Design Waller Creek: A Competition

The Waller Creek Conservancy is pleased to announce an international design competition that calls for the most innovative and qualified landscape architects, architects, and artists to join forces and present their ideas for remaking a currently fragmented and undervalued section of Austin into a vibrant, livable, workable district.

Waller Creek is a thin, urban riparian ecosystem that meanders for 7 miles from the northern part of the City southward through The University of Texas at Austin campus and along the eastern edge of the downtown area before it meets Lady Bird Lake, which is, itself, part of the Colorado River.  The Conservancy cares deeply about the entire Creek and its 3,700 acre watershed and as a first step in revitalization of this natural resource, it is focusing its efforts on the lower 1.5 miles.

Over the years this 15 block stretch has suffered from erosion, invasive species, and pollution.  Today it is largely hidden by partial channelization and disengaged development.  Lower Waller Creek can also be dangerous.  Although in many places it is no more than 15 feet wide, it can swell to over 50 times its normal size during extreme flood events.  Today, though, there is the opportunity to imagine a different Waller Creek, one that is a vital component of urban infrastructure, an open stage for social interaction, and a restored source of natural beauty.

Registration opens midnight November 8, 2011 CST.
http://www.wallercreek.org/competition