MIT/UW-Madison Team Takes $50K Prize in 2009 ULI Design Competition

MADISON, Wis (Apr 7) — A design presented by a team of students from MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning and the Wisconsin School of Business Real Estate MBA program was selected as the winning plan in the 2009 ULI Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition. The announcement came Thursday, April 2, after final round presentations by teams during a public forum held at the University of Denver. The winning team received a prize of $50,000.

Teams were challenged to redevelop the Denver Design District (DDD), a 75-acre parcel just south of downtown, while incorporating essential aspects of sustainable community development in urban design as identified by ULI. For their winning project plan, the MIT/UW-Madison team presented, “Panorama Station, Proposal for Transit-Oriented Development and Public Space at Alameda Station.” This is the team’s second time participating in the competition, earning honorable mention in 2008. Team members included Blair Humphreys, Jesse Hunting, Duncan McIlvaine and Sarah Snider from MIT and Eric Komppa from UW-Madison.

"This competition was a great real world, but risk-free, exercise in figuring out what works financially, socially and environmentally. The biggest challenge for the site was developing the appropriate phasing scheme such that the current tenants can stay in operation without impacting accessibility and parking requirements. We were able to find a compromise between profitability and creative design," Komppa stated. “Representing our program in the finals and ultimately winning was truly an unbelievable honor. I know we would have made Graaskamp proud."

The annual ULI (Urban Land Institute) Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition is a graduate-level competition providing an interdisciplinary learning experience for real estate and design students. Self-formed student teams are asked to provide an urban design and a financial feasibility strategy for a large-scale real life site in the United States selected by ULI.

This year's competition included 99 teams from universities across the United States and Canada. Tanner Mueller, a first year student in the Wisconsin School of Business Real Estate MBA program also participated in the seventh annual competition, collaborating with students from UW-Milwaukee.

The Wisconsin School of Business real estate program is one of the oldest academic real estate programs in the world, and one of the best, consistently ranked as one of the top three real estate programs, graduate and undergraduate, in the United States. The MBA Program is administered through the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate. Established in 1971 to foster excellence in real estate education, research and outreach through community and professional partnerships, the Center was renamed in 2007 in honor of the late Professor James A. Graaskamp, who taught in the program for 24 years and was chairman for two decades until his death in 1988. Graaskamp was a thought leader in the areas of appraisal, development and real estate education, as well as a valued mentor and inspirational figure to his students. For more information, visit www.bus.wisc.edu/wcre.

The $50,000 prize will be shared among the five team members. A portion of the prize will be dedicated to support the James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business.

For more information on the Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), visit ULI.org.