for retro-fitting several historic buildings with functional designs. He designed the Res Nova Gallery on the site of a former tobacco warehouse in the Warehouse District some 20 years ago. That contemporary art gallery has since moved to New York City. He also worked for several years in New York with internationally acclaimed sculptor Keith Sonnier.<\/span><\/p>\nA native of New Orleans, Bienn graduated from Alcee Fortier Sr. High School before enrolling at the School of Architecture at Tulane University. Following the fall of the former Soviet Union, Bienn, who was fluent in Russian,\u00a0 lived and worked for nearly a decade in St. Petersburg. It was there he met and married his first wife, Natalia Salop. The couple later had a son. <\/span><\/p>\nBienn was a proponent of green housing and was credited for many of his innovative and contemporary modular designs.\u00a0 Following the breakup of his marriage, he returned from Russia in 2005 after the flooding associated with Hurricane Katrina. He dedicated himself to helping to rebuild the city, but still made frequent trips to Russia to see his son and ex-wife. Bienn met his second wife, Angelica Verkeenko, in 2005 in St. Petersburg. She moved to the United States in 2009 and the two were married in 2011.
\n<\/span><\/p>\nBienn is survived by his wife and his son, Elijah Bienn of St. Petersburg, Russia, by his brother, Brian Bienn, and two sisters Mary Jumonville and Jane Vadem.<\/p>\n
A funeral service was conducted on Wednesday, July 29, \u00a0at 11:00 a.m. at\u00a0Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home<\/a>\u00a0by Rabbi Robert Loewy of Congregation Gates of Prayer. Internment followed the service at Gates of Prayer Cemetery, 1411 Joseph Street. For more information call 504-835-2341.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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