Rutgers President Announces Winning Team in Design Competition; Led by Renowned Architect Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos, Team Will Partner with Rutgers to Design New Public Spaces on the College Avenue Campus
Dec. 13, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EDITOR'S NOTE: Architectural renderings of TEN Arquitectos revised design concepts, along with current views of the College Avenue campus, can be accessed at the end of this release.
A VISION FOR THE COLLEGE AVENUE CAMPUS:
RUTGERS PRESIDENT RICHARD L. MCCORMICK ANNOUNCES
WINNING TEAM IN DESIGN COMPETITION
The team, led by world-renowned architect Enrique Norten, will partner with Rutgers to design new public spaces on the College Avenue campus
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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. Picture a university campus that rivals the most inspiring public spaces in urban settings.
This campus would feature green spaces that connect the universitys historic heartland to the river nearby. The learning environment would attract the finest students and faculty, and stimulate interaction between the university and neighboring communities.
This vision took a significant step toward becoming reality at Rutgers University, as President Richard L. McCormick announced the winning team in a design competition of world-renowned architects, landscape architects, urban planners and transportation experts. The team will collaborate with Rutgers to redesign the historic College Avenue campus.
The winning team led by Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos and Ignacio Bunster-Ossa of Wallace, Roberts & Todd was selected based on its outstanding record of success on other projects, its bold ideas and its willingness to adapt its concepts to reflect the priorities of the Rutgers and New Brunswick communities, President McCormick said.
We are selecting a team that has proved itself most capable of working in partnership with Rutgers and New Brunswick toward a distinctive vision that will attract
the best to Rutgers and will make citizens and alumni proud, McCormick said. Having selected a design team, we are eager to take the next steps toward realizing this vision. Specifically, we will place priority on those elements of the plan that can be accomplished
soon, such as to make the public and pedestrian spaces more attractive and appealing.
President McCormick was joined at todays announcement by Norten, Bunster-Ossa and New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill, who has been involved with the College Avenue campus initiative since its inception and who served on the jury that considered the proposals from the five teams that participated in the competition.
I enjoyed being engaged with the design team selection process as a jury member. Each of the design teams presented interesting and thought-provoking concepts. I am excited with the prospect of working with Ten Arquitectos and Rutgers to implement a new vision for the College Avenue campus, Mayor Cahill said.
We are honored to be a part of this historic initiative, Norten said. Rutgers is an outstanding university with a rich legacy and a promising future. We look forward to working with President McCormick and all of our partners at Rutgers to remake the College Avenue campus, which has witnessed so many important events over more than two centuries.
Attractive, easily accessible public spaces are important contributors to the intellectual vitality of all major institutions particularly universities, Norten added. They encourage students, faculty, staff, alumni and visitors to gather informally and to fully participate in all that a premier university has to offer.
Norten and his colleagues released revised design concepts that reflect input from a series of public events and surveys throughout the fall semester.
The five design teams took five very different approaches and suggested some novel and creative ways to look at the campus. We have benefited from their perspectives,
McCormick said. The events that took place this semester the lectures, panel discussions, presentations, public forum, exhibit and surveys further informed our decision. For example, we heard over and over again from the experts who came to campus that we needed to start with more detailed planning and the transforming of public spaces, and that we should defer building until later on.
Based in Mexico City, TEN Arquitectos most recognized projects include the Queens Master Plan in Long Island City, N.Y., and the National School of Theater in Mexico City. Another project, designing a stainless steel screen to mask a parking structure on the southern edge of Princeton University, received the gold medal at the AIA/New Jersey Design Awards in 2002. The firm can be found at www.ten-arquitectos.com.
Wallace, Roberts & Todd, based in Philadelphia, specializes in landscape and campus design. The firms best-known academic projects include master plans for the Georgia Institute of Technology, San Jose State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The firm can be found at www.wrtdesign.com.
Other team members include:
Pasanella + Klein Stolzman + Berg, a New York firm specializing in historic preservation
Arup, a New York firm specializing in engineering and sustainable design
Green Shield Ecology Inc., a Bridgewater, N.J., firm specializing in landscape restoration.
President McCormick released A New Vision for the College Avenue Campus in February 2005 in partnership with Mayor Cahill. At the core of this long-term initiative is converting the College Avenue campus into a more welcoming, pedestrian-friendly public space. Another goal is developing a major transportation hub for the campus.
In December 2005, after receiving 15 responses to a Request for Qualifications, the university invited five teams to submit design concepts. In June 2006, Rutgers received a
$1 million grant from Bank of America to support the initiative. On Sept. 26, the university unveiled the proposals from the five design teams, which were on exhibit at the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum through the end of October.
Also in October, the university hosted a series of lectures and panel discussions on campus planning and design, featuring academic experts in architecture, art history and facilities planning. On Oct. 30, representatives of the design teams discussed their respective proposals during a public presentation at the Rutgers Student Center. On Nov. 16, President McCormick hosted a forum that gave the public an opportunity to comment on how the university might improve the College Avenue campus.
Rutgers has committed $15 million to design and create new public spaces on the College Avenue campus the first phase of a long-term initiative to enhance the entire New Brunswick/Piscataway campus with new classrooms and academic labs, better housing and improved student services. The university will seek funding for these improvements from a variety of sources, including private donations and federal grants, McCormick said. More information about the College Avenue campus initiative is available at http://collegeavenuecampus.rutgers.edu/.
The redesign of the College Avenue campus is the latest in a series of key initiatives under President McCormicks leadership that have been largely shaped by an unprecedented level of discussion among students, faculty, staff and alumni. Other initiatives include the presidents bold reforms to enhance undergraduate education in New Brunswick/Piscataway, a universitywide effort to improve student services, and a comprehensive program to better communicate Rutgers mission and achievements.
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is Americas eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nations premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelors, masters, doctoral and professional degree programs.
TEN Arquitectos architectural renderings:
Plaza view, http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/CAC/plaza%20view%20copysmall.
Streetscape, http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/CAC/street%20promenade12_11_06flat.jpg
College Avenue campus photos:
Aerial view of the campus, http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/CAC/CAC%20AERIAL.jpg
View of the Raritan River and a river dormitory, http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/CAC/NR06CACRoofViews6376.jpg
View of Brower Commons, http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/CAC/NR06CACRoofViews6343.jpg
Contact: Greg Trevor
732-932-7084, ext. 623
E-mail: gtrevor@ur.rutgers.edu
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