Sensible City » sustainable square block

Urban Re:Vision Dallas Competition Closed

Sensible City SM — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:53:46 +0000

I was just going through recent client/partner related blogs and found these thoughts from John Greenan’s CityWalk.

Last week (on tax day) was the last day to register for the Re:Vision Dallas competition, the design competition for a sustainable city block that we are conducting in partnership with the City of Dallas, Urban Re:Vision and the buildingcommunityWORKSHOP. It was a big day for us because we and our partners have put a lot of effort into Re:Vision. We think it could not only be a catalyst for the rebuilding of the southern part of Downtown Dallas, but could also put Dallas at the top of the list of cities in sustainable development.

As is, I’m told, entirely typical for such contests, nobody registered until almost the last day. We were on pins and needles hoping for a good showing.

We got one. We had about 175 registrants for the contest. That included more than a dozen from Dallas and entries from at least ten countries. On May 18 and 19 I’ll go to San Francisco to observe the jury, which includes some very distinguished architects (I’ll only be observing because I’m not anywhere near qualified to be a jury like this).

I’m excited. I think we will get designs to build at the southern edge of downtown just as brilliant, if different in purpose and kind, as the designs at the northern edge of downtown (like the Winspear Opera House) that are making Dallas a real center of modern architecture.

http://citywalktalk.blogspot.com/2009/04/registration-closes-for-revision-dallas.html

Jesse Fox’s take of Re:Vision Dallas

Ian Bryan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:28:05 +0000

Could the first fully sustainable city block in America rise out of a nondescript parking lot in downtown Dallas, Texas?

After a full year of design competitions aimed at stimulating discussion about the nature of sustainability in cities, San Francisco-based Urban Re:Vision is about to transform theory into reality in Dallas. The land is available, the city is on board and there appear to be no serious obstacles to the development of a city block that would radically redefine sustainability in the urban context.

The site today.

Over the past year, Urban Re:Vision held a series of design competitions, which addressed issues from transportation and materials to energy and economy in the city block. Here are some of the results of the Re:Construct competition, announced in September at West Coast Green.

[ Read entire article ]