Please check back for the final entries from all four teams, and photographs of the competition.

WASHINGTON (April 9, 2012) — A joint team of students representing the University of Colorado and Harvard University has won the $50,000 top prize in the 2012 Urban Land Institute (ULI)/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition with a long-term redevelopment plan for a new downtown Houston district that includes public open space, integrates into the existing fabric of the surrounding neighborhoods, and brings residential units into the city’s core.

The joint team edged out teams from University of California-Berkeley, Columbia University, and the University of Michigan in the final round of the competition, held April 6 in Houston. The three finalist teams split $30,000 in prize funds. The competition was created in 2003 to encourage cooperation and teamwork–necessary talents in the planning, design and development of sustainable communities–among future land use professionals and allied professions, such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, engineering, real estate development, finance, psychology and law. World-renowned real estate developer Gerald D. Hines, chairman and owner of the Hines real estate organization, established the competition and has funded it in perpetuity with a $3 million endowment. He attended the final round and the announcement of the winner.

“We are all thrilled to have won the competition and at the same time humbled by the experience,” said Chad Murphy, a University of Colorado team member pursuing a master of business administration in real estate. “The three other teams were really strong. Seeing Mr. Hines at the presentation, witnessing the diversity of the jury, and seeing what jury members brought to the table was an incredible experience.”

More than 695 students comprising 139 teams from 64 universities in the U.S. and Canada participated in this year’s ideas competition, which addressed Houston’s desire to connect downtown redevelopment to incorporate connections to the city’s neighborhoods. Students were challenged with creating a practical and workable scheme for the best use of approximately 16.3 acres owned by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The competition focused on the USPS property since it is considered by many stakeholders to be a key site to reconnect the Theater District, the Historic District, and the greater downtown to the Buffalo Bayou. The downtown post office was one of several hundred USPS properties put up for sale nationwide in 2009 to offset the federal agency’s financial losses. Since that time, land planners and real estate experts have suggested numerous possibilities for the property, which have included converting the land into public open space,
mixed-use development that includes residential housing, as well entertainment venues.

The competition was based on a hypothetical proposal in which a fictional entity, the Central Houston Foundation (CHF), acquired the option to purchase the site and establish redevelopment goals and connections to the surrounding areas. According to the scenario, the CHF committed a large endowment to both community development and the sustainable growth of Houston’s downtown in hopes of generating a revenue stream for its endowment, while giving shape to a
new downtown district. In order to meet the owners’ demands, the student teams acted as a master developer by proposing a master land use plan for the development site as well as supplying financial projections needed to support the master development plan.

The winning proposal, “Bayou Commons,” was strategically designed to be downtown Houston’s first residential district celebrating cultural diversity and urban lifestyle. The master plan, originally named “Downtown Bayou,” was re-branded after the team considerably refined and expanded their initial proposal following University of Colorado/Harvard University team’s final four selection and site tour in early March.

The Bayou Commons design focused on attracting a mix of ethnic and socio-economic individuals through its enhanced Buffalo Bayou waterfront, variety of residential product, connection to adjacent districts and the University of Houston-Downtown campus, safe community environment, entrepreneurial office space, and new commuter rail station. The scheme’s distinctive features for the site include: an iconic pedestrian bridge spanning the bayou, unique architecture and amply-shaded sidewalks that create comfort and re-establishes downtown outdoor enjoyment in the hot and humid Houston climate, a new cultural center for exhibits and performances. The team designed Bayou Commons to be market-driven and phased to ensure each chapter of development creates a desirable place to live and interact. In addition, the master plan celebrates Houston’s culture while fulfilling the city’s desire of catalyzing residential development and future downtown revitalization.

In addition to team leader Murphy, other team members included: Michael Albert, master in landscape architecture, Harvard University; Victor Perez Amado, master in architecture, Harvard University; Alex Atherton, master of business administration in real estate, University of Colorado; and Anna Cawrse, master of landscape architecture, Harvard University. Anita Berrizbeitia, professor of landscape architecture and director of the master in landscape architecture degree programs at Harvard University served as faculty advisor and Kurt Culbertson, chairman, Design Workshop, Aspen, Colo. as professional advisor to the team.

