Gowanus Lowline Competition Winners

Six winning designs have been announced in the Gowanus Lowline: Connections competition, hosted by Gowanus by Design. The jury reviewed 98 finalists to select the 1st and 2nd place winners as well as four honorable mentions.

Gowanus by Design proposes a new strategy for the development of Brooklyn's Gowanus area, showcasing different options for the canal and including the many voices of canal stakeholders. GbD promotes projects that speculate upon the potential for what the canal can be and tracks the coordination of clean-up and development efforts between the many city agencies whose decisions impact those of us who live and work near the canal.

Gowanus Connections is GbD's inaugural international ideas competition, inviting speculation on the value of urban development of postindustrial urban lands, and the possibility of dynamic, pedestrian-oriented architecture that engages with the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding watershed. This competition, the first of a series, focuses on the design of connections in and around the canal, and the residual moments around these connections.

One of GbD’s objectives is to generate a discourse about urban issues that are currently relevant to the Gowanus Canal community. The competition was designed to generate a spectrum of possible solutions.

The applicants were judged by an independent jury of award-winning practitioners including landscape architect, Julie Bargmann of DIRT Studios; architects David J. Lewis of LTL Architects and Greg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects; urban planner Richard Plunz of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Andrew Simons of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy and Joel Towers, dean of the Parsons School of Design. The jury’s criteria included focusing on designers who explored their design sensibilities while tackling complex urban challenges specific to the canal.

These are the two winning concepts:

First Place Prize:
Project: Gowanus Flowlands
Team: Tyler Caine, Luke Carnahan, Ryan Doyle, Brandon Specketer

Jury comments: “This project understands that density and remediating the environment is part of a sustainable urban strategy. Presents a more compelling urban condition and suggests a new type of urban landscape that suggests living with remediation.”

 

Second Place Prize:
Project: [f]lowline
Team: Aptum/Landscape Intelligence
Members: Gale Fulton, Roger Hubeli, Julie Larsen

Jury comments: “A clever strategy and a sophisticated, realistic approach to phasing. Adapts and responds to changing conditions and offers a vision of the future.”

 

Following are the four honorable mentions: