This is jumping ahead a bit, but I wonder what becomes of the Superdome after all this. Obviously they will reroof it and use it as a stadium again, but even for a non-NO resident, the images we are seeing today will always be associated with the building. Should the city acknowledge what's happening there in some permanent form? What is appropriate? Off the top of my head I can't think of another American sports venue that will have the psycic scars that the SD will. The same questions may be asked of the Convention Center.

the owner of the n.o. saints (benson, i think) has been trying to get a new stadium built for years, even threatening to move the team. city and state governments have been hesitant to do so, continually insisting on further renovations to the superdome.

at this point, i don't think anyone can justify using tax dollars to build a new stadium, so yes, it will go back to its prior use for the coming years.

in the future, when a new stadium is built, it will lie empty in the middle of the city, hosting the occasional monster truck rally, concert, or evangelical event. for reference, see astrodome - houston, silverdome - pontiac.

I was wondering the same thing. I don't see how you can ever again host a football game at a venue privy to death, rape, misery, and, suffering (though I hear the Iraqi soccer players have experience in this matter).
First thought, as far as appropriate program, would be some sort of museum of the hurricane, NO, and aftermath. Though i doubt this would an effective use of the entire building. It would seem an ideal place to then tie in some forms of community outreach, social services, etc. The need is obvious.
Not sure of NO layout, but would it be possible to infil the sea of parking with housing for displaced residents?
Oh, and if anyone finds it, please post, but I saw a picture of some refugees in the stands with the light (thankfully that was all) pouring in through the holes. Rather remarkable image if i remember it correctly. If it doesn't end up a stadium, it'd be a shame to cover that up.

i think we need Daniel Liebskind for this one

I just heard on NPR that people may be living in the SuperDome until December

yes new orleans needs a jagged and anxious building in these times. and liebskind is the man to give it to them.

As soon as possible, I think we should all move to NO, open up shop and do things right. There will be work and the rent will be right.
God fobid Libeskind and Gehry beat us there first and turn it into a shiny, obtuse clusterfu**. Im serious.

10.5?

it should be burned and bull-dozed...not the city, the Superdome. There is absolutely no reason for keeping it.

I just heard on the news that it probably will be razed....unfixable the news report said..

A, thanks. I heard Ted Koppel throw it out as an aside last night, but he didn't follow up with any details.

Presumably, the SD has to be replaced with something. Stadium economics is not something that the general public usually bothers with, but I can see this becoming a huge issue. Of course, if the rebuilding is going to hit $25b, what's another $1/2b?

And now... a memorial? A series of memorials scattered across the Gulf Coast?

chaglang, bite your tongue mentioning memorialsalready! - I really wish we could try to stop memorializing everything five minutes after it happens. Wait a generation, that's what I think. At least a decade.

from what i've heard they are going to have to tear it down because of structural damage to the roof...
but don't necessarily trust me, i am living in a state of misinformation...

There's probably no need for a memorial anyway. The erasing of a whole city is an architecturally violent enough event to commemorate and to remember.

There's no such thing as "unfixable" if the desire and the money are there to fix it. I doubt structural engineers have even had a chance to survey the damage up close and make an an analysis of the costs versus benifits of razing the building or restoring it. It's more likely these rumors are being spread to make it seem like a new stadium is on the horizon. The Saints have been wanting one for a long time and will probably need to have one thrown at them to stay in town. Attendance will be off for years, and fans will be uneasy about coming back to the Superdome. Right now it would be political suicide for politicians to talk openly about a new staduim, so they skirt the issue by making it seem the demilition of the Superdome is inevitable.

I don't disagree bryan, just reporting what I heard on the radio. My first question would be, are the Saints even going to stay in New Orleans now? They are looking at playing an entire season in a new city. It's not far fetched to see the future population of N.O. quite smaller, possibly not large enough to support a NFL team. So, if the football team leaves the possibility of "saving" the Superdome becomes much more questionable.

I honestly wasn't aware of the apparent saturation of museum/memorials elsewhere in the world. My home state is relatively m/m free (less prone to large scale tragedy?), and I was under the impression those types of things were simply automatic, hadn't imagined the ire...

Though reading what I just wrote, I suspect they are automatic elsewhere, which I guess is the problem.

dogedog, not a fan of the shiny clusterfu** either.

I'm sticking with the well-integrated, low to middle income neigborhood until the whole of archinect explains more of the world to me.



Side note, I think the Saints should move to Vegas. The irony would rival that of the Utah Jazz or LA Lakers.

...or the Clagary Flames

my guess: it will result in approximately 57 bad thesis projects nationwide.