A couple of weeks ago , I covered the re:CONNECT competition that the City of Vancouver held to develop new ideas for the future of the Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts and the larger Eastern Core area. Over 4,000 people cast over 15,000 ballots  and made over 1,500 comments on the 104 submissions.

After the dust settled, only one thing was clear, however: there is not a clear consensus on what Vancouverites want to do with the viaducts.  A total of 14 proposals received mention at the awards presentation, with only one proposal catching the eye of both the expert panel and the public.

After the providence of this proposal was announced, it wasn’t hard to see why this one rose to the top of a crowded filed and caught they eye of both the professional and the public.  Indeed, the team behind the proposal represents a who’s who of Vancouver planners and architects, led by Norm Hotson, Larry Beasley, Jim Green, and Margot Long.

Their submission proposes the total removal of the viaducts and a redesign of Pacific and Expo Boulevards with enhances park space.  However, the judges could only give it an honourable mention as the proposal included “a large built form with an orientation that creates a barrier to the historic precinct.”

Here’s what the City of Vancouver had to say about the contest:

December 2, 2011

Viaducts competition winners announced

Vancouver’s viaducts were the centre of attention last night as 15 concepts, ranging from the practical to the highly imaginative, were recognized at the finale to the re:CONNECT ideas competition. Designs were as diverse as creating wide boulevards, monuments and museums to building recreational canals and adding new parks.<

More than 100 entries were received in the competition offering creative possibilities for the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts and the Eastern Core, an area that stretches from Northeast False Creek to Clark Drive.

A design jury, made up of renowned international and local urban experts, selected winners in three categories for the two competition entry streams – free and fee: Connecting the Core, Visualizing the Viaducts, and Wild Card.

The free stream (no cash prize) was a low- barrier stream directed toward people from any background who could enter without a fee. The fee stream, which required an entry fee and awarded cash prizes, was directed more at design professionals such as architects, engineers, as well as urban planners and their skill sets.

The jury was made up of five industry professionals: Allan Jacobs, globally-renowned urbanist and planning consultant (Berkeley, California); Rob Bennett, Executive Director, Portland Sustainability Initiative (Portland, Oregon); Joe Hruda, Member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (MAIBC), architect and founding partner at CIVITAS (Vancouver, BC); Tom Hutton, professor at the Centre for Human Settlements and School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC (Vancouver, B.C.); and Patricia Patkau, MAIBC, architect and founding partner of Patkau Architects (Vancouver, B.C.).

The People’s Choice award winners were also announced last night, chosen by the public who were invited to pick their favourites in each category by voting online. The competition attracted entries from across Canada and 13 other countries. More than 15,000 votes were received online, along with over 1,500 comments.

For details on the winning entries, visit vancouver.ca/reconnect

While no decisions on the viaducts are being made through re:CONNECT, the ideas the competition generated are intended to spark dialogue and help inform and inspire planning for this part of Vancouver.

The viaducts options will feed into the public consultation for the Transportation Plan update in spring 2012. Planning work to develop policy directions for the Eastern Core will continue in the New Year, with a report to Council anticipated in summer 2012.