PITTSBURGH, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- An underutilized parcel of commercial
property in Pittsburgh's Strip District has been chosen as the site for the
second annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design
Competition, an ideas competition for graduate students created to honor the
legacy of urban development pioneer Gerald D. Hines, chairman of the Hines
real estate organization and 2002 laureate of the Urban Land Institute J.C.
Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
The competition, now underway, was made available 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. Through the competition,
interdisciplinary teams of students are being challenged to offer practical,
workable solutions for the revitalization of the Strip District site. A
$50,000 prize will be awarded to the winning team; and an additional $30,000
will be split among three remaining finalist teams.
The competition site covers more than 57 acres adjacent to the Allegheny
River, extending from 11th Street at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center
to 21st Street; its southern border is Smallman Street. It is the last
undeveloped parcel in the Strip District, a former warehouse district
transformed into a thriving commercial district of wholesale and retail food
markets, restaurants and nightclubs. Overlying the commercial activity is the
Strip District's traditional use as Pittsburgh's transportation hub, and a
number of transit infrastructure improvements are planned.
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 development, and how all the different elements -- various land uses,
public areas, traffic patterns -- interact to influence how urban areas grow,"
said ULI President Richard M. Rosan. "This is a real site, with real
potential, and we'll be looking for practicable, innovative solutions that
reflect responsible land use," he said.
"I am honored that the Urban Land Institute has chosen Pittsburgh as the
host city for the prestigious 2004 ULI Gerald D. Hines Urban Design
Competition. I am looking forward to seeing the many innovative and creative
designs that come from this project, and how the participants will showcase
the Strip District and the City of Pittsburgh. I am also excited about the
possibility of implementing one or more of the ideas that come from this
competition," said Mayor Tom Murphy, City of Pittsburgh.
The competition site, most of it owned by the Buncher Corporation,
occupies the former rail beds of the defunct Pennsylvania Railroad.
Currently, it is used as satellite parking space for downtown office workers
and convention center functions. Next to the site is an office building, a
rail yard shed (considered to be historic), and a warehouse building; nearby
is the former Armstrong Cork Factory, planned for redevelopment as a
residential rental project. Across the river are low- and mid-rise office
buildings and multifamily residential buildings, and Washington's Landing, an
island with mixed-use development, is less than quarter of a mile away. Two
vehicular bridges and one railway bridge pass over the site.
The parcel was identified as a competition site by ULI member Donald K.
Carter, president of Urban Design Associates in Pittsburgh. "The challenge in
redeveloping the competition site is how to support new growth in the Strip
District while respecting and preserving the district's unique character,"
Carter said.
The ULI Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition is funded by Gerald Hines
and ULI. The competition was established in 2002 following the selection of
Hines as the recipient of the Urban Land Institute J.C. Nichols Prize for
Visionaries in Urban Development. 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.
"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 -- and it affects the lives of so many
people," Hines said. "Through this competition, we hope to raise awareness
among students of the key role high-quality urban design can plan in today's
world."
Sixty-two teams from 25 universities across the United States have applied
to participate in the urban design competition; nine have at least one team
member from outside the sponsoring university, creating a partnership between
two institutions. 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 materials required for team presentations.
Four finalist teams and up to four honorable mentions will be named by
February 20. In the final phase of the competition, from February 20 to March
26, 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 Pittsburgh, with expenses paid, and they will
have the opportunity to tour the site and refine their presentations. On
March 26, finalist team members will, at ULI's expense, present their programs
to the competition jury members during a public forum in Pittsburgh, which
will also be attended by other students and guests from the public and private
sectors. The forum will culminate with the announcement of the winning team.
The ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition is part of the
ULI's ongoing efforts to raise interest among students in creating better
communities, improving development patterns, and increasing awareness of the
need for multidisciplinary solutions to development and design challenges.
"The competition helps set the stage for attracting the best and brightest
young minds to our industry," said Jury Chairman Joseph Brown, FASLA,
president and chief executive officer of EDAW in San Francisco. "We are
offering students the opportunity to mix creativity with functionality, giving
them experience to draw upon in shaping the communities of the future."
In addition to Brown, the competition jury consists of renowned real
estate development, urban planning and design experts: Andrew Altman,
director, District of Columbia Office of Planning, Washington, D.C.; Fred W.
Clarke, FAIA, co-founding principal of Cesar Pelli and Associates in New
Haven, Ct.; Michael Dobbins, FAIA, architect and planner, Atlanta; Bonnie
Fisher, principal, ROMA Design Group, San Francisco; Kenneth Hughes,
president, Kenneth H. Hughes, Inc., Dallas; Charles R. Kendrick, Jr., managing
director, Clarion Ventures, Boston; and Marilyn Taylor, FAIA, chairman and
partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, New York City.
For more information on the competition, visit http://www.udcompetition.uli.org.
An online video documentary of the 2003 competition is available at
http://udcompetition.uli.org/ud_00_I.html.
The Urban Land Institute 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. Established in
1936, the Institute has more than 20,000 members representing all aspects of
land use and development disciplines.
SOURCE Urban Land Institute
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Related links:
http://www.uli.org
http://www.udcompetition.uli.org
http://udcompetition.uli.org/ud_00_I.html
CONTACT:
Trisha Riggs of the Urban Land Institute,
+1-202-624-7086, or priggs@uli.org
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