“The entire jury believed that if there was ever a poster child for multidisciplinary cooperation in this competition, it was the Colorado-Harvard team,” said jury member Richard Heapes, principal, Street Works, White Plains, N.Y. “My own company is built to match this model and since I have a variety of different professionals working together, I constantly struggle for this type of interaction and cooperation. Seeing this team do this in action was truly inspirational.”

“The jury was inspired by the innovation displayed by all four teams,” said jury chairman Jim Chaffin, Chaffin Light Management, LLC, Okatie, S.C. “One of the things that Mr. Hines was insistent on with the creation of this competition was that it be a multidisciplinary process. And it was very clear that all four teams had a balanced membership representing the proposed plans that were relevant, feasible, and innovative, while having a balance of economic sensitivity, economic viability, and community livability.”

The development schemes from the other three teams in the final competition:

University of California – Berkeley:
“The Grand” proposes a new neighborhood for over 2,000 new residents on the fringe of downtown. Capitalizing on its prime location, it would connect neighboring districts and create a new public space along the bayou’s edge. The proposal is framed around three main investments:

• A new park space set below the elevation of Franklin Street offering an array of activities at the water’s edge and also acting as a “performing landscape” to mitigate flooding and improve water quality.
• The extension of Washington Street through the site connecting neighborhoods in the west to downtown, resulting in a new commercial corridor facing the park.
• A multi-modal transit station that offers the greater downtown neighborhood easy access to any part of Houston or beyond by integrating Amtrak, metro park & ride, commuter rail, and light rail at this historic location.

Columbia University: “The Post” proposed a new downtown neighborhood destination. At its center, the existing USPS office building would be converted into a cultural anchor for the neighborhood while providing connections to the Buffalo Bayou. A new public plaza that accommodates community events would guide commuters from a multi-modal transit hub to the adjacent Historic and Theater Districts. Within “The Post” a diverse range of entertainment spaces are
provided for, including roof-top cinemas and eateries which provide views of downtown Houston. An income-inclusive residential development would provide housing to over 2,750 residents as well as walkable streets. “The Post” proposed a range of on-site amenities, such as a new post office, a vocational institution, a multi-sport field, a produce market within the renovated USPS distribution factory, and an enhanced pedestrian connection to the University of Houston, Downtown.

University of Michigan:
The Hill at Houston envisioned a new livable downtown district with connections to the adjacent cultural and historic districts, the University of Houston Downtown, and the Buffalo Bayou through a reorganized street grid and the development of a multimodal transit station. A new ”Houston Highline” park would act as a pedestrian gateway that connects downtown to the Hill, linking Houston’s cultural and historic districts with a live- work-play community. The creation of diverse housing stock and continuous integrated green space would connect to a variety of amenities while providing ecological habitat. Buildings would gradually decrease in height towards the bayou, giving the project a distinctive architectural identity that maximizes views of the bayou and downtown while providing residents with comfortable living through advanced passive energy systems. The competition is designed as an exercise; there is no intention that the students’ plans will be implemented as part of any development of the site. However, the schemes are expected to be realistic and practicable, incorporating the highest and best sustainable use, new economic development activities, evidence of market support for those activities, and financial justification for their design decisions.

The competition jury consisted of renowned experts in urban planning, design and development. In addition to Chaffin and Heapes, other jury members were: Gerdo Aquino, president/principal, SWA Group, Los Angeles, Calif.; Mimi Burns,
principal, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Albuquerque, N.M; Anyeley Hallova, partner, Project^ Ecological Development, Portland, Ore.; Sandra Kulli, president, Kulli Marketing, Malibu, Calif.; Michael Lander, president and owner, The Lander Group, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.; Alan Mountjoy, principal, Chan Krieger/NBBJ, Cambridge, Mass.; Greg Shannon, President, Sedona Pacific Corporation, San Diego, Calif.;and Tim Van Meter, partner, Van Meter, Williams Pollack, LLP, Denver, Colo.

Interdisciplinary teams participating in the widely-recognized competition were challenged with creating a practical and workable scheme for the best use of approximately 16.3 acres owned by the United States Postal Service (USPS).  The competition focuses on the USPS property since it is considered by many stakeholders to be a key site to reconnect the Theater District, the Historic District, and the greater downtown to the Buffalo Bayou.  The downtown post office was one of several hundred USPS properties put up for sale nation-wide in 2009 to offset the federal agency’s financial losses. Since that time, land planners and real estate experts have suggested numerous possibilities for the property, which have included converting the land into public open space, mixed-use development that includes residential housing, as well entertainment venues.

