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Student Design Competition Shadows the Real Thing
BY ANDREW VOWLES
A finalist was named this month for the professional makeover of Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square. But under a shadow competition co-sponsored by the University of Guelph, student teams from around the world have until the end of March to complete their own design proposals for Toronto's civic gathering place.
By early March, 144 teams had registered for the student design competition, which is sponsored by U of G's School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) and by the schools of planning and architecture at the University of Waterloo.
“This competition not only creates a real-life design experience for architects, planners and landscape architects, but it also positions Guelph and our school as leaders in design,” says SEDRD director Prof. Maurice Nelischer.
The professional competition to revitalize Nathan Phillips Square — mostly unaltered since it was built in 1965 as the home of Toronto City Hall — attracted proposals from 48 teams around the world. The winning design was announced in early March.
Guelph students routinely visit the Toronto landmark and tourist attraction as part of the landscape architecture program here. Looking for a way to involve students, Nelischer asked the City of Toronto for its design specs and enlisted his Waterloo counterparts in the shadow competition.
Several U of G teams are registered, including about 30 graduate students in a design course taught by Prof. Lise Burcher, who is the U of G liaison for the competition. “It's a great opportunity for learning,” she says.
The student competition is using the same program and data as the city-run professional competition, but will have different product requirements, a different jury and a single-stage schedule. Submissions will be judged by a landscape architect, urban planner, architect and City of Toronto representative. The winners will receive cash awards ($1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second and $500 for third).
Organizers plan to display the student designs at a Toronto venue this spring.