Intersections: Grand Concourse Beyond 100

Sponsor: Design Trust for Public Space; Bronx Museum of the Arts

Type: Open, international, ideas

Location: Bronx, New York

Language: English

Fee: $30

Timetable:

5 December 2008 – Program posted

February 2008 – May 2008 Submissions Accepted (online)

May 2008 – Submission Deadline (online)

July 2008 – Jury Deliberations

November 2008 – Competition Exhibition at the Bronx Museum of the Arts

Eligibility: Open to all

Jury: Invited Jurors include:

Alexie Torres-Fleming, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice

Carlos Brillembourg, Brillembourg Architects

Connie Rosenblum, New York Times

Galia Solomonoff, Solomonoff Architecture Studio

James Corner, Field Operations

Monty Freedman, Belmont Freeman Architects

Rafael Vinoly, Rafael Vinoly Architects PC

Shaun Donovan, NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development

Stan Allen, Stan Allen Architect

Steven Holl, Steven Holl Architects

Susan Szenasy, Metropolis Magazine

Awards:

Up to 7 finalists will be awarded a cash stipend to further develop their proposals for inclusion in the exhibition Intersections: Grand Concourse at 100 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, opening Nov. 1, 2009. Honorable Mentions will be awarded to up to 50 submissions, and will be included in an online gallery.

Design Challenge:

The Grand Concourse has been a measure of the Bronx’s economic and social vitality since its creation. The Concourse was conceived during the height of the City Beautiful Movement as the residential Champs Élysées of the Bronx, a broad promenade inspiring harmonious social order through grand design. Mirroring the tumultuous history of the Bronx itself, the Concourse survived the ravages of arson, dramatic shifts in population, and an overall decline in the quality of life since the 1970s. Today, however, the Bronx is improving with increased development and investment. Bronx communities are thriving, alive with the art, music, and cultural and social vibrancy that has defied decades of depression. 2009 marks the centennial of the Concourse’s creation – now is the time to look forward and envision what the Concourse of the future should be.

Intersections: Grand Concourse Beyond 100 is an ideas competition to envision the future of the Bronx, taking the Concourse as its spine. Intersections solicits visions of a future Grand Concourse that embodies the borough’s vitality, expresses its diversity, and pays homage to its past. This competition challenges entrants to answer the questions:

· What does the Bronx of the future need its grandest of boulevards to be?

· How can the Grand Concourse help to once again act as a progressive instrument in the evolution of the Bronx?

· Is the Grand Concourse of today obsolete? What can the Grand Concourse of tomorrow become?

Successful submissions could address these questions at any scale, from the individual human body to the building, city block, neighborhood, or borough. Entrants are encouraged to address not only the area’s built environment, but the natural, cultural, and social environments as well.

Highly creative submissions are encouraged. This urban design challenge is open-ended and does not restrict entrants to any specific program or site requirement. Any medium may be employed to produce the four required images that illustrate each proposal. We hope to see submissions from entrants across disciplines as well as from interdisciplinary teams. We look forward to the submission of architectural renderings and urban plans from architects and designers; illustrative and descriptive text from writers; and paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, collage, and more from artists.

Additional Information: http://www.grandconcourse100.org ; http://www.designtrust.org

Stephanie Elson

Director of Programs

Design Trust for Public Space

338 West 39th Street, 10th Floor

New York City 10018

PH 212.695.2432 x22

FX 212.695.6101

www.designtrust.org