Designed by architect Leonard Spangenberg Jr. in 1964, Plaza Tower was
conceived as a beacon for development in downtown New Orleans. It would pave the way for growth in the skyline of the city. It was tocontain an ambitious mix of office space, residential units, restaurants, and retail, topped by an observation deck and helipad. Instead, the tower became a financial and economic boondoggle. While the building opened in 1969 as the tallest tower in Louisiana, at 510 feet, its owner declared bankruptcy before construction even completed. Few nearby towers followed. Since, the building has undergone multiple changes in ownership, each with the promise of a new life ultimately unfulfilled. The tower currently sits vacant, plagued by asbestos, mold, and other problems.
conceived as a beacon for development in downtown New Orleans. It would pave the way for growth in the skyline of the city. It was tocontain an ambitious mix of office space, residential units, restaurants, and retail, topped by an observation deck and helipad. Instead, the tower became a financial and economic boondoggle. While the building opened in 1969 as the tallest tower in Louisiana, at 510 feet, its owner declared bankruptcy before construction even completed. Few nearby towers followed. Since, the building has undergone multiple changes in ownership, each with the promise of a new life ultimately unfulfilled. The tower currently sits vacant, plagued by asbestos, mold, and other problems.
As a financial and economic speculation, Plaza Tower is a failure. But despite this failure, or perhaps because of it, the building has become a site for other, more successful forms of speculation. The building remains an icon of New Orleans, and a prompt for creative speculation about its future role in the city. Nowhere is this better exemplified than by the Instagram account Tower Fantasy. In regular posts, the creators of Tower Fantasy construct or repost images of Plaza Tower in unexpected, even ridiculous scenarios. The images remix and relocate Plaza Tower into playful juxtapositions of scale, context, and graphics. Through the use of these constructed images, Tower Fantasy constructs an identity and character for Plaza Tower far beyond its economic role as a vacant office tower. This assignment picks up Plaza Tower as a site for speculation. But where Tower Fantasy appropriates from pop culture to construct identity, we will appropriate from the language of architecture.
THE OBLIQUE DRAWING
THE ILLUSTRATION
TULANE UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR CARRIE NORMAN