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In the thesis completed for his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1985, Rae studied the nature of learning and perception, through the design of a museum. Instead of placing this museum as an object placed in a conspicuous spot, this museum is hidden behind an urban camouflage of mixed use to heighten the visitors sense of discovery, and restore the rich urban fabric that the site once enjoyed.
In the research for this project Rae studied works such as Andre’ Malreax’s “The Voices of Silence” and the life and work of visionary artist Robert Irwin. This research initiated what has become a lifelong quest. To create works that can suspend judgment long enough so that we can forget what we are supposed to be looking at. As soon as our preconceptions fall aside, we are left to float in the sea of possibilities that the piece presents to us. This is the common thread that all great works of art and architecture share. This philosophical research was combined with extensive research of the site, client and building type that included detailed drawings of the urban fabric surrounding the site, which was located off of the historic Lee Circle.
The automobile had a tremendous presence on the site and could not be ignored. Historically there had been two major gas stations on Lee Circle, and one doubled as a school and dormitory for future gas station attendants. In 1960 the Ponchartrain expressway opened and created an urban dead zone across historic St. Charles avenue visually severing the link from Lee Circle to the affluent neighborhoods in uptown New Orleans. The historic Carnegie Library was also raised at this time to make way for an office building perched on top of an elevated plaza concealing a parking garage. These modern interventions spun the historic circle into a period of decline, because they stopped the rich pedestrian life that the circle was once known for. It was essential to understand the full history of the site to find clues as to how this project could restore the vitality of the neighborhood.
At the turn of the century it was popular to shoot 360-degree panoramic photos with a new invention called the circuit camera. One of these photos was taken at 1900 and 1918 of the circle. In his research of the site Rae discovered these photographs and realized that they told an interesting story of urban evolution and were a powerful tool that presented the 3 dimensional fabric of the city in a nonobjective fashion. In essence they unraveled the urban field, and provided a non-objective analysis of the site and its history. Rae used these photos as a base to create a series of drawings that told a history of the circle at three time intervals. The drawings were first created as black and white studies, then he took selected drawings and created some color studies of how light worked with the existing building facades and materials. The creation of these drawings proved to be as much of a study as a meditative act that loaded Rae’s subconscious mind of the possibilities present in the context.
The museum type was a participatory science center modeled after the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Linda Lewis a scientist and educator was in the process of creating the Louisiana Science Center, and acted as the client. The exhibits in a paticipatory science museum rely heavily on perception, and try to eliminate the separation of the observer and the display, so this was an ideal museum type to study the nature of learning and perception.
The main exhibit hall and science center was located behind a series of mixed urban uses (camouflage). These included retail, restaurants, a theater, and the Exxon gas station that had been on the site for the last 50 years. Balcony level bleachers were incorporated into the façade facing Lee Circle where a stage was placed to create an outdoor amphitheater. The bleachers follow a unique tradition in New Orleans of viewing Mardi Gras Parades.
Throughout the entire project a sense of place was created, specific to the nature of a science center. The use of interventions woven into the architecture that revealed the inner workings of the center, and the natural forces and principles behind them were also used in the urban camouflage which help create an awareness of the role that science plays in commerce and industry. These exhibits included a pair of elevator doors that were too high for the cab behind, so that when opened they would reveal the elevator hoist, the science behind the garage of the Exxon station, and the use of unique materials on the building façade that would weather and age in a demonstrative way to reveal the environmental forces acting on the site.
This project won Rae the prestigious Tau Sigma Delta Bronze Medal for the most outstanding student thesis of 1985.
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