This project is the 2013 entry into the Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. This competition demands students form interdisciplinary teams to solve an urban design problem in a given city in a few weeks time. Student teams must show an integration of ideas from their team members representing real estate ideas, engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and urban planning.
This team, composed of team members from UNLV and the Graduate Program of Landscape Architecture at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville created this entry. Team members included Luke Murphree, Heather Holmstrom, Al Gourrier, and Yeshaya Shor.
Students had to create a new neighborhood for Downtown East in Minneapolis. The new Vikings stadium was the catalyst for development. The team's solution integrated mixed-use development into the context; using the development framework of housing, medical and biotech sectors linked to the city by multimodal transportation networks, bikes, rail, buses and cars. This transportation drives street character and building use.
Climate and energy drove building design. Building designs work with passive and active solar, and spaces respond to climate. For example, enclosed roof gardens on top of buildings provide warm green spaces in the winter season, and open roof gardens are places to relax in the breezes in the summer.
A pragmatic development plan sensitive to market context, transportation links and green buildings provide a sustainable solution integrated into the city.