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Friday, 23 December 2005 | Elif Sungur
4 Corners Architectural Design Competition
The Four Corners Competition is classified as a non-commissioned architectural/urban design ideas competition. It is open to entrants from the U. S. and abroad. Entries will be juried in two fashions: by a traditional closed jury of expert professionals, followed by an open public exposition of all the entries at which attendees may vote for their choice. Cash awards will be given to the winners in each category.
The competition study area, lies between the city's vibrant central entertainment and retail spine - known as "Fifth Avenue South" - on the West, and a planned major retail, office and residential development on the East, currently known as Grand Central Station. This development is expected to be equally as vibrant as Fifth Avenue South. This competition has been mounted to discover exciting ways to link these two focal areas, joining them into a new and grander Naples downtown. The competition also seeks to discover attractive ways to link this new enhanced core area to several other adjacent attractive areas.
The character of the designs submitted in this competition will be critically important. The City of Naples has long been recognized as one of the most attractive locations in Florida. Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Naples has attracted an upscale population of around 22,000 year-round residents and an additional 16,000 seasonal residents. The city also serves as the hub of a vast metropolitan community of around 250,000. Naples' extraordinarily sophisticated, green ambiance is exemplified in the photos displayed in this website. Residents and civic leaders alike are determined to safeguard this character, and to see it enhanced within the competition study area.
This competition represents a major element in the effort to enhance the character of the city's core as it matures. The competition is an outgrowth of two earlier efforts. The first of these was a charrette conducted in 2003 by urban design faculty and professional graduate students from the University of South Florida, and involving a broad spectrum of local officials and concerned residents. The study culminated in a proposed plan for the rapidly developing corridor extending eastward from the heart of the city to the Gordon River and beyond. The full USF study can be downloaded in .pdf format in this section of this website. (see below) Following up on the charrette earlier this year was a workshop conducted by city officials to elicit from the public ideas for development of the "Four Corners" area. They reflect a concern not only for the properties immediately across U.S. 41 from Fifth Avenue South, but also for the rapidly developing area between that location and the Gordon River, some three blocks to the east.
The name "Four Corners", incidentally, is what many Neapolitans call the intersection where U.S, 41 joins Fifth Avenue South, and turns to the east. It is really the central focal point of the city. Ninth Street, which continues southward from the intersection, defines a major gateway into "Old Naples", a somewhat prestigious residential and historical inner city community. U.S.41 is the main traffic spine of the city and carries heavy traffic. The elbow where it makes its right angle turn creates something of a barrier to eastward expansion of the ambiance and vibrance of Fifth Avenue South - especially for pedestrians. Finding ways to overcome this barrier, as will be seen, is a primary objective of the competition. A number of ideas for achieving this emerged from the workshop. These included the creation of a U.S.41 bypass around the downtown area, thus perhaps permitting a reduction of traffic lanes; creation of a one way traffic loop in the downtown area; a pedestrian overpass; and creation of an all-ways stop signalization at the intersection to facilitate pedestrian cross traffic. Final determination of a means for dealing with this problem will involve lengthy and detailed consultation with the Florida Department of Transportation, which maintains primary responsibility for any changes to Federal highways. This effort remains in the future. However competitor's views concerning methods for dealing with this problem should be considered a part of designs to be submitted in this competition.
February 24, 2006 Registration Deadline
March 1, 2006 Submission Deadline
March 4, 2006 Jury for Competition Submissions
March 22-25, 2006 Public Art Display (Voting for People's Choice)
March 25, 2006 Awards Reception
For more information, please visit http://www.aiaflasw.org/
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