ULI has issued a press release to media and to participating schools. There are links below to each winning team’s entry — those that are not available will become so over the next few days.

A special thanks to Ann Taylor and ULI Houston for their assistance in coordinating this stage of the Competition and beyond.  In addition, Hines Competition staff would like extend great thanks to the financial jury, who donated their time and expertise by evaulating each team’s pro forma and financial plan.  The financial jury team was led by Jeff Munger, Research Director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LLP, and included the following local experts — from Wells Fargo, Andrew Durke, Financial Analyst and Mason Gilmore, Financial Analyst; from MidFirst Bank, Ashley Grigsby, Vice-President; from HFF, Cortney Cole, Director, Jeff Hollinden, Managing Director, and Brad Elmore, Analyst.

The Four Finalist Teams

1248 – Columbia University -  “The Post”

1482 – University of Colorado/Harvard University (joint team) - “Downtown Bayou”

 General Honorable Mentions (3)

 1521 – University of Oklahoma – “The Foundry”

 8888 – University of Oklahoma – “The Veranda”

 9015 – Georgia Institute of Technology – “Artesano”

Specific Honorable Mentions (6)

For superior financial plan:

 0110 – University of Houston – “Houston’s Urban Bayou Neighborhood”

For superior site planning:

 1130 – Harvard University – “Tread Lightly, Texas!”

For superior focus on job creation:

 1819 – University of Virginia – “Green Tech Corridor”

For superior focus on demographics:

 2000 – University of Texas at Austin – “Global Ideas: Grown in Texas”

For superior focus on water treatment:

 2368 – University of Pennsylvania – Infiltrate

For superior presentation graphics:

 3172 – Ball State University - “EcoEdge”

Total of $80,000 to Be Awarded to Top Four Proposals

WASHINGTON (January 23, 2012) – Downtown Houston’s historic post office property has been selected as the site for the tenth annual Urban Land Institute (ULI) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The ideas competition, open to graduate-level students, will provide multidisciplinary teams the opportunity to propose a long-term vision for creating a distinct identity for a new downtown Houston district.

Now underway, the 2012 competition challenges teams to create a practical and workable scheme for the best use of approximately 16.3 acres owned by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The competition is based on a hypothetical proposal in which a fictional entity, the Central Houston Foundation (CHF), acquired the option to purchase the site and determine its redevelopment goals and connections to the surrounding areas. According to the scenario, the CHF has committed a large endowment to both community development and the sustainable growth of Houston’s downtown in hopes of generating a revenue stream for its endowment while giving shape to a new downtown district. In order to meet the owners’ demands, student teams will act as a master developer by proposing a master land use plan for the development site as well as supplying financial projections needed to support the master development plan.

The Hines competition strives to encourage cooperation and teamwork—necessary talents in the planning, design and development of sustainable communities—among future land use professionals and allied professions, such as architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, historic preservation, engineering, real estate development, finance, psychology and law. It is open to graduate students who are pursuing real estate-related studies at universities in the United States and Canada, including programs in real estate development, urban planning, urban design, architecture and landscape architecture.

The competition has been funded in perpetuity through a $3 million endowment from Gerald D. Hines, chairman of the global Hines real estate organization (founded by Hines in Houston in 1957) and a recipient of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development. A legend in the land use industry, he is widely known as a leader who pioneered the use of high-quality planning and architecture as a marketable feature of development in office, residential and mixed-use projects.

Since the first competition was held in 2003, nearly 4,000 students on 800 teams have participated, representing 92 schools in the U.S. and Canada. Competitions have been held in cities all over the United States, from Washington, D.C. to St. Louis to Seattle. “The roots our organization has in Houston make this year’s competition particularly exciting for me. I’m looking forward to the teams’ ideas for such a significant site in our great city,” Hines said. “Over the years, the proposals prepared by the students for each competition have been increasingly imaginative, innovative, and most importantly, doable. As the competition enters its tenth year, I am more convinced than ever that the future of the built environment is in very capable hands.”
A $50,000 prize will be awarded to the winning team; and each of the remaining three finalist teams will receive $10,000. This year, applications were submitted from 154 teams representing 64 universities in the United States and Canada, with 770 students participating in total.

