RDA’s 2015 Hometown Tours invite the curious and intrepid to explore the layers of history embedded in the architectural styles and culinary legacies of New Orleans and French towns Lyon, Marseille, and Bordeaux this spring and summer.
The first tour, The Big Easy and Beyond: New Orleans, Algiers, and the Great River Road, spans April 16-19, 2015. As with all RDA Hometown Tours, local guides will show off those places you can’t find without an intimate knowledge of the city. Architectural historian Stephen Fox will provide unmatched insight, context, and depth of understanding of the region’s architectural styles and characteristics. The tour will feature walks through the recovering Lower Ninth Ward and bustling French Quarter, where guests will stop for brunch. A ferry ride across the Mississippi River to experience Algiers and a drive up the Great River Road to encounter nineteenth-century Creole plantation houses are also scheduled. The price of this tour begins at $2,100 per person, excluding airfare.
The second tour, After Paris: A Tale of Three Cities, departs May 30 through June 8. Fox, as well as Rice School of Architecture professor and RSA Paris satellite campus director John Casbarian, are the guides. Among the many planned destinations are contemporary buildings by Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano in Lyon, Zaha Hadid and Stefano Boeri in Marseille, and Anna Lacaton and Herzog & de Meuron in Bordeaux. Also scheduled are a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse into the rarely opened OMA/Rem Koolhaas residence, Maison Lemoine, and a tour of the Unité d’Habitation and three other buildings by Modernist master Le Corbusier. After Paris will also include a winery tour and conclude with a meal at the Michelin-starred Château Cordeillan-Bages. The price for this tour begins at $5,200 per person, excluding airfare.
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