University of Colorado Beats Harvard, Columbia University and University of Texas-Austin in 2005 ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition

WASHINGTON (April 4, 2005) — A redevelopment plan for a portion of the Magna Township in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley, presented by a team representing the University of Colorado, has been selected as the winning scheme in the third annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. Colorado’s entry was selected over plans submitted by other competition finalist teams from Columbia University, Harvard University, and the University of Texas-Austin.

The graduate student teams, competing in a student ideas competition, were charged with master planning one of two development sites outside of Salt Lake City. The winning team was announced following the final round of the competition, which was held in that city on April 1.

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 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 Colorado team was awarded a $50,000 prize. Team members were Thomas Magloczki (team leader), Nathan Abbott, Blake Belanger, Blake Church, and Chip Radebaugh. 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.

Unlike the two previous competitions, which focused on a single site, this year’s competition involved selecting one of two sites; both are owned partly by Kennecott Land and are located at the northern end of the company’s holdings in Salt Lake Valley. The students were allowed to choose between a 2,208-acre portion of Magna Township in Salt Lake County, and an undeveloped site, known as the Northwest Planning Area, which comprises 2,002 acres and is in the jurisdiction of Salt Lake City. Students were asked to offer master plans that show innovation in smart growth in suburban locations—a recent focus of ULI’s smart growth efforts.

The competition site of Magna includes developable and undevelopable areas. The developable component includes both Main Street, currently owned by several entities, and undeveloped land, owned by Kennecott Land. Main Street, the township’s underutilized commercial and civic focal point, was defined for the competition as a 100-acre area one block north and one block south of 2700 South. The Northwest Planning Area site stretches south of Interstate 80 and east of the impoundment berm encircling Tailings Pond. It is a completely undeveloped site.

Colorado’s scheme, “Emergence Magna,” focused on the redevelopment of that township because the team felt that the revival and enhancement of an existing area was more critical than developing a new community in the Northwest Planning Area, explained the team members. In the first phase, Emergence Magna addresses two goals: to provide a fiscally responsible catalyst to Magna’s emerging Main Street, and to capture jobs and sales revenues leaking from the region. Through selective renovation and infill along Main Street, the scheme creates opportunities for third parties to respond to the changing influences of place over time: market demands, environmental concerns, and evolving community needs. The team sought to “create a canvas for growth” with a plan for a construction of a new entertainment district, a cultural center and other civic buildings, new housing, historic preservation of some existing properties, and an ample open space and a park system to connect the existing neighborhoods to new ones,” said team member Radebaugh. “We wanted to blend the old with the new, to give a sense (to the existing community) that ‘we’re all in this together,’” Radebaugh said. Added team member Church: “We view the commitment to this community as multi-generational.”

The Colorado team’s plan represented an “evolutionary strategy” backed by a “resourceful business plan,” said Jury Chairman Joseph E. Brown, president and chief executive officer of EDAW, Inc. in San Francisco. He commended the Colorado team for presenting a bold proposal including clear plans for transportation options to support the anticipated growth.

In addition to Brown, other members of the jury—all renowned real estate development, architecture, urban planning and design experts—were Denise Gammon, senior vice president for development, Forest City Stapleton, Denver; Con Howe, director of planning, City of Los Angeles; Charles R. Kendrick, Jr., managing director, Clarion Ventures, LLC, Boston; A. Eugene Kohn, FAIA, president, Kohn Pedersen Fox, New York City; Todd W. Mansfield, chief executive officer, Crosland Inc., Charlotte, N.C.; Patrick L. Phillips, president, Economics Research Associates, Washington, D.C.; and Marilyn Taylor, FAIA, partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, New York City.

Plans from the other three teams were:

“Tail’s End” from Columbia University: (Northwest Planning Area)
“Tail’s End” established a regional scale open space framework that capitalizes on existing site potential, treats water as an honored resource, redefines infrastructure to generate investor benefits, and redistributes ecological resources within the region at large. The plan delineated four locations that capitalize on specific ecological, commercial, and educational networks found in the Salt Lake Valley. It offered an open exchange parkland network; siting of civic institutions near neighborhood parks; diverse housing; and plantings, solar panels, and water-capture infrastructure. .

“Seeden” from Harvard University: (Northwest Planning Area)
“Seeden” represented a critique of the new urbanism, which in practice often uses green space as a barrier between suburban developments and locates town centers at the perimeter to capture adjacent established markets. While aligning with the new urbanism’s core values, Seeden proposed a typological departure by emphasizing connectivity, transparency, and porosity in its master plan for the Northwest Planning Area, using green spaces as a connector and a central downtown as a neighborhood and regional center. Seeden attempted to anticipate regional growth and “seed” likeminded development.

“Community, Culture, Conservation” from the University of Texas—Austin: (Magna) “Community, Culture, Conservation” served as the rubrics providing organizing principles for this Magna master plan. As an established community with Main Street as its cultural center, Magna’s redevelopment was presented as occurring within a unique environmental setting that, through conservation measures, would support growth with a matrix of increased residential density and diversity, open space networks, symbiosis with an integrated ecosystem, and strategic economic growth along diversified transportation arteries.

All the schemes were both buildable and innovative, noted jury member Phillips. “Real estate development is often driven toward conventional solutions. But, you have explored creative solutions that move beyond the clichés, while staying within the realm of possibilities,” he told the students.

The students ensured that the individual portions of each plan fit with and carried out an overall idea for community growth, noted jury member Taylor. “In each (scheme), we saw a commitment to a framework, not a grid,” she said.

Jury member Kendrick pointed out that the teams’ plans reflect a clear understanding by the students of the interdisciplinary nature of today’s land use development industry. “You have demonstrated that doing these kinds of projects is a multi-disciplinary business, and (by working in this manner) you’ll be way ahead of the competition as you go down the road,” he said to the students.

The four finalists’ entries were selected from 72 submissions sent from 25 universities across the United States. Four team entries were previously selected for honorable mentions: “Sustainable Roots,” from the Georgia Institute of Technology; “Trading Places,” from Harvard University; “Reclaiming the Edge,” also from Harvard University; and “New Magna,” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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.