Jury selected to judge College Avenue campus design competition
Archived article from Jan 23, 2006
By Patricia Lamiell
A panel of experts, including prominent members of the Rutgers community, has been named to judge the international competition to redesign the College Avenue campus, a key part of President Richard L. McCormick’s vision to transform the university’s most historically significant campus into one of the nation’s finest academic environments.
The 13-member jury includes experts in architecture, urban planning, landscape design and historic preservation, as well as representatives of the Rutgers faculty, alumni and student body. The panel will evaluate and rank design concepts submitted by five teams of accomplished architecture and landscape firms and make its recommendations to McCormick. The winning team will have the opportunity to create the landscape for the greening of the College Avenue campus and to design a new, signature academic building.
“This is a superb panel,” said jury chair Peter Primavera, a 1980 Rutgers University alumnus and president of CRCG, a historic preservation firm. “Each member of the jury is a top professional in his or her chosen field who is committed to selecting the best team to redesign the College Avenue campus in a manner that is in the vanguard of contemporary design, sensitive to the campus’ historic significance, sustainable and appropriate to a major public research university.”
Rutgers jurors include prominent members of the art history and English faculty, the dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, and members of the Rutgers Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. Mayor James Cahill of New Brunswick is also on the panel.
“This impressive jury will greatly help the university community as we select the finest architects and designers to transform the College Avenue campus into an outstanding academic environment,” McCormick said. “The participants bring to this process a breadth and depth of experience that will lead to a dazzling design for our most historic campus.”
McCormick announced “A New Vision for the College Avenue Campus” last February in partnership with the City of New Brunswick. Fifteen design teams responded to a Request for Qualifications. In December, the university announced five finalists, all with experience in designing facilities at universities and similar institutions.
The five firms will lead teams of architects, landscape designers and urban planners in creating design concepts for the College Avenue campus. The firms are Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners LLP, New York, a joint venture with Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Paris; Eisenman Architects, New York; Morphosis – Thom Mayne, Santa Monica, Calif.; Antoine Predock Architect PC, Albuquerque, N.M.; and Ten Arquitectos (Enrique Norten), Mexico City.
On Jan. 23 and 24, members of each team came to Rutgers to hear presentations from different constituencies about life at Rutgers and in New Brunswick. The finalists have been asked to submit design concepts by March 22.
The design competition is a key part of the first phase of a three-part, $300 million overhaul of College Avenue, much of which will be financed with private donations. Other proposals for the College Avenue campus include: development of a major transportation hub, including a pedestrian bridge over George Street; replacement or renovation of the River Dorms; and creation of a new dining facility and a one-stop student service center in Brower Commons.
College Avenue campus design survey
The College Avenue Campus Advisory Committees are interested in your feedback. Information gathered through brief surveys will be provided to the five design teams to aid them in preparing their creative proposals for the campus. Descriptions of the nine goals of the College Avenue campus project, as well as a link to the survey, can be found at designcompetition.rutgers.edu. Please take a few minutes to review the Web site prior to completing the survey.
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