News Release

FOR RELEASE: AUGUST 8, 2001

NEA ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR 10 NATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITIONS

Program to Expand With Focus on School Design in 2002

Washington, D.C. - The National Endowment for the Arts today announced the 10 awardees of its second annual $500,000 New Public Works initiative. The agency will provide up to $50,000 each to 10 organizations to help fund national design competitions for a range of public works projects. This year, particular emphasis was given to landscape design, to stimulate activity in that discipline. Six of the projects receiving funding include a significant landscape component. In 2002, the program will award up to $1.25 million to support as many as 20 design competitions, with a focus on school projects.

The winning competitions involving landscape design include reconfiguring the streetscape of Pasadena's Arroyo Parkway, sponsored by the city's Art Center College of Design; a landscape masterplan for the approach road to the Denver International Airport; and a bridge and park design for the Anacostia waterfront, sponsored by the District of Columbia Office of Planning. Other notable projects involve the design of 12 rapid transit bus stations for the Hartford, Conn. metropolitan area, the expansion of the Queens Museum of Art in New York and the design of a new high school in Perth Amboy, N.J.

"It is gratifying to see the positive impact this program is already having on the quality of design for public buildings and spaces across the country," said NEA Chairman, Bill Ivey. "By encouraging communities to conduct these competitions, we are ensuring that, no matter where they are located, they have access to the best, most innovative design talent available."

New Public Works is intended to develop the highest quality of design in the public realm through the sponsorship of national design competitions. It is targeted to the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and industrial design. The program, in its third year, is intended to bring institutions from across the country together with the best design talent, to raise expectations and aspirations for public work, and to increase popular awareness of the importance of design in daily life.

The multi-year New Public Works initiative will emphasize school design in its next round, to stimulate greater public awareness of the important role design can play in education. The program will be expanded to award up to $1.25 million for as many as 20 projects in 2002. Although proposals in all disciplines will be accepted, half of the awards are earmarked for school design projects. New Public Works will provide up to $75,000 each to as many as 10 school design projects, in addition to 10 general projects that will receive up to $50,000 each. The deadline for letters of interest is January 11, 2002.

"This special focus recognizes the need to respond to the dramatic changes in education with innovative design that will benefit children and families," said Mark Robbins, NEA Design Director. "Our hope is that by bringing the best of design to schools, we will create more productive, exciting environments for learning, that can then become national models."

This year's projects were reviewed by an interdisciplinary panel including Ignacio Bunster-Ossa, a landscape architect and urban designer; K. Michael Hays, Professor of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design; and architects Brad Cloepfil, Mario Gooden and Laurie Hawkinson. Proposed jurors for the winning projects include Frank Gehry, Walter Hood, Carlos Jimenez, Reed Kroloff, Enrique Norten, Laurie Olin, Terrence Riley, and Karen Van Lengen, among others. Designers involved in limited or hybrid competitions include the offices of Julie Bargmann, Petra Blaise, James Corner, Diller + Scofidio, George Hargreaves, Herzog and de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, Machado and Silvetti Associates, Ken Smith, and Tod Williams + Billie Tsien.

The winning proposals showed strong evidence of community and political support for the projects as well as the financial ability to carry them out. Each applicant will have a year to complete the competition process.

In order to assist with this initiative, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is funding the Graham Fellowship in Federal Service at the NEA for the second year. This year's recipient is Kristina Alg, who has recently completed graduate studies at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

For New Public Works application information, please contact Kristina Alg in the Design Department at 202-682-5078 or via e-mail at algk@arts.endow.gov

2001 NEW PUBLIC WORKS AWARDS

Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA
$40,000

To support an invited competition to redesign the streetscape of the Arroyo Parkway that will enhance the "gateway" into Pasadena from Los Angeles through a melding of art, landscape design, and architecture.

The jury will include Walter Hood (Hood Design), Frank Gehry (Frank O. Gehry and Associates) and Richard Koshalek (President, Art Center College of Design). Invited competitors will include Petra Blaise, Adriaan Geuze/West 8, George Hargreaves and Associates, Ken Smith, Peter Walker and Partners.

Brooklyn Public Library Brooklyn, NY
$50,000

To support an invited design competition for a new Brooklyn Public Library Visual and Performing Arts Library to be located in the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Cultural District, as a collaborative effort between Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

The jury will include Terrence Riley (Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, MOMA), Susan Chin, FAIA (Assistant Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs, New York), Harvey Lichtenstein (Chairman, BAM Local Development Corp.), Margaret Helfand (Helfand Myerberg Guggenheimer Architects), and Elizabeth Diller (Diller + Scofidio). Invited competitors will include Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Frank O. Gehry & Associates, Herzog & de Meuron, Architectures Jean Nouvel, Enrique Norten/Ten Arquitectos, Tod Williams + Billie Tsien.