While based on a hypothetical situation, the 2012 Hines competition addresses local groups’ desire to connect downtown redevelopment to incorporate connections to Houston’s neighborhoods. Houston’s downtown is the center of the city’s transit network, providing downtown workers with a variety of commuting options that include light rail, buses, vanpools, and carpools. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s (METRO) transit system has 73 percent of its bus and rail routes running through downtown, providing hassle-free commuting options for ones of nation’s youngest and fastest growing populations. The city plans to invest more than $1.6 billion into new light-rail lines, expanding connections from the Texas Medical Center to downtown, to area universities, sports venues, and neighborhoods.

The competition is focusing on the USPS property since it is considered by many stakeholders to be a key site to reconnect the Theater District, the Historic District, and the greater downtown to the Buffalo Bayou. The downtown post office, located at 401 Franklin Street, was one of several hundred USPS properties put up for sale nation-wide in 2009 in order to offset the federal agency’s financial losses. Land planners and real estate experts have suggested numerous possibilities for the property, which have included converting the land into public open space, mixed-use development that includes residential housing, as well entertainment venues. Therefore, the challenge posed to the students is to devise a scheme that not only gives a unique identity to this new downtown Houston district, but also sets the tone for how area redevelopment can incorporate elements of public open space, affordable housing, and transit in order to catalyze economic development.

The teams will be expected to submit proposals that illustrate innovative approaches to five general elements: 1) planning context and analysis, 2) master land use plan, 3) urban design, 4) site specific illustrations of new development, and 5) development schedule and finances. Participants have received project briefing materials, including a comprehensive problem statement; background information on the site; market information; relevant existing design proposals; and other details, along with a list of materials required for team presentations. The competition is designed as an exercise; there is no intention that the students’ plans will be implemented as part of any revitalization of the site.

Four finalist teams and several honorable mentions will be named in late February. In the final phase of the competition, the student finalist teams will have the opportunity to expand their original schemes and respond in more detail. During this time, a member of each team will be brought to Houston to tour the site and revise their presentations. On April 5 – 6, 2012, finalist team members will present their schemes to the competition jury members during a public forum in Houston. The event will culminate with the announcement of the winning team.

The competition jury consist of renowned experts in urban planning, design and development: Jury Chairman Jim Chaffin, chairman, Chaffin Light Management, LLC, Okatie, S.C.; Gerdo Aquino, managing principal, SWA Group, Los Angeles, Calif.; Mimi Burns, principal, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Albuquerque, N.M; Anyeley Hallova, partner, Project^ Ecological Development, Portland, Ore.; Richard Heapes, principal, Street Works, White Plains, N.Y.; Sandra Kulli, president, Kulli Marketing, Malibu, Calif.; Michael Lander, president and owner, The Lander Group, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.; Allen Mountjoy, principal, Chan Krieger/NBBJ, Cambridge, Mass.; Tim Van Meter, partner, Van Meter, Williams Pollack, LLP, Denver, Colo.; and one to two more jury members to be named at a later date.

Big ideas. Bold visions. The enduring legacy of Gerald D. Hines

Do you envision a more innovative built environment? Put your skills and ideas to the test and compete to win $50,000.

Successful real estate development and design in the 21st century requires intensive collaboration across disciplines and sectors. In the Hines Competition, you will have the chance to form a multidisciplinary team with four other graduate students in the United States or Canada and tackle a real land use challenge in a U.S. city.

Application due date: December 5, 2011
Applicants notified of eligibility: December 12, 2011
Competition dates: January 17, 2012 – January 31, 2012

This is an ideas competition with no expectation that any of the submitted schemes will be applied to any site. The winning team will receive $50,000 and the finalist teams $10,000 each.

Please explore this site to learn more about the competition.  The “How to Participate” section contains information about forming a team and applying to participate.

This Web site is dedicated to the urban design competition. It will be continually updated as the competition progresses. Changes to the Web site will be indicated on the Update History page.  You can also follow updates and news via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

For inquiries, please e-mail: udcompetition@uli.org.

Download a PDF of this year’s poster.

A team of students representing the University of Michigan has won the $50,000 top prize in the 2011 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition with a redevelopment plan for a Seattle neighborhood

that emphasizes sustainability through neighborhood diversity, affordability, walkability and environmental conservation.

Read more about the  2011 winning team.