ARCH 7004 Losing Ground: Methods for Leeville, LA
Graduate Design Studio IV emphasizes the design of buildings incorporating technologies of environmental systems.
In Professor Doyle’s studio, “Losing Ground: Methods for Leeville, LA,” students examined the small coastal town of Leeville, Louisiana, as a surrogate for towns throughout the Gulf South. The town is not protected by the levee system and is exposed to the impacts of a changing climate, coastal land loss, and increasingly violent storm action. Rather than advocating for a traditional notion of “saving,” the studio explored the concept of absence and questioned the profession’s methods for simultaneously preserving, un-building, and designing possible futures for Leeville. Students visited and documented the site in Leeville and produced their positions on “saving” using drawings, photographs, videos, writings, and models. The process culminated in an architecture that reconsiders the tectonic occupation of the delta.
The LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio provided financial, planning, and institutional support for this course. Visit the course blog, methodsforleeville.wordpress.com, for more information.
