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Pere Rouquette Library at Saint Joseph Abbey + Seminary College

St. Benedict, Louisiana

Saint Joseph Seminary College’s enrollment has significantly increased in recent years, creating a demand for updated housing and academic upgrades. To accommodate this growth, Rouquette Library needed a new home to make possible the return of Savio Hall, where Rouquette Library once resided, to its original function as a student residence.

The site for the new library was carefully selected in a location that does not disrupt the current mid-century modern master plan of the campus, and places it in a location that visitors can access without compromising the private sectors of the campus. The site selected was the former swimming pool site.

The building was designed with three stories, with the ground floor used as exterior covered space for activities with easy access to other activities on the campus. The elevated structure not only reflects the elevated design of nearby Pius X Hall, but also offers protection for the seminary’s book collection in the event of flooding. The second floor houses the main collection with faculty resources for research, writing, and reading. The third floor provides collaborative student space along with two conference rooms for small lectures and meetings. The third floor will also house the library’s collection of bound serials and offer extended hours, until 10:00 p.m., each evening.

In addition, as the seminarians love the views of their campus, the new library design provides a nearly 360-degree panorama of the entire campus.

John McDonogh School Renovations

New Orleans, Louisiana

The John McDonogh School building is located at 2426 Esplanade Ave.  The main three-story, 92,000 SF school opened in the early 1900’s.  The solid masonry structure with decorative plaster trim began an extensive renovation in February of 2017.  The school is currently being renovated inside and out to serve as an Kindergarten through 8th grade.

Exterior renovations include a complete refurbishment of all exterior wood windows, tuckpointing of all mortar joints, installing new masonry ties to mitigate cracking of solid masonry walls, cleaning of masonry and installing a clear breathable water repellent.  All decorative plaster trim and cornices, including the plaster entrance façade, are being refurbished and painted.  The art glass windows at the front entrance are being refurbished to match the original art glass windows as closely as possible.

The ground floor was completely demolished and redesigned to create 14 Classrooms to accommodate Kindergarten through 3rd grade, as well as an Art Room, Offices and Conference Room.  Also located on the ground floor is a full-service kitchen.

Original classroom configurations were kept where possible on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The 2nd floor also contains administrative offices and a 450-seat Auditorium that has been refurbished to restore the original coffered ceilings.  The 3rd floor provides Classrooms, Media Center, Science Lab, Music and Art Rooms. Finishes throughout the Main Building have been replaced.

The existing Gymnasium has been demolished and replaced with a new state-of-the-art 22,000 SF Gymnasium and will accommodate new locker rooms, a Maker Lab and Health Lab. The project will be LEED-Certified.

New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School (SciHigh)

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans Science and Mathematics High School, also known as Sci High, offers specialized instruction in science, math, and technology, and provides an open door to any interested New Orleans high school student. The school now serves more than 450 students, expects to serve 600 to 700 students as it continues to grow, and has outgrown its current location in a former elementary school building.

In 2020, Sci High will move into a new facility designed by VergesRome Architects specifically to support their coursework and mission. The facility will be fully ADA accessible and will include specialty labs for biomedical, health, engineering and skilled crafts courses to support the school’s emphasis on rigorous STEM courses. The new facility is located one block from the Lafitte Greenway and two blocks from the new biomedical corridor.

Due to the small site size, the school is designed with an elevated gymnasium to allow space below for parking and playground space.

St. Charles Catholic High School Renovations

LaPlace, Louisiana

The Additions and Renovations to St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace involved a major exterior face lift to the main school building, a pre-engineered metal structure constructed in 1977. The exterior renovations replaced the old blue metal siding with brick, stucco and aluminum storefront windows.

The Entry Addition brought prominence to the nondescript school entrance. The 1,400 SF Entry Addition includes a brick and cast stone entry portal, a vestibule, a conference room immediately off the vestibule, and added a new computer lab. The polished terrazzo floors of the vestibule extend into the main lobby and to the school administrative offices. The conference room, which seats 20 people, was designed to accommodate faculty and school board meetings and replaces the school’s only conference room which had been converted into faculty offices.

