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The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has selected six finalists for the 2015 Urban Open Space Award competition, which recognizes public spaces that benefit and revitalize their surrounding communities. This was the first year that ULI expanded the program to include global submissions.
“The submissions from this year are representative of how quality urban open space has become more than just an amenity for cities,” said jury chair Michael Covarrubias. “The international diversity of the projects is reflective of how developers continually work to meet global demand by the public for the inclusion of healthy places in cities.” See all of the finalists after the break.
Marina Bay; Singapore/Singapore/Urban Redevelopment Authority
The 3.5km long waterfront promenade features two pedestrian bridges that encircles a 48ha waterbody. It generates a ‘water piazza’, that becomes a meeting place and focal point for celebrations and activities.
Millennium Park; Chicago, Illinois, USA/Edward Uhlir, FAIA, et al
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The park represents a model for successful regeneration right at the urban core providing a place for Chicagoans and tourists to enjoy a broad variety of free public events through an engaging community experience.
Myriad Gardens; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA/The Office of James Burnett
A joint investment effort takes a highly-underused yet prime 15-acre urban downtown garden and park site that had fallen into disrepair, and turns it into a state-of-the-art, highly active destination to improve the quality of life in Oklahoma City and continue the renaissance of the entire downtown.
Thousand Lantern Lake Park System; Foshan, GuangDong, China/SWA Group et al
The park system represents a defining infrastructural effort that is integral to Nanhai’s strategic approach of urban transformation with a successful, people-oriented urban development that provides creative solutions for attracting people to its newly constructed Guangdong Financial High-tech Industrial Zone.
Tongva Park and Ken Genser Square; Santa Monica, California, USA/James Corner Field Operations
The project embodies a new type of urban landscape that is active, innovative, resource-conscious, and natural. Shaped by extensive public participation, the design creates a contemporary and transformative series of gardens and active spaces that symbolically redefine and interconnect the center of Santa Monica.
Washington Canal Park; Washington DC, USA/OLIN and STUDIOS Architecture, dcpc
One of the first parks built as part of the District's Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, the park is located on 3 acres of a former parking lot for district school buses, and has been transformed into a model of sustainability, a social gathering place, and an economic trigger for the surrounding neighborhood.
Jury:
- Chair: Michael Covarrubias, TMG Partners
- Vice-Chair: M. Leanne Lachman, Lachman Associates
- Terrall Vern Budge, Loci
- Dr. Sujata S. Govada, UDP International
- Jason Hellendrung, Sasaki Associates
- Sophie Henley-Price, STUDIOS
- Lance K. Josal, Callison RTKL
- Jeff Kingsbury, Greenstreet Ltd.
- Jacinta McCann, AECOM
- Steve Navarro, CBRE
- Trini M. Rodriguez, ParkerRodriguez, Inc.
The winning project will be announced between October 5-8, 2015 at the ULI Fall Meeting. The individual or organization most responsible for the creation of the winning project will receive a $10,000 cash prize. The award was created by Amanda M. Burden, former New York City Planning Commissioner, and continued in 2011 by the Kresge Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and the ULI Foundation.
Project descriptions and news via Urban Land Institute
