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Southern University of New Orleans Faculty and Student Housing

New Orleans, Louisiana

VergesRome Architects, in joint venture with Bani Carville & Brown Architects of Baton Rouge, designed the new faculty and student housing complex at Southern University New Orleans, an important milestone in the university’s recovery and rebuilding process following Hurricane Katrina.

This state-of-the-art student housing facility was the first such facility in the history of the suburban New Orleans public university, and with a final construction cost of over $39 million, it was also the largest construction project in the 50-year history of SUNO. The project encompasses a total of 21 buildings:  19 three-story apartment buildings, a recreation/ activity building and a service building. The 700-bed housing complex is situated on the school’s 17-acre campus near the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain and was designed to provide students with views of the lake and the New Orleans skyline.

Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College

Saint Benedict, Louisiana

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, focusing on future and existing facilities, site planning, and protection of the Monastery’s cloister. Multiple stakeholder groups and the Strategic Planning Committee worked collaboratively to achieve a unified vision of operational, educational and facility goals.

VRA collaborated with nationally renowned Landscape Architect, Reed Hilderbrand, integrating proposed architectural building conversions and renovations with planned improvements to campus pedestrian and vehicular circulation, site lighting, and creation of special landscapes throughout the campus. A new chapel for seminarians is in design for a wooded site overlooking the river behind Vianney Hall. The design will correspond to the campus’ Mid-Century Modern vernacular – clean and clear aesthetic, materials, and scale that support contemplation, vocation and prayer.

VergesRome Architects and Reed Hilderbrand developed design solutions that capitalize on the unique architectural features and landscape opportunities of the Seminary campus, unify campus circulation and function, and bring back the Monastic “cloister.”

Kids Town

Mandeville, Louisiana

Envisioned as an entertaining, educational venue at the popular Tammany Trace Trailhead recreational rail trail, the design of Kids Town at Tammany Trace is intended to reflect the vernacular architecture of the Northshore, with influences of Gulf Coast colonial Louisiana architecture. The new miniature town, financed through the Tammany Trace Foundation, sponsors, and private investors, is now under construction at the Koop Drive Trailhead.

Kids Town design draws inspiration from the cultural fabric of the early days of what was once the nation’s largest railway and reflect a typical stop along the way. A Fire House, Bank, Mercantile and Ice Cream Saloon are among the attractions.

Whimsically designed as if imagined through the eyes of a child, Kids Town will be a place where children will expand their imaginations through interactive play.

Scaled to children, Kids Town allows them to play grown-up in an imaginative setting, being a Sheriff, Firefighter, merchant, banker, railroad engineer, hair stylist, barber or chef. Fostering independence in a safe environment, Kids Town includes a Town Square with a water feature, situated within a tree park, for families to relax in the shade while watching their children laugh, learn and explore.

The Railroad Depot at Kids Town will also serve as a temporary location for the Children’s Museum of St. Tammany while its permanent home is built along the I-12 corridor.

Ground was broken for Kids Town in summer, 2014. Construction is expected to take two years.

St. Paul’s School Academic Building Renovation and Addition

Covington, Louisiana

At the heart of the campus in Covington, Louisiana, the Academic Building at St. Paul’s School received a new look and layout in this progressive renovation and addition.

Taking cues from the existing driveway entrance, the new addition set up a formal entrance for the building, strengthens the master plan, becoming a focal point for the campus. The large brick wall, pierced by an open crucifix, served to both unite the older edifice with the new addition and to provide a dramatic entry statement as it extends toward Founders’ Circle, symbolizing the mission of the Christian Brothers: faith and zeal.

Modernization and improvement of the Academic Building, first dedicated in 1950, into a state-of-the-art educational environment required upgrades not only to the physical structure of the facility, but also to all mechanical, electrical, lighting and plumbing systems.

Within the existing building footprint, the original chemistry lab was refurbished and joined by four new science laboratories and space for three additional classrooms.

To accommodate Academic Department needs and growing enrollment, the new addition provided new reception facilities, administrative offices, conference area and lobby, as well as an elevator and new staircases for improved student traffic flow.

