AIA PHOENIX METRO 2017 DESIGN COMPETITION

This is a competition that asks entrants to propose an innovative program and design a structure, an element or a place, which supports that program and connects it with the existing urban fabric of Phoenix.

Description
Phoenix, the fifth largest city in the United States by population and area, is very much a function of the 20th century technologies that enabled its rapid post WWII growth and inhabitation of an arid desert environment. While frequently cited for seemingly endless suburban sprawl, the metro area is in a state of transformation and is beginning to densify in line with other emergent urban centers. For decades, vacant land has made up a sizable portion of Phoenix’s land mass — up to 43 percent in the year 2000, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. This is especially true of the Phoenix downtown area, a location which has enjoyed positive, if not game-changing, developments over the past decade including light rail, a new university campus, thousands of new housing units, and an increasingly attractive business environment. The area also features a celebrated and long-standing arts and culture core with an emerging live music scene.
Nevertheless, opportunities and challenges abound when creating a resilient city in the Sonoran Desert, a location with limited water resources, extreme temperatures, and the occasionally dramatic dust storm. Added to the region’s dramatic environmental setting are the significant demographic changes brought by a vital immigrant community ready to contribute their talents and perspective to the building of a great city.
For Phoenician’s, all of the above presents an opportunity for confirmation of the city as a place of reinvention, innovation, and inclusivity. We are calling all TASTE MAKERS - architects, planners, landscape architects, designers, developers, storytellers, graphic thinkers and visual artists – to idealize the essence of Phoenix through Small, Medium, and Large urban infill proposals. Create a truly unique place or experience that becomes emblematic of who and what Phoenix is as a city, a community, a PLACE.

Jury
Jack DeBartolo 3, FAIA - DeBartolo Architects (Jury Chair)
Charles Anderson, FASLA - WERK |Charles Anderson Landscape Architects
Chris Bianco - Chef, James Beard Award Winner
Michael LeBlanc, AIA - Utile
Christine Mackay – Director of Community and Economic Development City of Phoenix

Prize
First Place: $5,000 + publication & exhibition
Second and Third Place: bragging rights

Entry Fee
Entry Fee AIA Members and Students – $100
Entry Fee non members – $125
Late Registration (19 October) Fee - $50

Timetable
Winner Announced: 16 November

Organizer
AIA

Official Website