Duncan Plaza as the Heart of a Modern Civic Center

We’ve explored two of New Orleans’ public spaces that are wonderful, warm and inviting, full of music, art and people.

Unfortunately, Duncan Plaza isn’t another success story.

Built in 1959 for $7million, the Mayor’s report calls the new City Hall an “imposing structure, faced with stone and glass…to be located amid the landscaped plazas in the 11 acre Civic Center area.” The project was filled with hope for the future- City Hall was leaving Gallier Hall and moving into the modern era. Surely the rest of the city would follow suit?

Construction moved forward in this spirit of optimism. A reflecting pool in Duncan Plaza, the state office building, State and Civil Courts buildings and city library were all built within the next five years, meant to mark a new era of the city’s progress and inter-agency cooperation.

Sadly, those hopes have not come to fruition. Few repairs have been made over the last 50 years that weren’t bare-bones necessity, and, according to the city administration, City Hall now needs millions of dollars of investment to be brought back to a semblance of functionality. Meanwhile the clock’s already run out the reflecting pool in Duncan Plaza, on the court buildings, and on the state building which is currently being demolished.

Meanwhile, despite several facelifts over the years, Duncan Plaza is now best-known for its post-Katrina homeless encampment.

State Courts building- in 1964 and today

A mere 50 years after its completion, the New Orleans Chapter of DOCOMOMO nominated the buildings in the Civic Center to Louisiana Landmarks Society’s 9 Endangered Places list, saying

Buildings dating from the modernist era are currently entering a period of extreme vulnerability. While their architectural and mechanical systems have reached the end of their life cycle and are costly to replace and restore, their architectural style has yet to reach their era of appreciation by the public. With a lack of admiration for modern architecture in general, and in particular, New Orleans, the economic argument for demolition and new construction inevitably prevails over the need to preserve what have yet to be considered significant, historic buildings.

The debate over remedying the situation has been going on for some time, and some have said that demolishing it and starting over would be the most cost-effective fix. Others feel that simply moving into a vacant space elsewhere in the city would be the way to go. Mayor Nagin has presented a repair bill in the tens of millions of dollars, and clearly something needs to be done and done quickly.

So how do we make it right?

We’ve referred to the Project for Public Spaces to illustrate why other New Orleans Parks work so well. PPS’ study of cities around the world has led them to create another list- this one of Stumbling Blocks to Creating Great Public Spaces:

1. If you build it, make sure they come How: Create a program of events and activities based on a high level of community involvement. Once a public space has been built, people still need a reason to go there. One of the most compelling attractions is a full calendar of events and activities. .. When institutions work together on an events calendar for a shared public space, it builds mutual support and leads to more opportunities for partnerships and collaboration
2. Fill in the missing linksHow: Work together to create a vision for the civic center as a livelier place by developing a neighborhood plan. Publicize local cultural events and businesses. During the day, civic centers are full of office workers, be they government employees, library aides or lawyers. They are a natural audience or nearby cultural institutions but this audience will not materialize unless a concerted effort is made to encourage them to patronize cultural institutions and local businesses.
3. Get feet back on the street How: Create a neighborhood pedestrian and traffic calming plan…(which) encourages people to walk, bike, or take transit to various destinations within the civic center.
4. What’s in a name? Everything! How: Introduce consistent signage throughout the civic center and in marketing.

Looking at this list, it’s easy to see why Duncan Plaza hasn’t been accepted as a true public gathering space. Unlike the other parks in town, there has been no effort to make the Plaza into its own draw- people come down to the area to take care of business, but once they’re done they simply go home. There are no big events, no prominent eateries overlooking the Plaza, no music to draw people in. There is no marketing or public attempt to keep people around after the workday’s over. PPS encourages making maps publicly available to visitors, informing them of what opportunities there are to eat, drink and play in the area and including a calendar of public performances and festivals.

The good news is that there is a solution- smart development around the Plaza will make all the difference. The even better news is that we actually have the space available for this development- something that wouldn’t be the case if we moved City Hall to a random vacant office building in the CBD. There is no other open greenspace anywhere in the downtown area that could function as a true public space.

In the first piece in the series, we quoted George Ranalli, dean of the City College of New York’s school of architecture:

Public architecture is symbolic of how society views itself. That’s how people want to view themselves — in beauty and dignity and something that empowers them.

While citizens might disagree on whether or not a particular building is beautiful, we can all agree that we want the best for our city- functional public offices , public parks we can come together in, in a space we can be proud of. Fixing Duncan Plaza is our best hope for getting there.