In December of 2012, 45 teams from 17 countries set forth to reimagine our landscape, and the University of Manitoba recently announced that a team of Canadian firms has won its Visionary (re)Generation Open International Design Competition.
What has been selected does not represent the final plans for the site’s development. Rather, this winning concept will guide development as the university continues to work with its stakeholders and the winning team. The first-place winner is Arpent, the land division of long narrow river lots by early French settlers — by Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc. of Toronto and Cibinel Architects Ltd. of Winnipeg, with Landmark Planning & Design Inc. of Winnipeg, and ARUP Canada Inc. of Toronto. Their proposal will guide the development of a rare and beautiful parcel of land on the Fort Garry campus.
“The creativity and ingenuity of the winning concept provides us with a starting point from which we will move from vision to reality,” says David Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manitoba. “Together with our partners the university will further transform our campus and community into a place that enriches the lives of all who learn here, work here, play here and call it home.”
The winning team will now be involved in the development of a more detailed master plan as the planning phase of VISIONARY (re)GENERATION is set to begin in early 2014.
Three other prizes were awarded to three separate teams. In second place is a team comprised of Perkins+Will of Vancouver, 1X1 Architecture of Winnipeg, and PFS of Vancouver. In third place is DTAH of Toronto with Cohlmeyer Architecture Limited of Winnipeg, Integral Group of Toronto, and BA Group of Toronto. And in fourth place is IAD | Independent Architectural Diplomacy S.A. with Bomainpasa and PGI GRUP of Madrid.
An Honourable Mention recognized two teams: nodo17 Architects with ARUP, Design Convergence Urbanism (DCU), and Miguel Perez Carballo of Madrid; and AECOM Canada Ltd. of Winnipeg, Burnaby and New York.
The competition was launched in December 2012 as a challenge to the world’s most innovative landscape architects, architects and planners to rethink Winnipeg’s Fort Garry campus, including the Southwood Precinct, and create a bold new plan that will secure a strong future for the University of Manitoba.
In March 2013, 45 teams submitted their design proposals in Phase 1 of the competition. Six finalist teams were selected by the jury in April 2013 to further develop their proposals in Phase 2 of the competition. On September 20, 2013, these design proposals were presented to the jury for a final decision.
The jury included representatives from the University of Manitoba, Manitoba Hydro, alumni stakeholders, as well as independent architects, urban designers, planners and landscape architects from Canada, the US, Germany and Switzerland.
A public exhibition of the all the work will be on display at the University of Manitoba from November 5-9, 2013, and the finalists will be displayed at Manitoba Hydro Place from December 11-29, 2013. For more information, please visit www.visionaryregeneration.com.