Congratulations to Daniels Landscape Architecture Professors Jane Wolff and Elise Shelley! They – along with their colleague Derek Hoeferlin from Washington University in Saint Louis – recently received an ARCHIVE award for their collaborative project Gutter to Gulf.

Gutter to Gulf combines public outreach with collaborative teaching and research, culminating in the website, www.guttertogulf.com, which makes sophisticated, legible information about water infrastructure in New Orleans available to the many audiences — including citizens, designers, policymakers, and politicians – with a stake in the city’s future.

Working in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Wolff and Hoeferlin discovered that it was almost impossible to find clear, reliable information about the city’s landscape conditions, systems, and operations. Working with Shelley, they organized design studios at the Daniels Faculty and the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University. The primary-source research work done by students in the design studios contributes to scholarship and public discussion about the future of New Orleans, while their design proposals offer terms for a more sustainable environment.

Due to the high level of their research, the Gutter to Gulf team was asked to contribute to the first funded design study for a water plan in New Orleans. Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the State of Louisiana, the study will be carried out by an international team led by Waggonner and Ball Architects of New Orleans. Work by Gutter to Gulf will comprise the study’s public education and outreach material, and serve as technical and scholarly base information for design team members.

For more information, visit www.guttertogulf.com.