Rochester Design Competition

Sponsor: Design Rochester

Type: Open, ideas

Location: Rochester, Minnesota

Languages: English

Eligiblity: Interns within seven years of graduating, architectural students, and unlicensed individuals are all eligible.  Licensed architects and teams of individuals are not eligible.

Entrance Fee: $20 (multiple entries per individual are allowed provided multiple fees are submitted)

Awards: First Prize $1,000 

Honorable Mention Prize(s) $250

Registration Deadline: 22 April, 2015

Submission Deadline: Hardcopies postmarked by 27 May, 2015

Design Challenge: Modeled after AIA Minnesota’s St. Paul Prize, the Rochester Design Competition focuses on a transitional site in the heart of downtown Rochester. Both the Rochester Downtown Master Plan and Destination Medical Center Development Plan employ a strategy focused on the Zumbro River as a revitalized public amenity in contrast to the current utilitarian flood control channel.  The 2015 Rochester Design Competition centers around a piece of land locked between the Zumbro River, Fourth Street SE, and Civic Center Drive/Third Avenue SE of paramount importance.  While currently expansive and underutilized, the potential exists for the site to transform the livability and walkability of downtown Rochester.  Besides one four-story commercial building, the site is currently used as surface parking lot (summertime home of the Rochester Downtown Farmers Market) and Public Works storage.  The 2015  Rochester Design Competition will provide an opportunity to focus on a potential public-private partnership project to encourage development along the river’s edges throughout downtown and the core neighborhoods.

For more information, go to: http://designrochester.org/events/