Charter winners build healthier communities and economies

Iberville Offsites house restoration

Nearly 20 years ago, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) adopted new urbanist design guidelines to transform the worst performing public housing projects into mixed-income neighborhoods through the HOPE VI program.

Today, new urbanists still influence public housing design through HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program. A Choice Neighborhood project, Iberville Offsites, is the stunning Charter Awards Grand Prize winner for 2015 announced Thursday evening in Dallas.

Designed by Kronberg Wall Architects, Iberville Offsites is phase two of a project that has renovated more than 100 houses across three neighborhoods in New Orleans in a way that redefines historic preservation.

“It shows that it is possible to rehabilitate homes on a large enough scale that there is an immediate and significant economic impact and that creates affordable housing in the process,” says Neal Morris, founder of Redmellon Restoration and Development, the developer.

With no new buildings or streets created, Iberville Offsites does not fit any stereotype of New Urbanism. Yet the Iberville team skillfully used tax credits and other federal and state programs creatively to restore beautiful houses and help low-income people in deteriorating inner-city neighborhoods. “They’ve done all of the technical things, but the end result is beautiful without aesthetic compromise,” says Marianne Cusato, an author, house designer, and member of the awards jury. 

The Charter Awards honored another Choice Neighborhoods this year—Hunters View in San Francisco—designed by Mithun|Solomon. Hunters View replaces a socially isolating, dangerous “project" with a new neighborhood patterned after San Francisco’s signature places like Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill.

Hunters View street

Mithun's Daniel Solomon, a CNU cofounder, knows The City by the Bay as well as any architect. Hunters View townhouses step like stairs up the hilly streets in a grid imposed on the topography, providing impressive views of the Bay punctuated by a hilltop park with a panoramic vista. The design details contributed to a neighborhood that is more secure, better connected, and a healthier place to live. No residents were displaced, even during construction. Hunters View adds value to a part of San Francisco that tourists rarely see.

Another great example of a Charter Award winner making a difference is San Antonio's 26-acre Pearl Brewery, which at the turn of the millennium was abandoned and desolate—a collection of empty buildings and pavement with only five trees. Now, thanks to an ambitious Redevelopment Master Plan, the project designed by Lake|Flato Architects is an economic and social powerhouse, drawing an average of more than 10,000 visitors to events weekly, including 3,000 shoppers at a farmers market. Thirty locally run businesses thrive in the Pearl District, which is known for its restaurants. 

Three hundred and fifty households call the former industrial site home, and it has become the hub of the city’s revitalizing River North neighborhood. The largest solar roof array in Texas has been installed there. The Pearl District is a model for energizing the underutilized city, strengthening local businesses, and advocating sustainable design strategies.

The revitalized Pearl District hosts a weekly farmers market

The award winners include projects in Britain, China, and Central America in addition to the US. They meet the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism at three scales: Building/street/block; neighborhood/corridor; and region. They include public and private sector projects. "This year’s awards highlight the many ways that urban design and architecture enrich people’s lives in a wide range of settings,” says Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, this year’s jury chair.

The Student Grand Prize, Cities of a New Port Metropolis submitted by the University of Notre Dame, addresses a global economic issue, showing how a port city in Central American can be designed to function as a human-scale city, Plater-Zyberk says.

The Charter Awards, administered annually by CNU since 2001, celebrate the best work in placemaking. Here’s a complete list of 10 winners and 11 Awards of Merit.

Iberville Offsites (Grand Prize)
Firm: Kronberg Wall Architects
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Category: Block, Street, and Building

Cities of a New Port Metropolis (Grand Prize, Student)
Organization: University of Notre Dame
Location: Central America
Category: The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town

UCLA Weyburn
Firm: Mithun
Location: Los Angeles, California
Category: Block, Street, and Building

Code SMTX: Tactical Urbanism Intervention and Project Kickoff
Firm: Dover, Kohl & Partners
Location: San Marcos, Texas
Category: Block, Street, and Building

Hunters View
Firm: Mithun
Location: San Francisco, California
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Pearl Brewery Redevelopment Master Plan
Firm: Lake|Flato Architects
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Transit-Oriented Neighborhood Revitalization
Firm: Torti Gallas and Partners and the Town of Babylon, New York
Location: Wyandanch, Babylon, New York
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Aldershot
Firm: ADAM Urbanism
Location: Aldershot, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Virginia’s Capitol Master Plan
Firm: Wallace Roberts & Todd
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

30 Years of Scripps College Campus Stewardship
Firm: Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists
Location: Claremont, California
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Plan El Paso
Organization: City of El Paso
Location: El Paso, Texas
Category: The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town

Micro Lofts at the Arcade Providence (Merit Award)
Firm: Northeast Collaborative Architects
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
Category: Block, Street, and Building

Sullivan Station (Merit Award)
Firm: VOA Associates Incorporated
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Category: Block, Street, and Building

The Oval (Merit Award)
Firm: ADAM Architecture
Location: Kennington, London, England
Category: Block, Street, and Building

Arise (Merit Award)
Firm: Torti Gallas and Partners and the City of South Bend
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Beaufort County Multijurisdictional Form-Based Code/Land Development Code (Merit Award)
Firm: Opticos Design
Location: Beaufort County, South Carolina
Category: The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town

University of Texas – Pan American Campus Master Plan (Merit Award)
Firm: Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects with Michael Dennis & Associates
Location: Edinburg, Texas
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor 

Luhe City Center (Merit Award)
Firm: Thadani Architects+Urbanists
Location: Luhe, Jiangsu Province, China
Category: The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town 

Sulphur Dell (Merit Award, Student)
Organization: University of Maryland
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor

Master Plan for the Town of LaFox, Illinois (Merit Award, Student)
Organization: University of Notre Dame School of Architecture
Location: LaFox, Illinois
Category: The Region: Metropolis, City, and Town

Visions of Lafayette (Merit Award, Student)
Organization: University of Notre Dame Graduate Urban Design Class of 2013
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana
Category: Neighborhood, District, and Corridor 

Robert Steuteville is editor and executive director of Better Cities & Towns