Two UT Austin Teams are Finalists in National Urban Design Competition

February 20, 2019—The Urban Land Institute (ULI) announced four finalist teams in its national ULI Hines urban design competition for students. Of the four finalist teams, two are comprised of students from the UT Austin School of Architecture and McCombs School of Business. These interdisciplinary teams collaborated to propose forward-looking design and planning solutions for a real world scenario.



An ideas contest for graduate students, the ULI Hines Competition, endowed by longtime ULI leader and real estate mogul Gerald Hines, is in its seventeenth year. It is designed to simulate a real urban planning and development scenario, and allows participating teams 15 days to design and submit a comprehensive master plan proposal for a large-scale urban site in the United States. The proposal must include presentation boards with site plans, renderings, analytical tables and market-feasible financial data.



The 17th annual ULI Hines Student Competition challenged students to create a comprehensive development proposal for an area in Cincinnati, Ohio, comprising portions of a highway, the central business district, and the central riverfront along the Ohio River. Teams were asked to consider options for decking the highway, Fort Washington Way, and to propose development adjacent to it. The challenge asked teams to illustrate innovative approaches to five general elements: 1) planning context and analysis, 2) a master land use plan, 3) urban design, 4) site-specific illustrations of new development, and 5) development schedule and finances.



The finalist proposals include "The Landing," which emphasizes green infrastructure and renewable district energy production that aligns with the Cincinnati Green Plan in its effort to make the city's energy 100% renewable by 2035, and "Cincinnati United," which reimagines the city's river boundary as a boardwalk that hosts recreation and cultural expression activities for all.

 

Congratulations to our finalists!

 

The Landing team:

Trent Tunks, Hailey Brown, Victoria Freeman, Eric Joyce, Andres Manrique

 

Cincinatti United team:

Caroline Tate, Nian Chen, John Mark Devlin, Andrew Jacobs, Yang Yang

 

Academic advisor:

Simon Atkinson, Mike Hogg Centennial Professor

 

Professional advisor:

Claire Hempel, Principal, Design Workshop





Images: Renderings from "The Landing" and "Cincinnati United" student proposals.