The design for UBC’s University Boulevard and University Square has received the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2006 Institute Honour Award for Regional and Urban Design.
“This is a very prestigious award and confirms that the architects for the boulevard project are a world-class design team,” said Dennis Pavlich, UBC Vice-President of External & Legal Affairs. “Their submission offers an energetic, creative and compelling scenario for a vital entry onto the campus and a lively University Square.”
Santa Monica’s Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners (MRY) and Vancouver’s Hughes Condon Marler: Architects (HCMA) is the team that are redesigning University Boulevard and creating a signature gateway and new social heart for UBC. The AIA selected the team’s design from more than 680 total submissions, 30 of whom will be honoured in June at the AIA 2006 National Convention and Design Exposition in Los Angeles. MRY is the project’s design lead and the recipient of the award.
The AIA award jury commented that the University Boulevard design is an, “excellent merging of the university expansion and a neighbourhood commercial street that integrates growth with transition and sustainability in a dynamic way.”
University Boulevard will become a flagship ‘gateway’ neighbourhood that will welcome the world to UBC. The site encompasses approximately 415,000 square feet with a program that calls for mixed-use buildings (retail, institutional and rental housing), a new underground transit station, and a new public space called University Square.
The AIA represents the interests of more than 74,000 licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners and has given awards to architectural greats like Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, and B.C’s own Arthur Erickson.
The University Boulevard Architectural Design Competition completed in May 2005 following six months of intense competition among many of the world’s leading architects.
A documentary of the UBC’s University Boulevard Architectural Competition will be shown on March 21 st from 7:00 – 9:30 pm in the Frederic Lassere Building at UBC. For further information please visit: www.universitytown.ubc.ca/involved_calendar.php.
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