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Tulane's URBAN build program is a strategy that approaches urban design at both the smaller scale of the individual lot and the larger scale of the community context. With the support of a HUD COPC grant received in the fall of 2005 and in association with community nonprofits, students in the School of Architecture design and build affordable housing prototypes in New Orleans neighborhoods. The first prototype is sited at 1930 Dumaine in the upper Tremé neighborhood; it was completed in the summer of 2006. Under the terms of the grant, three additional projects in different neighborhoods will be undertaken over a two-year period.
Students in the URBANbuild “macro” studio study the larger urban context of the selected house lot to explore progressive alternatives for a neighborhood plan. They work to incorporate green spaces as well as mixed-density housing, which includes single-family and multi-unit residential structures, and mixed-use commercial and institutional buildings.
Students in the URBANbuild “micro” studio study traditional New Orleans' housing to design prototypes that reinterpret the city's architectural heritage in a fresh way. They work to incorporate such communal aspects as the porch and its focus on interaction with life on the street. They also analyze traditional as well as newer methods of construction and building materials to produce environmentally sustainable and adaptable designs. The first prototype built at 1930 Dumaine, for example, is a wood frame structure on masonry piers that can be reproduced with variations to accommodate multi-generational, multi-family, or live/work spaces.