The Commons Expansion added 1,850 SF of café style seating to the cafeteria and includes a tower dedicated to the memory of Lt. Col. Robert J. Hymel, an alumni of St. Charles Borromeo High School and a decorated Vietnam War veteran killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. A new presentation wall displays the school’s state trophies and is the backdrop for the Quarterback Club and other meetings.

The 126-seat 2,500 SF stand-alone Chapel is designed for celebration of the Mass by an entire grade level and for the football team’s pre-game Mass. The new chapel’s site was positioned in the heart of the campus.

The gymnasium was also renovated, receiving a new court surface, new goals and bleachers, a new audio/visual system, and a new white perforated acoustical metal ceiling and LED lighting.

Southern University at New Orleans, College of Education and Human Development Building

New Orleans, Louisiana

The new 49,700 square foot building for the College of Education and Human Development is part of Southern University at New Orleans’ post-Hurricane Katrina development of the SUNO Lake Campus. Now under construction, it will join the existing Faculty and Student Housing (designed by the Joint Venture team of VergesRome Architects and Bani Carville & Brown Architects), the School of Business, the Business Incubator, the IT Building, and the new School of Social Work Building on the University’s Lake Campus.

The College of Education Building will provide a permanent home to the Education curriculum which was displaced to modular classroom buildings since late 2005. The new building will allow expansion of the curriculum and enhancement of the Education program through the addition of a Head Start Program and an Early Childhood Development Center. As the last of the buildings planned for the Lake Campus, the exterior materials and color palette for the College of Education Building are selected to blend with and complement the exteriors of the surrounding campus structures. As the public face of the Lake Campus, the building’s front façade will address Leon C. Simon Boulevard and its position will define the southeastern corner of the campus quadrangle.

The building will provide classroom and laboratory space for approximately 600 adult students, a learning environment for 81 children from ages 18 months to 5 years old, and offices for a faculty of nearly 40. In addition to typical classrooms for 15 to 30 students, the classroom spaces will include an 80-seat auditorium, three interconnected classrooms, one nutrition classroom with a residential demonstration kitchen, and three classrooms with observation rooms with one-way glass. A TV Studio is provided to record and broadcast lectures for distance and online learning.

For the safety and security of the children attending the Head Start and Early Childhood Development Centers, a separate entrance and parking area are provided. Each of the children’s centers will have three age-specific classrooms, a spacious indoor play area, a separate fenced outdoor play yard, and a central warming kitchen will serve meals from the University’s commissary for the children in these Centers.

The Tides at Orleans Marina

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Tides at Orleans Marina is a luxury waterfront condominium development located on Pontchartrain Boulevard in New Orleans.  Four three-story quads, each containing four units, have private, covered parking spaces on the ground floor underneath the buildings.

The 2-bedroom, 2-1/2 bath units have an open floor plan with 1,750 sf of living space.  All units feature private balconies on the first and second floors, walls of windows and premium finishes throughout.  Private elevators bring residents directly to their first floor living room or second floor master bedrooms.  An outdoor amenity area features a relaxing pool and landscaped greenspace.

St. Paul’s Catholic Life Center

Covington, Louisiana

The New Parish Center for St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in New Orleans will house the Church Office, Meeting Rooms, Classrooms, and the Church Hall.

Vianney Hall at Saint Joseph Abbey + Seminary College

BENEDICT, LA

VergesRome Architects was retained by Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College to assist with their Strategic Plan, looking ahead to the next 100 years for the monastery and seminary. VRA focused on campus facilities, both existing and previously planned, and site planning. Delineating and protecting the private cloistered areas of the Monastery and Seminary College was very important, as the campus also contains public areas such as the Abbey Church, Christian Life Center, Benet Hall Auditorium, and Rouquette Library.

Seminary buildings on the wooded campus are notable examples of the mid-century Regional Modernism style exemplified by the architect, New Orleans’ Lawrence and Saunders. The mission was to preserve the seminary buildings’ unique architectural character, make them more energy efficient and suited for contemporary use, and attract more seminary candidates through the availability of modern facilities with desired amenities.

