View Full Version : The i3 Challenge - UW South Campus Gateway
DKsan
11-18-2010, 10:48 PM
The i3 Challenge - UW South Campus Gateway
innovate.uwaterloo.ca
Twitter (http://twitter.com/i3challenge) | Facebook (http://on.fb.me/doyoui3)
The purpose of the i3 Challenge is to solicit and develop innovative solutions to enhance the form, function or image of the entrance of the University of Waterloo’s South Campus. The University of Waterloo is home to exceptional students; this project facilitates and encourages Waterloo students to re-create their University in partnership with the University, its Faculties, its Operations team and the Region of Waterloo.
About i3 Challenge
The i3 Challenge is seeking student proposals for a creative and innovative design for the South Campus Gateway that inspires and captures the innovative spirit of the University of Waterloo. Student submissions may address one or more of the following categories:
• Enhanced integration with community
• Sustainability
• Campus accessibility and transportation
• University of Waterloo identity and marketing
The Site
The area for which design proposals are requested includes the following:
• The public-right-of-way along University Avenue between Westmount Avenue and Phillip Street, and along Seagram Drive between the northern boundary of Waterloo Park, traversing University Avenue and extending to South Campus Hall.
• Parking Lots H, HV, C and their adjoining green spaces.
490 (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/images/project-map.jpg)
The Process
Student teams will compete over a seven month period. Teams will have three deadlines: an initial expression of interest in February 2011; a more defined proposal in April 2011; a final submission and presentation in May 2011 with winners announced. Construction is set to begin in Fall 2011.
DKsan
11-18-2010, 10:50 PM
- As a quick sort of response to this: on the Your Team page, it says that you need at least two faculties represented. Watch all the planners and architects try to form teams with each other. xD
^ Already getting ready for this!
kyle90
11-18-2010, 11:24 PM
Can't wait to start!
mpd618
11-18-2010, 11:24 PM
This is fantastic, and I'm really looking forward to this.
WizardofGAHHXD
11-18-2010, 11:33 PM
very very excited ^^
haha I saw the I3 signs all over the place and failed to make that connection between this competition and the little postcards, maybe a link next time?
DKsan
11-19-2010, 12:13 AM
I got an email a few hours ago because I retweeted something someone said about a week and a half ago.
I do believe they only launched the website and Facebook today. The postcards weren't a good idea though.
Relavant parts from the email:
The President has put aside $100,000 for a project to be put in place to transform the South Campus Gateway. Student submissions may address one or more of the following categories: Enhanced integration with community, Sustainability, Campus accessibility and transportation or University of Waterloo identity and marketing.
We're looking for groups of students to work together from across campus to put these ideas together. The $100,000 would be used for a project that would begin in the Summer of 2011. Another component of the submission would be a larger 5 year plan for the entire South Campus area.
Spokes
11-19-2010, 05:48 AM
This is an awesome idea, I hope it generates a ton of excitement on campus, not just among the people participating, but everyone.
Im excited to see the proposals. Hopefully it emphasizes integration with the community.
IEFBR14
11-19-2010, 08:14 AM
Great idea! I always thought that UW's main entrance was rather shabby and didn't do justice to the rest of campus. That booth has been there for decades. It looked like a throwback to Checkpoint Charlie even when it was new. And the nice boulevard between Seagram Stadium and University seemed to be wasted.
I'd also like to see some linkage with Waterloo Park for pedestrians/cyclists, e.g. well-maintained linkages between PI/BarrelYards/WMRC and the new entrance. Right now you have to cut across parking lots and/or obscure trails in the west part of Waterloo Park. This isn't welcoming at the best of times, let alone at night or after major snow storms.
Spokes
11-19-2010, 08:35 AM
Great idea! I always thought that UW's main entrance was rather shabby and didn't do justice to the rest of campus. That booth has been there for decades. It looked like a throwback to Checkpoint Charlie even when it was new. And the nice boulevard between Seagram Stadium and University seemed to be wasted.
I'd also like to see some linkage with Waterloo Park for pedestrians/cyclists, e.g. well-maintained linkages between PI/BarrelYards/WMRC and the new entrance. Right now you have to cut across parking lots and/or obscure trails in the west part of Waterloo Park. This isn't welcoming at the best of times, let alone at night or after major snow storms.
I think they really need to emphasize that entire intersection, but it'd require well designed gateway buildings on all four corners.
steve.krysak
11-21-2010, 07:14 PM
Great to see lots of enthusiasm! Be sure to come out to Bomber at the SLC on campus on Tuesday, November 23rd to find out more information and meet potential teammates. We're also giving away an iPad to one lucky attendee.
Cheers,
Steve Krysak
University of Waterloo
innovate.uwaterloo.ca (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca)
@i3challenge (http://twitter.com/i3challenge)
Spokes
11-21-2010, 08:09 PM
Welcome to to Wonderful Waterloo Steve!!
markster
11-21-2010, 09:23 PM
Great to see lots of enthusiasm! Be sure to come out to Bomber at the SLC on campus on Tuesday, November 23rd to find out more information and meet potential teammates. We're also giving away an iPad to one lucky attendee.
Cheers,
Steve Krysak
University of Waterloo
innovate.uwaterloo.ca (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca)
@i3challenge (http://twitter.com/i3challenge)
Time?
Ah, 4pm.
steve.krysak
11-21-2010, 11:35 PM
Time?
Ah, 4pm.
See you there!
BuildingScout
11-22-2010, 09:23 AM
Great idea. Several visitors had asked me if UW stood for United Way since the only big sign at the South entrance used to be the United Way campaign contributions thermometer. I'd say write University of Waterloo along the green on the north side of university avenue between the railtracks and the entrance. Then put a big nice futuristic, inviting open gate at the entrance. I.e. plenty of vertical beams but no horizontal beam to maintain the feeling of openness.
