Project 1.002……3 Systematic Modeling

1. Background Information of the Industrial Canal

The Industrial Canal is a 5.5 mile (9 km) waterway in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The waterway’s proper name, as used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and on NOAA nautical charts, is Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (IHNC). The more common “Industrial Canal” name is used locally, both by commercial mariners and by landside residents.

The canal connects the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. It separates New Orleans East from the rest of the city of New Orleans, and the Lower 9th Ward from the Upper 9th Ward. Approximately half of the waterway’s course, from Industrial Lock to a point north of the Florida Avenue Bridge, is confluent with both the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO).

The entirety of the canal passes through the 9th Ward of the city. Along the riverfront, the canal constitutes the boundary of the Upper 9th Ward’s Bywater neighborhood on the upriver side of the canal and the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood on the downriver side. Near the lake, it is generally considered to be the eastern boundary of the Gentilly neighborhood and the western boundary of New Orleans East.

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, proposals have been made to close the northern end of the canal by building a dam at the entrance to Lake Pontchartrain, as part of an effort to block storm surge. A subcommittee of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission has endorsed such a move.

–From Wikipedia. org

2. Concept of my systematic model

Water is the carrier of New Orleans’ Industrial, commerce and immigration. As the historical maps I collected, it is evident that the culture of the city was unwrapped from the water front line. Therefore, at this stage I would like put my focus point on the water body which is regarded as the economic corridor.

My model is supposed to spread from the river and the Industrial Canal. There are four layers in which I would build the model: water body-carrier (cluster of cardboard), port-industrial nodes-input (nails), railroads-pipe-transport (medal cord), and infrastructure-terminal (unknown). When all the layers are constructed together, it is the story of how the city was grew up by the input and output of the industry.

Project 1.002……2 A interesting comparison

Their Levees – Our Levees

Here’s how the British hold back the waters from flooding London: And the Dutch solution to protecting an entire nation that mostly rests below sea level: The Italians are defending their city on the sea, Venice: And… Here’s how the richest, most powerful and technologically advanced nation on earth protected against the long-forecasted flooding of New Orleans: Referenced from http://www.commondreams.org

Project1.002……2 Site Observation-ceremony

Project1.002……1 A Brief History of Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras isn’t all nudity and drunken debauchery (though, yes, there is definitely nudity and drunken debauchery). From King Cakes to Mardi Gras Indians, TIME takes a look at the unique traditions of New Orleans’ Carnival season.

Origins

Literally meaning “Fat Tuesday,” Mardi Gras is the culmination of a weeks-long Carnival season that ends on Ash Wednesday. While impromptu foot and horseback parades had been a regular New Orleans occurrence for decades, it was in 1857 that the first “krewe” — private groups with semi-mythological namesakes that organize thematic parades — was established. This 1879 picture details a parade by Rex, an all-male krewe whose leader is known as the “King of Carnival.” The Krewe of Rex established the official Mardi Gras colors of green, gold, and purple.

Let’s Mask

With it’s mixture of Caribbean, Spanish, and French influences, New Orleans’ Mardi Gras adopted the latter nation’s affinity for masked balls and celebrations. In a little more than 150 years, Mardi Gras has only been canceled about a dozen times, typically for disease (yellow fever in the late 1870s) or conflict (the Civil War and both World Wars).

Carnival Royalty

The hierarchy of New Orleans society is on full display during Mardi Gras. In the past, Krewes were often private organizations that held formal, ritzy balls closed to the public. When the city council passed a 1992 ordinance that required krewes to be more inclusive, three of the oldest groups disbanded rather than give up their exclusivity. One of the more inclusive — if ostentatious — traditions is the presentation of the Mardi Gras King and Queen, such as in this 1941 picture.

