Hubbell Lighting Helps Restore New Orleans Lakefront Airport
Hubbell Lighting, a company focused on lighting technology, design and manufacturing, said it recently began the installation of an array of lighting fixtures to illuminate the exterior and interior of the iconic New Orleans Lakefront Airport (NOLA).
In a release, Hubbel Lighting said that NOLA, started in 1929 and built on a man-made arrowhead peninsula jutting into Lake Pontchartrain, was opened amid great pomp and circumstance in 1934. Some 10,000 visitors from the United States, foreign countries, and local New Orleanians attended the airport dedication dubbed at the time as "the air hub of America."
Recognized as a monument to the political ego of then Governor Huey P. Long (who was a freshmen Senator in 1934), NOLA, was considered an architectural masterpiece. It was an "Art Deco wonderland" featuring murals by noted artist Xavier Gonzalez, Friezes by Enrique R. Alferez, and an array of stone wall and floor treatments.
Much of the terminal's splendor vanished shortly after the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960's when the building's exterior was encased in cement panels and the second floor balcony overlooking the grand lobby was enclosed. More recently, the building sustained severe exterior and interior damage when it took on 100+ mph winds and five feet of water as Hurricane Katrina pushed Lake Pontchartrain inland.
As described by Hubbell Lighting: "As a result, the guardians of Louisiana's endangered works of architecture braced itself for the building's last rites, but instead, thanks to the foresight of Robert Lupo, Chairman of the Board, and Louis Capo, Director of the Non Flood Protection Asset Management Authority, and a special pool of FEMA money earmarked for historic restorations, a celebration is being planned. The terminal's concrete tomb has been stripped away to reveal the original beige aggregate facade and nearly 150 windows that were bricked in 50+ years ago."
The project, a labor of love for Alton Ochsner Davis, who leads the architectural team headed by project architect Paul Dimitrios of Richard C. Lambert Consultants, is scheduled for completion in late spring or early summer of 2012.
Hubbell Lighting representative Melinda Herring Keller of Gulf States Lighting worked with Paul Dimitrios, and senior electrical designer Ron Kirsch of Marrero Couvillon and Associates to plan and specify the required luminaries. No less than eight of Hubbell Lighting's 21 brands are being employed to illuminate NOLA's exterior and interior.
Hubbell Lighting brands include Alera Lighting, Architectural Area Lighting, Beacon Products, Columbia Lighting, Compass Products, Devine Lighting, Dual-Lite, HomeStyle Lighting, Hubbell Building Automation, Hubbell Industrial Lighting, Hubbell Outdoor Lighting, Kim Lighting, Kurt Versen, Prescolite, Progress Lighting, Security Lighting, Spalding Lighting, Sportsliter Solutions, Sterner Lighting Systems, Thomasville Lighting, and Whiteway.
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