URBANbuild is a yearlong design/ build studio at the Tulane School of Architecture, which allows students the chance to work with an outside partner and see a project through from conception to construction. The first seven iterations of URBANbuild were single family homes that were designed in the first semester and constructed in the second in partnership with the Neighbor- hood Services of New Orleans and the Make it Right Founda- tion. URBANbuild 8 allowed for a different opportunity to work with Harmony Neighborhood Development. Students in the fall developed a multiphase building strategy, including residential, commercial, and a “temporary” micro commercial intervention.

     The micro intervention of URBAN- build 8 consists of 6 one-room “pods”, each individually leasable to a local vendor for a nominal fee. The pods act as commercial units for micro businesses that we observed around the neighbor- hood during initial design. The pods are built on tracks to permit flexibility on site, which allows for the pods to be arranged in different arrangements varying from scattered for a market or along the street edge to resemble storefronts. Benches, lighting, and electrical outlets are built into

the site.
     URBANbuild 8 exists as a proto- type for future intervention in New Orleans. The market exists as a space that foreshadows further development in the future.