ULI Global Excellence Awards

345 Meatpacking ,NYC,NY,USA

source: www.ddgpartners.com

The Urban and Land Institute (ULI), an organization that I really like for its ability to combine the different professions of urban development in a single place, it just released the list of the finalists of the ULI Global Excellence Awards, the most prestigious award offered by the organization. The award goes to the best construction projects around the world that excel in the following aspects over the any other projects:

• Construction process

• Economic viability

• Marketing

• Management

• Community impact

• Design

Its truly amazing to go though the finalists nominated, its extremely inspiring as it shows the true impact a project can really have its an environment and its community. Some have designs that adapt perfectly to their surroundings and energize spaces that would otherwise be abandoned or just ordinary. Its also important to note that the award nominees haven’t only excelled at design but the project must have had an exceptional performance throughout in all of the aspects described above, its important that it doesn’t just look well but that it works well and that its feasible and that is carries the best construction practices, all these things are taken into account. We are seeing more and more developers understand that its not impossible to impact communities from the private side and its really exciting to see how more and more amazing designers and developers leave their marks on cities and how communities improve thanks to these.

These are some of the projects I liked the most:

Chophouse Row (Capitol Hill - Seattle, WA)

http://grahambabaarchitects.com/

The Edge (Amsterdam,Netherlands) The ¨smartest building in the world¨

Source: Bloomberg.com

Markthal (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Source: Archdaily.com

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts (San Antonio,TX, USA)

Source: www.tobincenter.org

Ponce City Market (Atlanta,GA,USA)

Source: http://www.poncecitymarket.com

These are just some of the projects i resonated the most with and as you can see, the trend they follow usually is the redevelopment of some unused space to create public ones, so its in a sense the private sector generating public spaces for communities which is exactly the reach i would like to develop some day as an urbanizer since i feel these is the best way to leave a legacy and generate a positive change in cities and people.For more information about the projects, watch the following video or click on this link.