PROJECT INFORMATION

COMPLETED: 2015

PROGRAM: 106,900 SF

BUDGET: $22 MILLION

CLIENT: ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL BOARD

LOCATION: NEW ORLEANS, LA

Mathes Brierre designed the new 106,908 sf state-of-the- art PK-8 grade school for the Orleans Parish School Board, as a part of the school’s recovery program on a previously vacant site in New Orleans East. The new Robert Russa Moton Charter School at the North Kenilworth Park site can accommodate 788 students on three floors and houses 35 teaching stations. The school was one of only a handful in the two-billion-dollar program which bid on budget and opened with few change orders. The school is designed to achieve 44.8% savings above baseline energy consumption as a part of its proposed LEED Silver certification. The project site also features cost savings and sustainable bioswales, reducing the effective storm water runoff into existing city drainage while providing native landscaping without irrigation.
The large three-story volume of the building was also mitigated by articulated facades and separating the classrooms into two wings, oriented to minimize glare by orienting classroom glazing to protected South and North facing elevations and creating dynamic protected play areas.