Winners of the 2014 DawnTown Alternative Mobilities competition

Miami is one of several U.S. cities promoting the value of better city infrastructure and the existence of alternative modes of transportation, as emphasized in the Miami DDA Masterplan. In collaboration with the initiative, local non-profit group DawnTown hosted the Alternative Mobilities competition.

The ideas competition asked designers to create a new meeting space in Downtown Miami's Central Business District for people using these alternative transit strategies, like biking and ridesharing.

At the end of the competition, three winners were selected:

• 1st place: "The Catalyst" by Studio GeKo - Bastian Gerner, Pola Rebecca Koch (Arhus, Denmark)
• 2nd place: "Mobile Miami" by Jeff Jasinski and Matt Dureiko (Kent State University, Cleveland, Ohio)
• 3rd place: MoPAD by Michael Barker (New York City)

Jury members featured: Felipe Azenha, Founder of Miami Urbanist & Editor at Transit Miami; Jeremy Calleros Gauger, Senior Associate at Arquitectonica GEO; David Rifkind, Associate Professor of Architecture at Florida International University; Adam Schachner, Executive Director of Emerge Miami; Alex Silva, Vice President of the AIA Miami Chapter and Principal at Silva Architects; Andrew Silva, Architect at Silva Architects; and Rachel Valbrun, Project Manager at Gardiner Theobald.

Check out all the winning entries below.

1st place: "The Catalyst" by Studio GeKo - Bastian Gerner, Pola Rebecca Koch (Arhus, Denmark)

Project summary: "The location of the site in the most dense area of the existing Miami Transportation Network holds the huge potential of creating alternative transportation hub with this being a catalyst for healthier, safer and more sustainable public life. The architecture of the new hub satisfies the functional needs while providing the users with a rich mobility linked program and high quality urban spaces."

2nd place: "Mobile Miami" by Jeff Jasinski and Matt Dureiko (Kent State University, Cleveland, Ohio)

Project summary: "Mobile Miami stresses the importance of intermodal transportation as a growing urban trend in the city. The concept projects real-time digital information to communicate the availability of all modes of on-site transportation. This allows for absolute freedom of choice on how to better connect with Miami."

3rd place: MoPAD by Michael Barker (New York City)

Project summary: "The traditional transit center is one of hard infrastructure, designed simply to negotiate the flows of people and goods. The future transit hub will be multi-modal, flexible, and networked. In Miami, this hub will also be open to the vibrant and diverse street life of the city. MoPAD is about more than just movement, it is about culture and festivity. MoPAD is a prototype, a “kit-of-parts” that can be utilized throughout the city to promote networked, community-based, and healthy modes of transportation.”

Images courtesy of the DawnTown Alternative Mobilities competition