A joint team of graduate students representing Kansas State University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the University of Kansas has been selected by the Urban Land Institute as the winner of the 2013 Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The team took the $50,000 top prize for their proposed long-term development plan for a downtown Minneapolis site adjacent to the new Minnesota Vikings Stadium location.
The competition challenged interdisciplinary student teams to create a practical and workable scheme for a section of Downtown East. The competition was based on a hypothetical scenario in which two property owners had entered into an agreement in which they evaluated the benefits and financial possibilities of combining their parcels.
The winning proposal — titled “The Armory” — tackles city and local stakeholders’ desire to reinvent Downtown East as interest builds in anticipation of the new stadium. The design provides a new vision for the area that transforms a rigid, undesirable economic condition of surface parking and billboards into a dynamic, livable urban district. In this proposal, the Armory — currently an underused historic structure — becomes the symbol of identity and place for this revitalized area. Armory Green emerges as the city’s first iconic open space that integrates the Armory building, the Skyway system, a subterranean parking ramp, and a distinct retail experience.
The jury particularly noted that, perhaps most importantly, the design is grounded in the market realities of Minneapolis with strategies that capitalize on concurrent activity to create a desirable place to live in each phase.
In total, 790 students representing 70 universities in the U.S. and Canada participated in the 2013 competition.
For more on the finalists’ projects, see Urban Land Institute Selects Four Finalists for Student Urban Design Competition.