How should we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings?

Green Community International Student Design Competition

July / August 2009 National Building Museum Online

 

Imagine our future cities. What will they look like? How will designers create sustainable communities that encourage a dense urban fabric, walkable neighborhoods, and food production centers located at the heart of our cities? This was the question put to the next generation of architects, planners, and landscape architects in an exciting collaboration between the National Building Museum, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), and McGraw-Hill Construction.

Inspired by the Museum's Green Community exhibition that explores the past, present, and future of sustainable towns and cities, students were asked to locate a site in their community or region, identify the barriers and strengths to living sustainably, and develop a proposal to improve ways to create a flourishing and sustainable community using the tools of the environmental design disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Students were expected to brainstorm in a team environment. "We encouraged students to think about sustainability as it relates to their community, but it was done in a collaborative fashion—one that breaks down the barriers between disciplines, and that mimics what is happening in the field right now," explained Scott Kratz, the Museum's vice president for education.  

The competition entries were submitted by more than 1,300 students and 200 faculty members from around the world, including universities in Buenos Aires, Moscow, and Tel Aviv. In early June, jurors Ivan Harbour, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Robert Ivy, of McGraw-Hill/Architectural Record; Rachelle Levitt, Urban Land Institute; and Harry Van Oudenallen, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, gathered at ACSA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to select three winners and two honorable mentions, and also award nine project citations.

The three winners' project boards will be on display at the Museum beginning July 20th and they will be honored at an event on July 28th at the National Building Museum followed by a presentation by lead juror Ivan Harbour. Register for this FREE event.

First prize was awarded to Dylan Barlow, Kyle Belcher, and Geoffrey Gregory, students at the California College of the Arts for their "Urban Reef" project which re-imagined a San Francisco pier to include housing, energy generation, and food production. Jurors remarked that their entry "married a big idea directly related to the topic with an architectural solution [and] deals expressly with how to deal with high-rise density."

Second place went to Cornell University students Chris Hardy, Tomoki Takebayashi, Chris Gruber, and Rachel Kunreuther for their entry "edgEcology: Change the Edges, Change the City".  Their work aimed to revitalize the Lake Erie waterfront and carefully considered future growth patterns.

Third place was awarded to "Urban Green Community: Revitalizing the South Nebraska District" plan developed by University of South Florida students Amalia Barnis and Kirsten Dahlquist. This plan created a series of connected neighborhoods and promoted walkability while still protecting the local river's ecosystem.

Winners receive a cash award and a feature in a fall issue of Architectural Record. See all the winning entries on the ACSA website. 


 

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