Researchers from the School of Architecture will assist in designing new uses for Louisiana mid-20th-century African American schools that were abandoned in the wake of school desegregation. Laura Blokker, interim director of the Preservation Studies program at Tulane, along with Andrew Liles, assistant professor of architecture, received the biennial Richard L. Blinder Award for this work.

A group of Tulanians competed in the APT/PBS reality show “Make 48,” a MakerSpace-inspired show in which student teams have 48 hours to plan, prototype and pitch a new commercial product idea to a panel of judges. The team, called The Big Easy, consisted of Kyra Rubinstein, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, Matthew Nice, a biomedical engineering graduate, Luke Artzt, an engineering physics graduate, and Jesse Williams, a School of Architecture graduate.

Tulane’s School of Architecture has launched a new Bachelor of Arts in Design. It offers a broad design education inclusive of multiple modes of practice and an understanding of the fundamental linkages between design, society and culture.

School of Architecture faculty members Carrie Norman and Adam Modesitt, along with their students, created an intricate mural as a part of the “Unframed” project of the Arts Council of New Orleans. The project includes five murals within walking distance of each other in the city’s Arts District. The mural by Norman, Modesitt and their students is a life-size architectural drawing of a mid-19th century shotgun house called “Open House.” The project’s goal is to bring vibrancy to New Orleans outside of gallery walls and was funded by a $175,000 grant from the Helis Foundation.

Can cleaning vacant lots cause a chain of events that curbs child abuse or stops a teen from falling victim to violence? That’s the provocative question behind a new research project to study whether maintaining vacant lots and fixing up blighted properties in high-crime areas reduces incidents of youth and family violence. The National Institutes of Health awarded Tulane a $2.3 million grant to test the theory in New Orleans.