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Wednesday, 8 February 2006 | Elif Sungur
Urban-open
urban-open is a two-phase, open international design competition for the design of a indoor/outdoor facility in Chicago's economically challenged East Garfield Park neighborhood. The winning entry will illustrate a design that has intergenerational appeal, enhances the residents' daily quality of life, and can stimulate and contain a variety of cultural events.
The neighborhood is located along Chicago's newly dedicated "Green Corridor" which is bounded by two pivotal landmarks: the Garfield Park Conservatory at the west and the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT) at the east. The neighborhood has been identified in the City of Chicago/Local Initiatives Support Council (LISC) New Communities Program.
The connection between Chicago's legacies of community-based initiatives, historic architecture and environmental/energy efficient development makes East Garfield Park the ideal location for designs that this competition will generate.
The site is owned by The Bethany Brethren Community Center, a neighborhood-based community organization that currently operates an intergenerational facility at the location. The first phase of the competition will solicit designs for an indoor/outdoor public space specific to this community organization. Entries will be judged based on successful alignment with the legacies listed above as well as its outlining of creative strategies to involve the community in the development of the design and construction.
The second phase will partner the winning designer with the community. Through community workshops, the winning designer will engage neighborhood organizations, residents, local developers and businesses to develop the design based on their input, needs and interests. The competition partners will facilitate the workshops and provide resources, manpower and additional support to successfully construct the resulting design.
Judging Criteria
The competition seeks creative and diverse designs that will address the following programmatic criteria specific to the Bethany Brethren Community Center:
Provide opportunities for the youth program participants
Connect social service programming with innovative use of outdoor urban space
Increase community gardening activities at an intergenerational level
Create a gathering place for seniors in the neighborhood.
Additionally, the proposals are to engage the site in a dialogue with the Neighborhood and the City by providing:
Community Enhancement features to:
Promote Neighborhood culture
Provide a creative outlet for public and local arts
Host a variety of community events
Provide opportunities for economic development for local residents
Quality of life elements to:
Provide a safe environment
Support and promote the holistic health and well being of the community and residents
Promote human activity and interaction on a daily basis
Weave site into the surrounding landscape to enliven the overall neighborhood experience.
Intergenerational facets that:
Accommodate and provide universal access to people of all ages
Support community based mentoring programs
Expand opportunities for creative interaction between youth and senior citizens
Green strategies that:
Stimulate a "green revolution" in the neighborhood
Allow for the site to sustain itself
Educate residents about the broad range of benefits of greening
Demonstrate 6 features that reinforce human connections to nature, climate, community and context.
Legacy initiatives that:
Honor Chicago's commitment to sustainability and community development
Engage with the "green revolution" in the neighborhood by providing a "seed" for future greening.
Create an iconic presence in the neighborhood representing the vision and goals of the community.
The competition's primary mission is the development of a strategy for reinvigorating East Garfield Park and creating a public place where families can gather, interact and recreate. We encourage competitors to provide the most forward thinking, compelling and speculative solutions. All inventive programmatic ideas will be considered.
The designs are to address the following criteria:
Design of a public space to respond to the needs of the Bethany Brethren Community Center, including individual plots for gardeners and an intergenerational recreation area.
Reflect the ambience, quality of life, and culture of the neighborhood and develop innovative ideas for recreation and other public uses in harmony with the day-to-day life of residents.
Consider the relationship of the site to the flanking landmarks (Garfield Park Conservatory and CCGT) and the need for enhanced connections between the site, the business district and residential areas.
Ideas on how to develop the organizational capacity of the neighborhood to commit and invest in the ongoing "greening" of their community.
Special consideration is to be given to the following:
Processes to partner community residents with the artist/architect/designer for future development of the design. Proposals must include strategies to solicit neighborhood participation in both the design and implementation phase.
Feasibility to employ residents and community members to build portions of the project.
Sustainable initiatives in the design of the space, including but not limited to site strategies, use of locally available and renewable materials, energy efficiency, innovative water technologies, durability and ease of maintenance.
Excellence in Design
Visionary ideas to create a vibrant community and enrich the beauty and charm of the neighborhood.
Imaginative, sculptural and visually stimulating designs that delight the senses.
Innovative and forward thinking solutions to explore the diverse connections between buildings, landscape, community and the arts.
Leadership in Sustainability
Green strategies as a holistic approach to design looking at all factors of human and natural activity
Success of design in exploring human connections to nature, climate, community and context
Use of materials that are local and durable
Education and investment value to the community
Investment in Community
Framework for community participation and ideas
Accountability to community budget
Involvement of community members in construction
Quality of Presentation
Aesthetically pleasing, graphically stimulating presentation
Legibility and clarity in expression of ideas and concepts
Success in arousing interest in the community at large
Construction Budget
It is hoped that materials and labor can be donated, however for the purpose of the competition, the budget is $50,000. This budget is based on prior project experience. We definitely intend to construct the project at the end of Phase 2.
For more information, please visit http://www.urban-open.org
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