The New Canal Basin Lighthouse Restoration Complete

The New Canal Basin Lighthouse renovation has been completed from being knocked off its existing foundation during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Since then, HMS was able to document the lighthouse and rebuild it to meet today's safety codes. The refurbished lighthouse will now sit higher than the previous, due to the modified flood elevation requirements. Striving to achieve LEED Certification, HMS saved and restored many pieces and parts from the original. Thank you to Jeld-wen for the windows and doors and thank you to the Save the Lake Foundation for involving HMS. The historic structure is now restored and converted into a museum and education center, focusing on its former use, and the lake ecology.

More about the New Basin Canal Lighthouse Museum
More about HMS-designed Municipal Projects
More about New Basin Canal Lighthouse Museum

New Basin Canal Lighthouse Re-Lit

After seven years of deconstruction, design, fund-raising, and almost exactly seven months of construction, the New Canal Lighthouse beacon has been re-lit on September 26th, 2012.  The lighting was originally scheduled to be on the anniversary of Katrina, but was postponed due to Hurricane Isaac, which the new lighthouse survived with relatively little damage, despite the site being flooded.  The light had been extinguished since the old lighthouse collapsed in a storm in 2005, after being knocked off its foundation by Hurricane Katrina.  That lighthouse had stood in its present location since 1890, pre-dating even the land around it.

Since the coast guard had stopped using the lighthouse shortly before its destruction, the rebuilding effort has been spearheaded by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.   Funding has been helped by significant donations from the community, as well as free windows and doors from Jeld-wen, the result of winning their public online voting contest in 2008.  While previous donations have been generous, more is needed to finish out the interior and grounds to open to the public.  Donations can be made at the LPBF website, here.

Links are below:

Video of the lighthouse during Hurricane Isaac at cnn.com

More historical information on the Lighthouse at LighthouseFriends.com

Action Report: Re-Lighting the Lighthouse at wwltv.com

Residents celebrate lighting of New Canal Lighthouse at Fox8live.com

Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation's lighthouse events canceled at nola.com

More Information at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation at saveourlake.org

More Stories on the Lighthouse on the HMS Architects Blog

More Information on the Lighthouse on the HMS website

New Canal Lighthouse Breaks Ground

Construction on the New Canal Basin Lighthouse Museum and Educational Center broke ground February 27th, after several years of preparation, design, and fundraising.  Construction is expected to take seven months, and cost approximately $1.2 million, of which $700,000 consists of donations from the public.  In addition, the lighthouse will be the recipient of free windows and doors from Jeld-wen, the result of winning their public online voting contest in 2008.   While previous donations have been substantial, only the outer shell is currently funded.   The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation is still looking for $250,000 to furnish and finish the interior to open the museum and educational center inside.   Donations can be made at the LPBF website, here.

Many media outlets were present at the occasion, and the story made the front page of the Times-Picayune. Links are below:


WWLtv: Construction begins on Lakefront lighthouse

WWL: Action Report: Lakefront lighthouse construction starting

Times-Picayune: New Canal Lighthouse at West End will rise again


Fox 8 Live: Ground broken for new Canal Lighthouse


WDSU: Groundbreaking To Bring Back Destroyed Canal Lighthouse(video)

MSNBC: Groundbreaking To Bring Back Destroyed Canal Lighthouse(text)

More Information at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation

More Information on the Jeld-wen Contest

More Stories on the Lighthouse on the HMS Architects Blog

More Information on the Lighthouse on the HMS website

New Basin Canal Lighthouse Contract Signed

The New Canal Basin Lighthouse is another step closer to construction, after the construction contract was publicly signed last Tuesday.

Local television station WWL-TV was in attendance to report on the signing. The written article and video  can be found at:
http://www.wwltv.com/news/Action-Report-Work-About-To-Start-on-Historic-Lakefront-Lighthouse-126185858.html



More Information on the Lighthouse
Article on the contract signing at wwltv.com
More info, and how to donate, at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation

New Canal Basin Lighthouse Museum and Education Center Is Still Raising Funds.

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation is still raising money to rebuild the New Canal Basin Lighthouse into a Museum & Educational Center on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.   Thanks to the public's support in online voting, the lighthouse won Jeld-Wen's competition for free windows and doors.   However, they're still looking for funding for the rest of the building, and are over halfway there!

Check out the fly-around video below:


More Information on the Lighthouse
More info, and how to donate, at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
More information on Jeld-wen's competition

HMS Converts to BIM

Since June, HMS has been pioneering the conversion to a Building Information Modeling System (BIM), which is replacing Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) as a drawing tool. This shift is comparable to the shift from hand-drafting to CAD, which brings with it added speed, efficiency, and accuracy to the client.



Whereas CAD is simply a computerized system of lines, BIM uses a fully modeled digital building, from which the lines of the drawings are derived automatically. This allows us to integrate traditional plans and sections with 3D views, with perspective views, even to sophisticated computer environmental simulation, and offer these to the client in a comparatively reduced timeframe.

It also can integrate with contractors, and estimators, during construction, and building operations after completion.

HMS is ahead of the curve in this transition, as we are the first company we know of in the area to convert to this new technology, and have been using it with several projects already.


More about the New Basin Canal Lighthouse, designed in BIM
More about the Andrew H Wilson School, rendered using BIM

HMS to right fallen icon

Lighthouse to rise higher than before, and you can help



HMS Architects is working with the Save the Lake Foundation and the US Coast Guard to bring back a historic treasure to the New Orleans lakefront. After being severely damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the lighthouse has been meticulously catalogued and a design for its stabilization and renovation are being studied by HMS. Careful planning is underway to save the lighthouse from further damage and restore it to its original glory. The Save the Lake Foundation will also have a new museum and wetlands educational center at the lighthouse site.

More about this project

New Canal Lighthouse Article Times Picayune
Vote for the lighthouse to recieve free windows and doors