Perhaps the least glamorous of
the AIA Honor Awardwinning projects are those for urban design.
But what they lack in swagger, they possess in importance—without
planning, architecture becomes vacant of contextual meaning.
The jury sought and found projects combining practicality
and invention; restraint and proactivity. The winning plans
all demonstrate the possibility of creating compact, pedestrian-friendly,
sustainable communities. Transportation also plays an important
role in each of the projects, encouraging architects, clients,
and communities to consider the automobile as less central
to the planning effort.
–Jane F. Kolleeny
Click
images to view them larger. All images coutesy the architects.
Chicago Central Area
Plan, Chicago Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Chicago’s downtown
area experienced tremendous growth in the 1990s,
with businesses prospering, residential neighborhoods
emerging, and tourism flourishing.
Mission Bay Redevelopment
Plan,
San Francisco Johnson Fain This 303-acre
area, the largest undeveloped site in the city,
establishes a new neighborhood along the bay adjacent
to downtown.
UrbanRiver Vision,
Worcester, Mass. Goody, Clancy & Associates In an attempt
to respond to the decaying waterfronts in many
of the cities of Massachusetts, a state agency
created and funded a program to provide local
riverfront planning, with the input of key federal,
state, and local agencies.
Getting It Right:
Preventing Sprawl in Coyote Valley, San
Jose, Calif. WRT/Solomon E.T.C. Coyote Valley
consists of 6,800 acres of prime farmland and
watershed on the southern edge of San Jose targeted
for future commercial and residential development.
The Confluence: A
Conservation, Heritage, and Recreation Corridor,
St. Louis HOK Planning Group This plan creates a 40-mile-long conservation
and recreation corridor that reinforces the confluence
of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, one of
the world’s largest systems.
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