AIA California announces 2022 Urban Design Awards winners

The AIA California has named three projects as the winners of this year’s Urban Design Awards, which serve a survey of different methods being employed across the industry to “reclaim and reinvent” different urban landscapes nationwide.

Connecticut native Doug Suisman took home the Honor Award for his hometown Hartford 400 design, a three-pronged master plan that will bring online a walkable riverfront district, pedestrian access, and a new greenway to the capital city in time for the 400th anniversary of its founding in 2035. He was followed by two Merit Award projects from Perkins&Will and CMG Landscape Architects (with JENSEN) that will improve San Francisco and Sacramento with a playground renovation and 31-acre railway transportation-centered redevelopment, respectively.

“We are delighted and honored to recognize and honor this wonderful work with the 2022 AIACA Urban Design Awards," 2022 chapter President Rona Rothenberg said in a statement. "Each project advances AIA California’s strategic goals and objectives, vision and mission, from excellence in sustainable urban and regional planning to well-designed, resilient communities from which we come, and to which we return and collaborate."

Jurors included Studio-MLA founder Mia Lehrer and UCLA Extension's Landscape Program Director Stephanie Landregan, along with three others. Explore this year's winners below.

Honor Award: Hartford 400 by Suisman Urban Design (Hartford, CT)

Jury comments: “An excellent plan for the heart of Hartford, envisioning unifying and livable strategies. It reimagines the next generation of cities. It solves the problems of the previous generation of urban planning. It aggregates a number of moves: it removes elevated freeways, connects to the river, and creates a linear park. As the design is realized, it needs to consider how to connect to the urban fabric and make sure that the people that inhabit the adjacent area can remain.” 

Merit Award: Willie "Woo Woo" Wong Playground by CMG Landscape Architects with JENSEN (San Francisco, CA)

Jury comments: “Land is very scarce in San Francisco and for this design team to make an “oasis” for children in a concrete jungle is a game changer. It’s a complex urban project--how it handles the relationship between the sidewalk and the internal parts of the building and the building envelope is very clever. It’s well-executed and offers a variety of experiences. Proof of its success is that it’s built and being used. It’s a joyful and playful space.”

Merit Award: Sacramento Valley Station by Perkins&Will (Sacramento, CA) 

Jury comments: "This project is well conceived; it’s a noble, transit-based plan. A holistic approach towards energy and the environment as well as land use, makes for a tangible implementable proposal. They are trying to make the large, existing void between the station and the actual train tracks work--it’s very tricky. The new transit concourse becomes the beacon of life for this Transit Oriented Design, providing jobs and vital connectivity from the other side of the 'tracks.'"

Learn more about this year's awards program here.