A TEST IN CREATIVITY AND SKILL: SITE IN ST. LOUIS CHOSEN FOR 2006 ULI GERALD D. HINES STUDENT URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION

 

For more information, call Trisha Riggs at 202/624-7086 or 703/927-5357; or email: [email protected]

 

WASHINGTON (January 31, 2006) -- A 102-acre parcel in the city of St. Louis has been chosen as the site for the fourth annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, an ideas competition for university students created to honor the legacy of urban development pioneer Gerald D. Hines, chairman of the Hines real estate organization and a former laureate of the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.

 

The competition, now underway, is open to graduate students who are pursuing real estate-related studies at a North American university, including programs in real estate development, urban planning, urban design, architecture and landscape architecture. Through the competition, interdisciplinary teams of students have been challenged to offer a practical, workable scheme for the design and development of a 102-acre parcel that spans the proposed Chouteau Greenway. The parcel would act as a bridge connecting the northern and southern edges of Saint Louis University, serving the university's neighborhood as a point of entry into the greenway system, and to the multimodal transportation corridor that parallels the greenway.

 

Each team is required to design a master plan for the site and supply financial projections to support the master development plan. A $50,000 prize will be awarded to the winning team; and an additional $30,000 will be split among the remaining finalist teams. This year, applications were submitted from 93 teams comprised of more than 450 students representing 30 universities in the U.S. and Canada.

 

The ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition strives to encourage cooperation and teamwork -- necessary talents in the planning, design and development of great places -- among future land use professionals and allied professions, such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, engineering, real estate development, finance, psychology and law.

 

"This competition aims to give the next generation a better understanding of the challenges involved in urban design, and how the different elements -- such as various land uses, public areas, and traffic patterns -- all interact to influence how urban areas grow," said competition jury chairman John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer, General Growth Properties, Inc., in Chicago. "It's a major part of ULI's ongoing effort to draw the best and brightest young minds to our industry." 

 

The location of the 2006 competition site intersects with part of the proposed Chouteau Greenway, a development project spearheaded by McCormack Baron Salazar in St. Louis on behalf of a coalition of public and private sponsors in the city. It involves creating a greenway from Memorial Park on the Mississippi River westward to the city's 1,300-acre Forest Park, over a course set to include 195 acres of public space and 2,000 acres of mixed-use redeveloped space adjoining the greenway.

 

The potential for the Chouteau project to become a major city asset was initially recognized by Richard D. Baron, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of McCormack Baron Salazar, and, like Hines, a former laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize. "We are most excited that the ULI Hines competition has selected the Chouteau Lake and Greenway site and anticipate that the work product of these outstanding students will provide a great addition to the work that has already been done over the past few years," Baron said.

 

The Chouteau Greenway is being developed as a $400-million public-purpose project expected to include up to 10,000 units of housing along and adjoining its entire length upon completion, anticipated in seven years. The actual greenway will parallel existing railroad tracks and Interstate 64, which lead downtown and traverse several established neighborhoods. The Midtown neighborhood, centered along Grand Boulevard, contains the competition site, a light industrial zone along the boulevard that borders both the northern and southern sections of Saint Louis University's campus. The development challenge is to propose a series of projects that will connect the two portions of the campus, taking advantage of existing transit access points, and creating one of many entry points to the regional greenway system. In addition, students are charged with the task of connecting the university and various neighborhood institutions to proposed new residential and mixed-use developments, essentially weaving new and old developments to create a thriving neighborhood.     

 

"Saint Louis University has worked diligently to create a lush, urban campus, so we welcome the opportunity to be part of this prestigious design competition," said Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J. "Personally, as someone deeply committed to urban redevelopment, I am very eager to see the innovative designs created by this new generation of urban planners and architects."

 

The ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition has been funded in perpetuity through a $3 million endowment from Gerald Hines. A legend in the land use industry, he is widely known as a leader who pioneered the use of high-quality planning and architecture as a marketable feature of development in office, residential and mixed-use projects. "Real estate development is a very exciting, imaginative field. It involves many disciplines and interaction with so many parts of our world - finance, politics, science, psychology -- it affects the lives of so many people," Hines said. "Through this competition, we are raising awareness among the students of the key role high-quality urban design plays in creating not just beautiful buildings, but whole living environments."

 

Teams have received project briefing materials, including a comprehensive problem statement; background information on the site; market information; relevant existing design proposals; and other details, along with a list of requirements for team presentations. The competition is designed as an exercise; there is no guarantee nor intention that the students' plans will be implemented as part of any revitalization of the site.

 

Four finalist teams and up to four honorable mentions will be named on February 27, 2006. In the final stage of the competition, the student finalist teams will have the opportunity to expand their original schemes and respond in more detail. During this time, a member of each team will be brought to St. Louis, and they will have the opportunity to tour the site and revise their presentations. On March 31, 2006, finalist team members will present their schemes to the competition jury members during a public forum at SLU. The event will culminate with the announcement of the winning team.

 

Led by John Bucksbaum as chairman, the competition jury consists of renowned experts in urban development, planning and design: Denise A. Gammon, senior vice president, Forest City Development, Denver; Bill Hanway, managing principal, EDAW, Inc., London; Mark W. Johnson, president, Civitas, Inc., Denver; former Pittsburgh Mayor Thomas J. Murphy, Jr.; E. Staman Ogilvie, executive vice president, Hines Interests Limited Partnership, Houston; Evan Rose, principal, SMWM, San Francisco; and Thomas L. Safran, owner and president, Thomas Safran & Associates, Los Angeles.

 

The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Each year, the Institute recognizes extraordinary achievement in urban design and community building through the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. The prize, awarded to Hines in 2002 and to Baron in 2004, honors legendary Kansas City, Missouri, developer Jesse Clyde Nichols, a founding ULI member. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 28,500 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

 

For more information on the ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition, visit www.udcompetition.uli.org.

 

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Sigh.

Send them down here to save New Orleans instead.  :-(

 

On the flipside, one of the Baton Rouge TV stations on Monday mentioned that a group of middle schoolers was going to the (Primary school version?) of the Student Urban Design competition.  Of course their city design was New Orleans (if this was pre-katrina, they would of chose somewhere else).

HARVARD UNIVERSITY TEAM WINS 2006

ULI GERALD D. HINES STUDENT URBAN DESIGN COMPETITION

 

For more information, call Trisha Riggs at 202/624-7086 or email: [email protected]

 

WASHINGTON (April 5, 2006)  -- A plan drafted by a Harvard University team to redevelop a 100-acre former industrial site in St. Louis has been selected as the winning scheme in the fourth annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The team's entry was selected over plans submitted by other competition finalist teams from Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley and another team from Harvard University.

 

The graduate student teams, competing in a student ideas competition, were charged with master planning a parcel located between the northern and southern sections of Saint Louis University's campus. The competition site intersects with part of the proposed Chouteau Greenway, a $400 million multi-purpose project that will involve creating a greenway from Memorial Park on the Mississippi River westward to the city's 1,300-acre Forest Park, over a course set to include 195 acres of public space and 2,000 acres of mixed-use redeveloped space. The winning team was announced after the final round of the competition, which was held in St. Louis on March 31.

 

The ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition was created in 2002 to honor the legacy of urban development pioneer Gerald D. Hines, chairman of the Hines real estate organization and the 2002 recipient of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. The competition is open to graduate students who are pursuing real estate-related studies at a North American university, including programs in real estate development, city planning, urban design, architecture and landscape architecture.

 

As the winner, the interdisciplinary Harvard team was awarded a $50,000 prize. Team members were Thomas Hussey (Master of Architecture in Urban Design); Christina Cambruzzi (Master of Urban Planning); Oliver Corlette (Master of Business Administration); Patrick Curran (Master of Landscape Architecture II); and Tyler Meyr (Master of Architecture in Urban Design). The three remaining finalist teams each received $10,000. The competition is designed as an exercise; there is no guarantee that the students' plans will be implemented as part of any revitalization of the site.

 

The potential for the Chouteau project to become a major city asset was initially recognized by Richard D. Baron, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of McCormack Baron Salazar, and, like Hines, a former laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize. The greenway project is expected to generate up to 10,000 units of housing along and adjoining its entire length upon completion, anticipated in seven years. The actual greenway will parallel existing railroad tracks and Interstate 64, which lead downtown and traverse several established neighborhoods.

 

The Midtown neighborhood, centered along Grand Boulevard, contains the 100-acre competition site, in a light industrial zone along the boulevard between the northern and southern sections of Saint Louis University's campus. The development challenge for the students was to propose a master plan for an economically-sustainable mixed-use development that would connect the two portions of the campus, adding at least 1,000 units of affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing, taking advantage of existing transit access points, and creating one of many entry points to the regional greenway system.

