The 2013 ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition announced finalists last week, and again once again a team from the GSD is on the list. James Cody Birkey (MDesS), Robert Daurio (MArch), Maynard Hayden Leon (MArch), Cara Walsh (MLA) and Andrew Wisniewski (MLA), advised by Anita Berrizbeitia (professor of landscape architecture and director of the master in landscape architecture degree programs), created Connec+ Minneapolis, a long term development plan for the Downtown East neighborhood.
By remaking the existing desolate car corridors into inviting, active, and walkable thoroughfares, the plan integrates 3 already vibrant areas: downtown to the west, the up-and-coming Mill District to the north, and the new Viking Stadium development to the east. The lynchpin is the transformation of Portland Avenue into a linear park connecting existing trails along the river to the reinvented Armory District. Adaptive reuse of the Armory as a microbrewery and food emporium will serve crowds of fans on game days and local residents the rest of the year.
Finalists were selected from 149 teams representing 70 universities in US and Canada. Last year’s first prize went to a joint team from the GSD and the University of Colorado for the entry “Bayou Commons.” This year’s finalists will present their schemes to the jury, which includes Gerdo Aquino (MLA ’96), in a public forum in Minneapolis in April.
Read the competition press release and learn more about the Connec+Minneapolis proposal.