and exploration, while also creating an attractive civic destination. The ongoing discoveries will be disseminated to a community that has struggled with persistent neighborhood pollution. Ujamaa Square, which is becoming a growing resource for Tremé s redevelopment, will also provide legal programs, rebuilding classes, mental health support, and other community educational needs. The PEC hopes to round out these services with an environmentally focused landscape installation that can provide information and inspiration for the neighborhood. The project has been supported by Wentworth sources, student fundraising (each student raises the travel, food and lodging costs they incur), a $10,000 grant from the Boston Society of Architects, and over $17,000 from corporations and individuals. Boston-based supply companies are providing materials at reduced costs.
During the January 2007 trip, students worked to transform the dilapidated shotgun-style house into a working environmental community center. They scraped, repaired, painted, and constructed. In addition, the students used their architecture skills to work with the client designing the remediation display garden as well as the interior layout of the center. Students also helped the client redesign their website and graphic presentations for public education.
During the January 2007 trip, students staked out the garden beds, mocked up samples of the wooden systems and framed a wall that will divide the public rooms from the laboratory spaces. These tasks and the construction of the garden will be completed by students on the March 2007 trip.
During the March 2007 trip, students completed design work on the workshop porch, constructed the north garden and south porch, and completed work on the interior offices.
The student design and build team completed the north garden and the community porch on the south side of the People s Environmental Center.