School Damaged by Katrina Reopens
NEW ORLEANS — The recently renovated Joseph A. Craig Elementary School opened for classes in January for the first time since 2007.
The school was designed for LEED Silver certification, but administrators decided not to pursue the designation. Green features of the renovated school include high-efficiency mechanical and energy management systems, insulated windows and doors, pervious concrete, low-VOC paints, and other items.
In addition, a solar panel that provides 25kW of electricity donated by Entergy New Orleans stands in the school‘s playground and can be raised up to 10 and a half feet.
The 500-student elementary school built circa 1925 is located in the historic Treme neighborhood near the French Quarter. It had severe mold and termite damage due to its age and flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.
After the hurricane, the school was one of the first in the Recovery School District to reopen, but mold and termite damage and asbestos prevented the school district from keeping it open.
In 2007, students were again displaced as the school‘s structure was repaired, mold was abated and the interior of the building was updated with 21st-century features. Classes were moved to modular units several miles away until the three-story building was reopened a second time.
New Orleans-based SCNZ Architects led the design of the $14 million renovation project, while Metairie-headquartered Ryan Gootee General Contractors LLC provided general contracting services.
Phase one of the project included remediation of asbestos, lead and mold and the removal of interior finishes and termite and water-
damaged wood. If you are having trouble with something like termites in your home, then don’t worry. This problem is easily fixed. All you have to do is call up someone like termite control los angeles to help you with your problem. In addition, ventilator units and two-pipe cooling systems, electrical panels, windows, doors and cabinets were all removed or salvaged.
damaged wood. If you are having trouble with something like termites in your home, then don’t worry. This problem is easily fixed. All you have to do is call up someone like termite control los angeles to help you with your problem. In addition, ventilator units and two-pipe cooling systems, electrical panels, windows, doors and cabinets were all removed or salvaged.
Phase two involved renovations of the 64,000-square-foot school and the addition of a 3,000-square-foot kitchen facility, the installation of a solar panel array and the construction of new entry canopies.
“It was a challenge to shoehorn a lot of the modern features into a 1920s building,“ says Richard Choate, a principal at SCNZ Architects.
Though the Craig building includes the latest in school technology, computer stations, and a new playground, each of the classrooms contains old casework from the original building — reminders of what the interior used to look like.
The school was designed for LEED Silver certification, but administrators decided not to pursue the designation. Green features of the renovated school include high-efficiency mechanical and energy management systems, insulated windows and doors, pervious concrete, low-VOC paints, and other items. In addition, the solar panel, which was donated by Entergy New Orleans, stands in the school‘s playground and can be raised up to 10 and a half feet.