Steve Mouzon

A second-level balcony on a mixed-use building helps shield residents of upper levels from the lights of the sidewalk level, helping those who are actually sleeping at night in the French Quarter.

It’s hard to tell whether the post lamp was deformed by flying hurricane debris or by humans to accentuate the branding of the French Quarter, but twisted lamps like this are on countless T-shirts tourists take home.

The French Quarter masterfully mixes uses. In this building, there’s a shop to the left and the arch to the right leads to a courtyard accessing multiple apartments behind and above the front; a good Missing Middle Housing Commercial Apartment Block.

Outdoor space tends to expand closer to the street, with individual balconies above, a full and deeper balcony on the middle level and the full extent of the city accessible from doors on the street.

Humbler materials have their places on a street, like the utility brick on the right building accentuating the refinement of the front and the roof tiles used ornamentally in the balustrade of the left building.

Never end a building face with the side wall material coming all the way to the corner because it makes the front look pasted-on. At the VERY least, turn the cornice and front wall material at least a little bit like this, if not further.

It’s quite appropriate for a product strongly associated with a place, like Tabasco in the French Quarter, to have its own storefront, as visitors tend to “extend the stay” by taking culinary things home with them.

It is natural, even if not essential, for the first level of a building to be clad in a different material than levels above. In a mixed-use quarter like much of the French Quarter, it calls attention to the street-level businesses, among other benefits.

Placing a balcony on a chamfered corner takes advantage of a rare opportunity in urbanism: the ability to look down all four streets of the intersection from one vantage point.

It’s great when food and beverage establishments open important locations like a street corner window to the sidewalk on all but the more extreme days of the year; it invites people in and helps condition them to Live In Season.

It is sometimes assumed that the most important civic buildings should express only the highest ideals of a civilization, but the Louisiana Supreme Court building subtly reflects its French Quarter home with its metalwork.

The Louisiana Supreme Court building is clad in stone in a highly refined manner, as all important civic buildings should be, as they should communicate their importance to both residents and visitors.

This should be easy in Mac Pages, but is there a way to have sections within a document come up as tabs at the top of the window, like tabs on a website?

I'll be speaking at International Making Cities Livable 62 in Potsdam next month; any recommendations for great German towns to photograph in the Berlin region?

Almost exactly 7 years after moving to Tuscaloosa I have done something. I’ve never done before: walk to Northport. It’s terrifying along a bridge with knee-high handrails and fast industrial traffic. I’m not sure I ever want to do this again!

Yes, unfortunately. Of all the crazy things we saw in our South Beach years, a great one was replacing the convention center parking lot with a park. The first-ever inversion of “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" I’ve ever seen.

Anne, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. And everything I hear from the Bay Area northward sounds like a different world to me. I doubt I’d ever have much to say that’s useful there. Just two very different cultures.

The NIMBY/YIMBY wars vary substantially across the US and beyond. Here in the southeast, better-quality design has a stronger chance than in other places from which I've heard the war stories. I've long ago given up on persuasion where it has little-to-no chances of working.

Much appreciated, Sarah! And I always greatly enjoy stories like this about people who have built such places or have inhabited them. A strong dollop of reality to season the images and words!

What a textbook case of classical composition, from head to foot and with refinements at every point! Someone well-versed in classical architecture could easily do an hour-long lecture on this image, if not longer.

Two very different ways of joining columns to beams from more vernacular on the left to highly classical on the right. The wrought iron column and beam panels are nearly identical while the classical elements do specific jobs in more varied ways.

This most refined French Quarter building is clad with a material that really needs to make a comeback: glazed terra cotta. It’s super-durable, able to be crisply shaped, and able to take on pretty much any shape required.

New Orleans’ French Quarter is filled with Missing Middle Housing, both Core and Upper, such as this Commercial Apartment Block with businesses at street level and apartments above. Look around; the wealth of types may astound you.

Most of the NOLA French Quarter is 2-3 stories and quite vernacular, but this one exceeds 10 stories and is beautifully refined in exchange for the added mass. YIMBYs making the same exchange might get more units built.

Solid shutters are more secure at street level, but louvered shutters above allow ventilation and filtered light when the shutters are shut but the openings (doors in this case, or windows) are open behind them.

Porch and gallery stairs are frequent on the Gulf Coast, especially when multiple levels are part of the same property. Whether intentional or not, enticing people outdoors helps them Live in Season, reducing AC usage: originalgreen.org/blog/living-...

Here’s a building composition thing I’ve noticed but can’t explain: in places with a strong Anglo tradition, there must always be a center bay open but French traditions have no problem with an even number of bays, like everything here except the centered street door. Ideas?

Multi-level galleries where planting is both allowed by regulation and encouraged by local culture creates a Green Envelope both for the outdoor rooms on the galleries and on the street itself, making everything in sight cooler, both in temperature and in vibe.

The nighttime economy can be highly profitable but messy, including remnants of "human impromptu detox" in the streets. New Orleans does a much better job cleaning the streets in early mornings than they did a few decades ago. Washed streets are now a common early-morning sight.

It’s early on Bourbon Street, and so deserted at this hour, but this pair of street-corner galleries will be hopping by afternoon, fueled in part by people engaging across the street not only at sidewalk level but also at gallery level.