Success Despite the Economic Downturn: ULI Announces Ten Winners for the 2009 Awards for Excellence: The Americas Competition
Ten outstanding developments from the Americas have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Awards for Excellence: The Americas competition, along with one winner of the Institute's prestigious Heritage Award. The winners of the awards competition, widely recognized as the land use industry's most prestigious recognition program, were announced at ULI's Spring Council Forum in Atlanta.
The competition is part of the Institute's Awards for Excellence program, established in 1979, which is based on ULI's guiding principle of recognizing best practice through the awards to promote better land use and development. ULI's Awards for Excellence recognize the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial viability.
Over the years, the Awards for Excellence program has evolved from recognition of one development in North America to an international competition with multiple winners. The ULI Awards for Excellence: Europe was added in 2004, followed by the ULI Awards for Excellence: Asia Pacific and the Global Awards in 2005. Throughout the program's history, all types of projects have been recognized for their excellence, including office, residential, recreational, urban/mixed-use, industrial/office park, commercial/retail, new community, rehabilitation, and public projects and programs.
The 2009 Awards for Excellence: The Americas winners were selected from more than 140 entries by a jury of renowned land use development and design experts. The jury was challenged by the large number of applications and the high quality of the projects, which struck the judges as particularly significant in the current economic environment.
The awards winners illustrate that well-designed, well-built projects can thrive even in dark economic times. "These are great examples of success that showcase creativity, innovation, and long-term thinking," Utter said. "Perhaps now more than ever, the ULI Awards for Excellence program reminds us of the key difference that responsible land use development can make, in terms of longevity and overall community sustainability.
The California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California (Developer: The California Academy of Sciences)
The world's largest LEED-Platinum building, the $488 million California Academy of Sciences houses an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, and four-story rain forest.
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute (www.uli.org) is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 40,000 members representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.
For more information, contact Trisha Riggs at 202/624-7086 or email: priggs@uli.org
