Market Square Urban Design Competition announced for Stratford, Ontario
The Market Square Advisory Committee of the City of Stratford is pleased
to announce the Stratford Market Square Design Competition. Professional
designers, architects and planners have been invited to prepare urban
design proposals for the Market Square site.
The competition opens April 1, with the final deadline for registration
on July 7. Submissions will be received until September 8, 2006.
The objectives of the design competition are to stimulate imaginative
architectural and urban design proposals that respond to the Stratford
Market Square's context, constraints and opportunities; to achieve
design excellence and to improve the downtown core of the City of Stratford.
"The community clearly sees the Market Square as our space – a special
place for the people of Stratford", says Marcia Matsui, Chairperson of
the Market Square Advisory Committee. "Market Square has the potential
to become the dynamic heart of the city – a public focal point that
invites residents and visitors to enjoy the beauty of City Hall and to
linger, interact and attend gatherings in the downtown core."
The winning design will be announced September 27, 2006. The public will
be able to review all design submissions and provide input to the
competition at a public open house prior to the final judging of the
competition.
The winning submission will receive a cash prize of $3,000 and will be
recommended to Stratford City Council for implementation. An honourable
mention will receive a cash prize of $1,000.
George Baird, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
at the University of Toronto is the chairperson of the competition jury.
Professor Baird is a partner in the Toronto-based architecture and urban
design firm Baird Sampson Neuert Architects Inc.
Professor Baird leads the jury, consisting of the following design and
planning professionals, and local community members:
•Dan Leeming, Principal, The Urban Planning Partnership, Adjunct
Professor, University of Guelph School of Landscape Architecture
•Eleanor Kane, Co-owner, The Old Prune Restaurant, former chair Gallery
Stratford Board, former member, Stratford Festival Board of Directors
•Tom Orr, Broker, Orr Insurance and Past Chair of the Stratford
Historical Society, Stratford Perth Historical Archives and Past Chair,
Stratford Festival Board of Directors
•Karen Hammond, Lecturer & Admissions Officer, University of Waterloo
School of Planning
Stratford's Market Square is an historically significant and physically
intact, legible, urban space that is presently underutilized.
Located adjacent to City Hall, it has a distinctive form, a trilateral
space, produced by three historic trade routes and the intersection of
three 18th- and 19th-century survey grids. Market Square is a prominent
part of Stratford's downtown heritage conservation district.
Renewed interest in the future of Market Square arose due to a Transit
Study that recommended the location of a permanent transit terminal in
the Square. Because to the far-reaching impact such as decision would
have on the downtown core, Stratford's City Centre Committee initiated a
community engagement process.
Public feedback gained through a series of visioning sessions and an
open house event indicated a clear consensus that the current usage of
the Square is not appropriate, and alternative visions need to be
considered. The Market Square Advisory Committee, a committee of
Stratford City Council, was formed to host a design competition to
solicit concepts from design professionals.
The Market Square Advisory Committee a committee of Stratford City
council, and is composed of local citizens who have an interest in the
vitality and heritage of the Market Square. The committee's objectives
are: to provide recommendations to Council regarding a final concept
plan for the Market Square; to oversee and host a Design Competition for
a concept for Market Square; and to recommend to Council a suggested
time frame and process for implementing the design, and will assist with
a fundraising strategy and the identification of funding opportunities.
For more information about Stratford's Market Square, please visit
http://www.city.stratford.on.ca/marketsquare/competition.asp