Tulane Medical Center Helistop

New Orleans, Louisiana

Tulane Medical Center decided to build its first Helistop when the need became apparent after the storm and flood events of 2005.  VergesRome Architects worked with Tulane Medical Center to develop five options for rooftop locations.  The final location situated the Helistop atop an eighth-floor rooftop, 120 feet above ground level. The $2 Million Helistop can hold a Black Hawk Helicopter and is used for patient transfer.

Tulane Medical Center Pediatric Hybrid Cath Lab

New Orleans, Louisiana

The Pediatric Hybrid Cath Lab at Tulane Medical Center was, at the time of completion, one of only about nine such installations in the United States.  The Hybrid Cath Lab enables both catheterization and surgical procedures to be performed at the same time and in the same place. This innovation enhances efficiency of scheduling, as well as patient well-being, by eliminating extra handling, time and transport from procedure room to surgery suite. A Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Room was redesigned and renovated for this new purpose.

Tulane Medical Center Lineal Accelerator

New Orleans, Louisiana

VergesRome Architects provided professional services to facilitate the installation of Tulane Medical Center’s new Lineal Accelerator. Lineal Accelerator technology for treatment of cancer allows the targeting of specific cancer cells so that destruction of healthy cells is minimized.

Philips, manufacturer of the Lineal Accelerator, performed the actual installation.

The new accelerator is installed in one of two concrete radiology vaults that flooded after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, destroying all the existing radiology equipment contained within. The project scope entailed renovation of the concrete vault to accept the new equipment, now protected from future flood events by the flood-proofing performed as part of VergesRome Architects’ prior hurricane recovery and mitigation project.

Tulane Medical Center

New Orleans, Louisiana

Tulane Medical Center (TMC), the teaching hospital for Tulane University, sustained heavy wind, water intrusion and flood damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, resulting in extended loss of environmental controls and complete destruction of the entire first floor of the facility – a shutdown that created a critical gap in the area’s healthcare infrastructure.

Priority was a speedy rehabilitation and rebuild of the Primary Care Clinic that enabled TMC to provide medical treatment and care for emergency personnel and first responders working on disaster recovery. VRA, in association with Houston-based PageSoutherlandPage (PSP), facilitated emergency repairs, remediation and mitigation necessary to restore the complex to full operation and lessen damage from future storm events.

A Damage Assessment Report defined a scope of work and assessed damage and status of all architectural, mechanical, and electrical systems in approximately 483,000SF of interior space. The first floor, approximately 90,000SF, was redesigned to include new foodservice areas; public and faculty dining areas; outpatient services; re-designed Central Sterile, Pharmacy, Morgue and Central Supply components; Lobby; Lounge; and commercial-use areas. VRA/ PSP also designed and engineered the complete dry flood-proofing of the Central Plant, over 10,000SF in area, protecting from flooding up to six feet in depth.

White Fence Farms

Tallahassee, Florida

VergesRome Architects teamed with the developers at St. Joe Land Company, and MSI Landscape Architects of Ohio, to develop a master plan and residential design guidelines for a sustainable rural farmstead community located near Tallahassee, Florida. The natural characteristics of the site, which includes protected wetlands, open pasture, gently rolling meadowland and heavily wooded landscapes, were carefully considered in planning for the community and each individual farmstead homesite.

Envisioned as a modern farming community embracing sustainable practices from farmstead site planning to crops and cultivation, the wide-open spaces along roads typical to a working farm community were maintained, and as much of the natural topography and vegetation protected as possible.  Wetland buffers on many farmstead sites protect water quality throughout the community, and setbacks preserve the feeling of open farmland while minimizing the impacts, both visual and ecological, of building in the unique natural environment.

Louisiana Capitol Park Welcome Center Parking Garage

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Louisiana Capitol Park Welcome Center Garage, completed in 2007 at a cost of $8.4 Million, is designed to hold 340 cars. Kessels Diboll Kessels was Prime Architect for this project that is situated on the square bounded by Lafayette Street, North Street, and River Road. The structure is located adjacent to the recently completed Louisiana State Visitors’ Center and provides supplemental parking for State Employees.

Complementing the Louisiana State Capitol Building and other State Buildings that make up the Capitol Park, the design of the Welcome Center Parking Garage respects the Art Deco style of those buildings and incorporates style elements from those famous and familiar landmarks.

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