 

The winning redevelopment plan, "Bridging Innovation at Grand Crossing," proposed to leverage the east-west intracity connections made possible by Chouteau Greenway by creating a north-south "academic spine" along the Grand Boulevard bridge. An urban northern edge and a biotech-oriented southern edge would unite the Saint Louis University campus around a mixed-use node where academics, biotechnology, transit, recreation, commercial, and residential activities could concentrate. "This hotbed of life science research, academia, and innovation stimulates economic development and provides numerous public and community benefits," stated the plan. 

Jury members commended the winning team for its use of the greenway as both a tool for economic development as well as a recreational amenity, and for designing a scheme that ensured connectivity to the surrounding neighborhoods. The jury was also impressed with the plan's proposal to narrow Grand Avenue to slow vehicular traffic and make the area more pedestrian-friendly.   

Plans from the other three teams were:

 

* "Aurora," from another Harvard University team, which proposed the creation of a biotech research, development, and entrepreneurial center that represents Saint Louis University's interface with the local biotech industry. It accepted the commercial corridors of Grand Boulevard, Chouteau Avenue, and Forest Park Boulevard, filled the interior of the blocks with appropriate uses, and established a symbiotic relationship with the Greenway.

 

* "Weave," from the University of California, Berkeley, which proposed an urban prototype for St. Louis that rejects the creation of a specific-use redevelopment district and instead introduces explicit north-south connections throughout the site that weaves it into the communities to its north and south. While the Chouteau Greenway is the major east-west cross-weave, smaller strips of green space would weave through the site, eventually connecting with the Greenway. Reinforcing the vision of a community developed around transit and other urban amenities would be a magnet school in close proximity to Saint Louis University and the Armory, with the Armory redeveloped as a performing arts center.

 

* "+20," from Columbia University, which introduced a skywalk system that connects Saint Louis University's Frost campus with its health sciences center. The skywalk allows pedestrians to move from one end of the university campus to the other without interference from vehicular and freight traffic, and draws student activities into the project area, where they can be shared by the academic and medical communities. At the landscape level, environmental strategies create open and green spaces, and site edges blend discreetly into the surrounding community.

 

All the schemes demonstrated impressive levels of creativity and innovation, noted Jury Chairman John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth Properties, Inc., in Chicago. "These plans reflect a tremendous amount of talent," he said. "All of you have a lot to look forward to in your careers. You have great futures ahead," Bucksbaum told the students.

In addition to Bucksbaum, other members of the jury - all renowned real estate development, urban planning and design experts -- were Edward A. Feiner, director of operations, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Washington, D.C.; Denise A. Gammon, senior vice president, Forest City Development, Denver; Mark W. Johnson, president, Civitas, Inc., Denver; former Pittsburgh Mayor Thomas J. Murphy, Jr.; E. Staman Ogilvie, executive vice president, Hines Interests Limited Partnership, Houston; Evan Rose, principal, SMWM, San Francisco; and Thomas L. Safran, president, Thomas Safran & Associates, Los Angeles.

The four finalists were chosen from 81 teams comprised of more than 400 students representing 30 universities in the U.S. and Canada. Seven team entries were previously selected for honorable mentions: "Synergy in Plan," from the University of California, Berkeley; "{photo}SYNTHESIS," the University of Pennsylvania; "Connegration," the University of Illinois; "Vision Grand: A Village in the City," the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo; "Grand Street Gateway," the University of Pennsylvania; "Mill Creek Square," University of Southern California; and "University Commons," University of Texas, Austin.

 

"For me, the lesson coming out of this is the emphasis on collaboration in the design process," said landscape architecture student Patrick Curran, a member of the winning team. The competition was a great way to experience "working on the same level" with others to see a project through to completion, he said.

 

Added team member Christina Cambruzzi, who is studying urban planning: "I learned more during this time (participating in the competition) than I have during my entire time in the program. The chance to work on an interdisciplinary team is a unique opportunity." 

 

The ULI Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition has been funded in perpetuity with a $3 million endowment from Gerald Hines. Hines is widely known as an industry leader who pioneered the use of high-quality planning and architecture as a marketable feature of development in office, residential and mixed-use projects across the United States and in 13 foreign countries. "The work by these outstanding students convinces me that the future of

our built environment is in good hands," Hines said.

 

For more information on the competition, visit www.udcompetition.uli.org. 

 

The Urban Land Institute (http://t.media-bytes.com/a/6760/b/13794/c/28658/d/1/e/1/u/352908965is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance the total environment. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 30,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

 

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This thread made me mad all over again at the stupid unstable riverview hillside.  That award-winning scheme had some serious transformative potential.