Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life

Tulane’s enthusiastic green movement advocated a sustainable design approach for the Lavin-Bernick Center, or LBC. The existing student center building was stripped to its concrete frame (saving large amounts of landfill space and reducing material costs), expanded by one-third, and redesigned with a variety of environmentally efficient systems. practis joined National AIA Firm Award Recipient VJAA as the local architect on this impactful renovation of one of the campus’s most iconic structures.

New Orleans’s hot, humid climate is strategically tempered by expanding the building’s comfort zone via thermal zoning and technically innovative systems for variable shading, moving air, and radiant cooling. Balconies, canopies, and courtyards layer spaces to encourage movement of light, air, and people in passive ways similar to regional vernacular buildings. The LBC’s façade is, in fact, inspired by New Orleans’s culture, climate, and history, with deep porches mediating between inside and out. 

A deep, modern gallery on the northeast merges building and quad, and a smaller, more protected “pocket park” on the southwest is adjacent to the bookstore. Large portions of the façade can be opened to the exterior to capture cross-breezes and the natural environment, with high-tech mechanical systems monitoring the balance throughout. Program elements — a library, bookstore, various social areas, administrative and club offices, student services, and a large commons — are located relative to activity levels and needs for natural light and connections to the exterior.

Location McAlister Drive, Tulane University, New Orleans Completed 2006 Size 146,000 sf