Team members Conner Smith, Wanli Gao, Bryan Katz, Jingxin Xu, and Siqi Li received an honorable mention for their ULI Hines Competition submission titled, "Looping the Banks." 
Team members Conner Smith, Wanli Gao, Bryan Katz, Jingxin Xu, and Siqi Li received an honorable mention for their ULI Hines Competition submission titled, "Looping the Banks." 

Georgia Tech students from the Schools of Architecture and Building Construction received an honorable mention in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Hines Student Competition.

Students from the Georgia Tech Schools of Architecture and Building Construction were selected as honorable mentions in the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Hines Student Competition. 

This year, the competition enters its 17th year. According to the ULI competition website, "The ULI Hines Student Competition is part of the [Urban Land] Institute’s ongoing effort to raise interest among young people in creating better communities, improving development patterns, and increasing awareness of the need for multidisciplinary solutions to development and design challenges." 

Seven teams from Georgia Tech entered this year's competition. Each team must have five graduate students from at least three different disciplines to be eligible to compete.

The assignment for this year's competition explored the redevelopment of a site in Cincinnati comprising portions of a highway, the central business district, and the central riverfront along the Ohio River. Student groups took a deep dive into the potential to bridge the highway and combine it with adjacent properties, ultimately to connect both areas to create a sustainable, pedestrian-focused, mixed-use neighborhood.

The competition, which kicked off on January 14, is designed to simulate a real world design, planning, and development project.  This year's assignment focused on Cincinnati’s vision for connecting the central riverfront entertainment district.

The Georgia Tech team selected as an honorable mention submitted a project titled, "Looping the Banks." Conner Smith, Master of Architecture student, served as team leader for Looping the Banks. Also on the team were Master of Architecture student, Wanli Gao, Master of Real Estate Development student, Bryan Katz, and Master of Science in Urban Design students, Jingxin Xu and Siqi Li. School of Architecture professor and director of the Urban Design program, Ellen Dunham-Jones, and School of Architecture professor of the practice, Brian Bell were faculty advisors for this team. Director of the Master of Real Estate Development for the School of Building Construction, Rick Porter, and associate principal at Perkins+Will, Atlanta, Cassie Branum were professional advisors for Looping the Banks. 

According to the group's project proposal, Looping the Banks aims to complete, "a vibrant loop around the Banks riverfront park" while also, "forming a connection between the Central Business District and the Ohio River." 

“I’m really proud of them," Dunham-Jones said. "I love seeing the students work together and produce so much work with people they’ve never really met before. It’s extraordinary, really.”

The work from all seven teams is currently on exhibition in the Cohen Gallery located on the second floor of the College of Design’s Architecture East Building.

Click here for the ULI Hines Competition press release.