New HVAC systems in all seminary buildings were a high priority. A new Central Plant Building housing the Chiller System was constructed as part of the $4.1 million Vianney Hall renovation to service five seminary buildings totaling 103,000 SF.

Vianney Hall, a 1960 dormitory used for 40 years as a storage building, underwent full renovation, returning to its originally intended use, completed February 2014. One of three adjacent mirror-image buildings that form three sides of a revitalized Quadrangle green space, Vianney Hall’s renovation is Phase One of the Campus Strategic Plan program that creates an academic nucleus on campus with a serene outdoor quad and separates cloistered portions of the campus from public and semi-public areas.

The 20,000 SF, two-story dormitory building is now a modern residence hall with 40 one-bedroom units, each with a private bath, two Dorm Deans’ suites, and common areas, including a Lobby on the first floor and Prayer Room on the second floor. Built-in, custom dorm room furnishings were designed by VRA.

2018 AIA Louisiana Award of Merit

Boulder, Colorado Residence

Boulder, Colorado

This home in Boulder, Colorado was designed to reflect the character of the Rockies and the client’s Louisiana roots, while retaining the studio built on the property by the previous owner, a film director.

After demolition of the original house at the front of the property, the rear studio became the main house, per Boulder Zoning ordinances requiring that any new structure to be connected via enclosed space. The design of an enclosed 85’ lap pool, connecting the studio to the new residence, resolved the requirement.

Spatial needs were four bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and open space for cooking, dining and leisurely gatherings, with other amenities for daily needs. The owner’s appreciation for stone and reclaimed lumber established the materials palette for the exterior and interior.

The clients wished for privacy from the front with no transparent views of interior spaces from the street; therefore, expansive open glazing was not allowed. Rear transparency from interior to exterior was requisite to enjoy the beautiful landscape design at the rear of the property, with mature producing fruit trees, perennial and annuals plantings, evergreens and pathways. Mature shade trees were retained and complemented by the new residence’s orientation.

The rear film studio was converted into a guest house. The existing conference room was converted to a master bedroom, in which the owners resided during construction, and three guest rooms within the existing footprint of the studio garage / film storage. The existing studio had 25kw of solar panels, reactivated to serve the pool pavilion and new residence.

Photographer:  PJ van Schalkwyk

Covington, Louisiana Residence

Covington, Louisiana

Drawing from Colonial Indo-China influences, yet rooted in the Louisiana vernacular, this new residence in Old Covington fuses traditional and contemporary influences to satisfy the diverse tastes of the professional client couple. The couple requested a modern, open plan within a traditional setting to accommodate frequent entertainment and large family gatherings, as well as being the hub of social activity for the clients’ son and his friends.

The orientation of discrete parts of the house – living areas, bedroom, guest room, attached master cottage – exhibits a centrifugal motion that allows programmatic flexibility while maintaining the formal notion of the whole. Careful attention was given to provide views of other parts of the house from any vantage point. The architect used standard building materials – architectural asphalt shingles and metal roofing, as well as a combination of board-and-batten with horizontal siding – all carefully articulated to present a harmonious balance of textures, scale, and materials.

VergeRome Architects’ use and strategic placement of “floating walls” provides separation of spaces, yet allows the floor plan and volume of space to remain open.  Natural lighting was a key factor in the clients’ program. The use of clerestory windows throughout the main body of the house provides a beautiful fusion of natural light during daylight hours. The clerestory openings allow light to diffuse through the Dining Room and Library and beyond the floating walls, thus providing low ambient illumination in these spaces during the day (natural lighting) and during the evening (artificial lighting).

Finally, to better serve the clients’ active lifestyles, both professionally and personally, and their commitment to exercise and physical fitness, a home office area, a library/study space and a home fitness area were intricately woven into the layout of the house.

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Archives

Pere Rouquette Library at Saint Joseph Abbey + Seminary College

John McDonogh School Renovations

New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School (SciHigh)

St. Charles Catholic High School Renovations

Southern University at New Orleans, College of Education and Human Development Building

The Tides at Orleans Marina

St. Paul’s Catholic Life Center

Vianney Hall at Saint Joseph Abbey + Seminary College

Boulder, Colorado Residence

Covington, Louisiana Residence