100 Years Strong

White New Orleans society wasn’t the only group that celebrated Carnival. The city’s significant African American community, subject to its fair share of segregation, started parading in 1909. Named Zulu, after the African tribe, it is said to have been founded in mocking response to the highfalutin Rex parades. In 1949, the Zulu Krewe was the first to crown a celebrity king, Louis Armstrong. And while it experienced a period of profound unpopularity among socially-minded African Americans in the 1960s — Zulu parade participants wore blackface — it effectively integrated Mardi Gras when its parade rolled down New Orleans’ main thoroughfares. Previously, it had been limited to back streets in black neighborhoods. Today, the Zulu Krewe, which rolls on Fat Tuesday, puts on one of the season’s most popular parades.

Light My Fire

Nighttime Mardi Gras parades feature flame-wielding “flambeaux carriers,” who harken back to days when streets were not as well-lit. Interspersed between the elaborate parade floats, which are now themselves brightly lit, the flambeaux carriers spin, twirl and dip their bodies — all while keeping their torches aflame. Most carriers were initially slaves and free African Americans, and the tradition of tossing them coins continues to this day.

A Family Affair

Many Americans associate Mardi Gras with drunken debauchery and women baring their breasts for cheap colored beads. But most of the season’s celebrations take place outside of the raucous French Quarter, in family-filled neighborhoods such as the tree-lined Garden District. There, parents and kids await daytime parades, many utilizing modified ladders with seats on top. There, children are ideally positioned to catch beads and other “throws” — plastic coins, stuffed animals, cups, Frisbees, etc. — from passing floats. During Carnival season, tree branches along popular parade routes are often covered with hanging sets of gaudily colored beads

A Rowdy Affair

OK, Mardi Gras’ reputation as an alcohol-fueled, nudity-filled bacchanal is not completely unearned. In 1973, a ban was established on Krewe parades in the increasingly rowdy and narrow streets of the French Quarter. In subsequent years, tourists and other drunken fools descended on the Quarter (especially the particularly saucy Bourbon Street) en masse, and the tradition of showing skin for beads began. Native New Orleanians despise the reputation, and rarely venture into the Quarter during Carnival season.

Don’t Eat the Baby

In a city well renowned for its food culture, the act of purchasing a King Cake is a beloved part of Mardi Gras. Sold only during the Carnival season, king cake is a large braided Danish pastry, typically spiced with cinnamon and covered with green, purple, and gold sugar, corresponding to Mardi Gras’ colors. Socked away inside the cake is a tiny plastic baby, and whoever discovers the little tyke in their slice is required to buy the next king cake (or host the next party).

Tribal Traditions

One of New Orleans’ more unique sights is that of two Mardi Gras Indian tribes facing off on a street corner. The Indians are said to be a way for African Americans to pay tribute to Native Americans who helped their slave ancestors escape their masters. New Orleans is home to dozens of Mardi Gras Indian tribes, who each have their own special chain of command and who spend an entire year working on their elaborate feathered and beaded costumes, each of which is worn only once during Mardi Gras season. When two tribes encounter each other, a ritualized, theatrical performance full of chanting, singing, dancing, and bluster ensues.

Indomitable Spirit

After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the city in August, 2005, many thought that Mardi Gras would have to be postponed for the first time since World War II. Residents, however, would hear nothing of it. Absent all the fancy trappings, the city held an abbreviated Carnival whose official parades rolled through the less devastated areas of New Orleans. This unofficial parade, however, marched through the ruined lakeside neighborhood of Gentilly. While the city’s populationhas not yet returned to pre-Katrina levels, Mardi Gras celebrations have grown unabated.

–referenced from http://www.time.com

Project1.001……3 Composite Map

My journey doesn’t cover a big scale of the neighborhood, but I did record lots of detail of the phenomenon I picked. As I am concerning the entrance space, I took pictures of the houses, the other houses besides them, the borders connecting them with the streets, and recorded the dimensions of those elements as well. For my composite map, I am trying to demonstrate these informations in a concise way.

On the left side of the map, it is showing the streets that I was concentrating on out of a big base map. On the left side, it is the series of diagram that I distilled from the pictures and the dimensions. Each box is a frame of the front door space and the claimed space which can be seen as a pattern language. Which makes the experiences of walking on the side walk changing? This can be told from the diagrams.