Miller's Court in Baltimore wins top prize in 2015 Rudy Bruner Award

The results were revealed for the 2015 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence! After the five finalist projects were announced this past February, the 2015 selection committee visited and evaluated each site to ultimately decide which one will be crowned the winner. Since 1987, the biennial prize highlights exemplary projects of urban placemaking in the U.S. for design quality in addition to economic and social influence in America's broader urban fabric.

None of the five finalists were left empty-handed at the end of the competition. Baltimore's Miller’s Court, conceived and developed by Seawall Development Company, won the top prize of Gold Medallist and $50,000. The four remaining finalists received a Silver Medal prize and $10,000 each. The cash prizes would be used to benefit their respective projects.

Catch a glimpse of Miller's Court right below.

"Miller’s Court is the renovation of a vacant, historic manufacturing building into an affordable and supportive living and working environment for school teachers and education-focused nonprofits. Completed in 2009, the project is located 2.5 miles north of downtown Baltimore at the edge of Remington, a socioeconomically and culturally diverse neighborhood near Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus."

"The project was conceived and developed by small socially-minded business Seawall Development Company, LLC working in partnership with Enterprise Community Investment, Inc., Marks, Thomas Architects, and many other key stakeholders.

Aware of the challenges facing the Baltimore school system and professionals entering the field through programs like Teach for America, Seawall sought to build a safe, welcoming community for teachers and a home for allied nonprofits that would strengthen the neighborhood and city."

"Attracting national attraction since its completion, the project has generated additional investment in Remington and has also been replicated in Philadelphia."

"'...The idea that real estate can, in some small way, play a role in improving the quality of children’s education is something about which we are incredibly passionate,'" Seawall Partner Thibault Manekin said in a statement.

The 2015 RBA selection committee included:

• Rebecca Flora - AICP, LEED ND-BD+C, Sustainable Communities Practice Leader, Ecology & Environment, Chestertown, MD
• Larry Kearns - AIA, CSA, LEED AP, Principal, Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago, IL
• India Pierce Lee - Program Director, Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, OH
• Mia Lehrer - FASLA, President, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Los Angeles, CA
• James Stockard - Lecturer in Housing, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
• Mark Stodola - Mayor, Little Rock, AR

Previously: Finalists of the 2015 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence