Five finalists have been selected in the Isla Vista Revitalization Urban Design Competition. The purpose of the competition is to identify a vision that will serve as a blueprint for a master plan for Isla Vista, an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County. The plan is to be developed in cooperation with the local community over the next three years. The Isla Vista Revitalization Urban Design Competition is sponsored by the County of Santa Barbara; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District. A panel made up of five community representatives and five California planning and design professionals served as the jury for the first stage of the competition. The finalists were chosen from a field of 29 entries from around the world. Each of the finalists will receive a $10,000 honorarium to support their participation in the second stage of the competition. The winner of the competition, to be announced in February, will receive an additional $10,000 honorarium. The sponsors expect to negotiate a contract for professional services with the designers of the winning entry to help produce the new master plan. The five finalists are:
Blackbird Architects, Santa Barbara. Team leader: Ken Radtkey Di Domenico & Partners, New York, N.Y. Team leader: Kenji Suzuki Envision Design, Berkeley, Calif.
Team Leader: Daniel Parolek Glatting Jackson, Orlando, Florida. Team leader: Ed McKinney Urbanus Arch, Los Angeles. Team Leader: P. Vaughn Davies
In announcing the finalists, William H. Liskamm, an architect and environmental planner from San Rafael who serves as an adviser to the competition, said the jury was "really excited about these entries." He noted that the design teams responsible for producing the five finalists all will come to Isla Vista in early December for site visits and discussions.
Each entry is made up of two drawings or schematics measuring 30 inches by 40 inches, plus an accompanying narrative describing the concept. All of the entries have been on exhibit since November 2; written comments from visitors to the exhibit were submitted to the jury. Until the five finalists were selected, the design teams behind all of the entries were anonymous.
The 29 entries in the competition remain on display through November 15 in Embarcadero Hall, 935 Embarcadero del Norte in Isla Vista, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Starting on November 16 and continuing through December, drawings and supporting materials from the five finalists will be exhibited at the University Center on the UCSB campus. The curator for the competition exhibition was Nancy Arnold.
Contact telephone numbers for the finalists:
Blackbird Architects: (805) 957-1315 Di Domenico & Partners: (212) 337-0400, ext. 238 Envision Design: (510) 558-6957 Glatting Jackson: (407) 843-6552 Urbanus Arch: (213) 385-2737
Other key contacts:
William H. Liskamm, FAIA (415) 453-3966 Competition Adviser
Lisa Plowman (805) 568-2025
Supervising Planner, Planning and Development County of Santa Barbara
Robert Kuntz (805) 893-3857
Assistant Chancellor, Budget and Planning University of California, Santa Barbara
Share this article
Related Stories