City of Perth Amboy Perth Amboy, NJ
$50,000

To support a two-stage, open competition for the design of a new high school that integrates community, ecological, and economic goals and acts as a model for additional school design competitions in New Jersey.

The jury will include Carlos Jimenez (Carlos Jimenez Studio), Toshiko Mori (Professor in Architecture, Harvard University), Joseph Vas (Mayor, City of Perth Amboy). The competition advisor is Ralph Lerner.

Denver International Airport Denver, CO
$50,000

To support a two-stage, open design competition for the development of a landscape master plan for Pena Boulevard, the primary connection between Denver International Airport and the city of Denver.

The proposed jury includes Karen Van Lengen (Dean, School of Architecture, University of Virginia), Charles Birnbaum (Coordinator, National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative), Laurel McSherry (Professor, School of Planning and Landscape Architecture, Arizona State University), and Laurie Olin (Olin Partnership). Invited competitors will include Jones & Jones, Peter Walker and Partners, Field Operations, and Martha Schwartz, Inc. The competition advisor is Roger L. Schluntz.

District of Columbia, Office of Planning Washington, DC
$50,000

To support an invited landscape design competition for the transformation and enhancement of the 11th Street bridges in Washington, D.C. which will link neighborhoods on both sides of the Anacostia River, as part of a larger planning effort undertaken by a partnership of city and federal agencies to revitalize the Anacostia Waterfront.

The jury will be appointed by D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and will include community representatives from Anacostia and Capitol Hill, in addition to landscape architects, architects and urban designers. Invited competitors will include Diller + Scofidio, Mary Miss and Machado and Silvetti Associates. The competition advisor is Raymond Gastil.

New York City Department of Design and Construction Long Island City, NY
$50,000

To support a two-stage, open design competition for an expansion of the Queens Museum of Art, doubling the size of the museum. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Queens Museum of Art are partners in this project.

The proposed jury includes Enrique Norten (TEN Arquitectos), Merrill Elam (Scogin Elam and Bray Architects) David Childs, FAIA (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) and Ben van Berkel (UNStudio). The competition advisor is Ralph Lerner.

Papago Salado Association, Inc. Phoenix, AZ
$50,000

To support a two-stage, open design competition to develop a master plan and complete improvements along a regional trail system within metropolitan Phoenix. Multidisciplinary teams will be invited to submit proposals to guide the completion of the trail.

The jury will include Reed Kroloff (Editor-in-Chief, Architecture Magazine), Eddie Jones (Jones Studio), and William Morrish (Professor of Urban Planning and Architecture, University of Virginia). The competition advisor is Ron McCoy.

Real Art Ways, Inc. Hartford, CT
$50,000

To support a two-stage, open design competition for twelve new Bus Rapid Transit Stations. Partners in the project include: Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT), the City of Hartford, the Capitol Region Council of Governments, and the Parkville Revitalization Association.

The jury will include Terrence Riley (Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, MOMA), Elizabeth Diller (Diller + Scofidio), Edward Thomas (Associate Administrator for Research, Demonstration and Innovation, Federal Transit Administration), Andrea Miller-Keller (Independent Curator and Author), and William Mitchell (Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, MIT). The competition advisor is Casey Jones.

Sixteenth Street Community Health Center (SSCHC) Milwaukee, WI
$50,000

To support a design competition for a landscape plan to integrate Wisconsin's Hank Aaron State Trail through the Menomonee River Valley with adjoining areas, including a former industrial rail site. Collaborators include Menomonee Valley Partners, Inc., the Menomonee Valley Business Association, and a Valley Business Improvement District.

The jury will include four nationally-known design professionals from outside the community and three community representatives. The competition advisors are Lawrence Witzling and Jeffery Olswang.

University of Florida Gainesville, FL
$50,000

To support an open and invited design competition for landscape elements along the 6th Street Rail Trail, a two-mile long rail line conversion to a trail, through the historic core of Gainesville. The Gainesville eco-history trail will explore themes of urban ecology and industrial impacts on African-American neighborhoods.

The jury will include Grant Jones (Jones and Jones), Carol Franklin (Andropogon, Inc.), and Richard Haag (Richard Haag Association, Inc.). Invited competitors will include Julie Bargmann/D.I.R.T., James Corner/Field Operations and Chip Sullivan. The competition advisors are Ann Spirn and Sara Williams.