IEFBR14
11-23-2010, 08:38 AM
http://media.therecord.topscms.com/images/7a/85/6edeb9d04a18b4a585af82c8d55c.jpeg
University of Waterloo wants a better main entrance (http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/818052)
A design competition will be launched Tuesday at the University of Waterloo for ideas and plans to improve the main entrance to the south campus around University Avenue and Seagram Drive.
For an institution that styles itself as a hotbed of innovation the main entrance to the south campus has long been viewed as uninspiring, even bland.
Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Bomber, university officials will announce the competition that is open to teams of undergraduates and graduate students. Each team must have students from at least two different areas of study and no team is allowed more than two graduate students.
The Provost’s Office will put $100,000 toward the implementation of the winning plans, that will be selected by a panel in May 2011.
It is called the I3 Challenge — for innovate, integrate and implement.
Jeff Casello, a University of Waterloo civil engineer specializing in public transit, said the organizers are most concerned the main entrance and the areas around it.
“Everything around the intersection of Seagram and University, that’s where the main focus is, but if you have a vision for the whole the whole area between Westmount and Phillip, we are happy to hear that,” Casello said.
Casello said the winning plans will have the attention of senior university administrators because the Provost is putting up $100,000 to help implement the ideas.
“He recognizes that is sort of the outward face of the campus to the rest of the world, so improving the way it looks is a win-win-win proposition, and getting students involved seemed like the right thing to do,” Casello said.
The image problems associated with the main entrance are not new and are not limited to a single intersection, says the long-time leader of the school of architecture.
“I can say that one of the very first things that came up when I became the director of the School of Architecture a couple of decades ago was the condition of the main entrance to the university,” Rick Haldenby, the head of the University of Waterloo’s school of architecture, said.
“I actually think the present condition of the entrance is much in need of improvement; I think it has been for decades,” Haldenby said.
The campus needs to be more welcoming and it must be easier for people to find their way around it, Haldenby said.
“There are huge numbers of people who come from outside and have a very hard time deciding where they are supposed to be and where they are supposed to go,” Haldenby said.
“I think the issue starts at the entrance and pervades the whole campus,” Haldenby said. “I think there are a lot of people on the campus who recognize this is the case and I think this design competition is a step.”
Teams of interested students must have overall visions for the area for the next three to 10 years ready for the judges in February 2011. Detailed design proposals are due in April and final submissions and presentations happen in May.
The teams will be asked to focus on better integration of the campus with the community, accessibility and transportation, identity and marketing, sustainability and way finding for visitors.
KevinL
11-23-2010, 02:22 PM
Also in today's Daily Bulletin.
Students invited to fix campus entrance
(http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2010/nov/23tu.html)
The University Avenue edge of the main Waterloo campus could see some student-created changes as the result of a project and competition that are being launched this afternoon in the Bombshelter pub.
The focus is the “south campus gateway”: the area around South Campus Hall, the flagpoles (left) and the entrance road that links to Seagram Drive, and then a broader district including parking lots A and C as well as University Avenue stretching from Westmount Road to past Phillip Street.
Students are being asked to look at that area under the umbrella of the “I3 Project”, where the I-words are Innovate (“borrowing from the university theme”), Integrate (“creating teams of students across faculties”), and Implement.
The key organizer is Jeff Casello, faculty member in the school of planning and associate dean (undergraduate studies) in the faculty of environment. He says the project was hatched in a meeting arranged with Tina Roberts, director of undergraduate marketing and recruitment, and Meg Beckel, vice-president (external relations), when it became clear that all three of them think the University Avenue entrance doesn’t reflect well on the university.
They worked out a plan for inviting student ideas, and “the provost’s office has agreed to fund the winning submission to some degree,” Casello said yesterday. That’ll mean as much as $100,000 to put at least some of the student proposals into place. In the short term, the Region of Waterloo and the Faculty of Environment are each contributing $7,500 to get the project going, and a number of faculty and graduate students in environment are providing expertise, Casello said.
Says a web site (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/): “The I3 Challenge is seeking student proposals for a creative and innovative design for the South Campus Gateway that inspires and captures the innovative spirit of the University of Waterloo. Student submissions may address one or more of the following categories: Enhanced integration with community; Sustainability; Campus accessibility and transportation; University of Waterloo identity and marketing.
“The area for which design proposals are requested includes the public-right-of-way along University Avenue between Westmount Avenue and Phillip Street, and along Seagram Drive between the northern boundary of Waterloo Park, traversing University Avenue and extending to South Campus Hall; Parking Lots H, HV, C and their adjoining green spaces.”
A launch event will be held today at 4:30 at the Bombshelter in the Student Life Centre. “We'll be speaking about more event details,” says the web site, “and giving you a chance to collaborate with other students. Teams will be supported — financially and in the development of their concepts — throughout the competition. The winning submission will contain an element for which the University will fund construction up to $100,000. This is your opportunity to leave a legacy on the campus that will be experienced by the University community, students, faculty, staff, and the Region of Waterloo, for years to come.”
Teams must include three to six students, from at least two different faculties. “Teams will have three deadlines: an initial expression of interest in February 2011; a more defined proposal in April 2011; a final submission and presentation in May 2011 with winners announced. Construction is set to begin in Fall 2011.” Other details are set out on the web site.
The entrance area at the south end of campus has been seen as a problem for many years, with traffic from University Avenue and Seagram Drive encountering heavy bus and pedestrian use within a crowded space. South Campus Hall stands awkwardly close to the ring road, is much busier than anybody foresaw when it was built in 1967, and was most recently the subject of a reconstruction project in 1999. Plans to tear it down were aired in last year’s revision of the campus master plan, and the future of the area was complicated by a proposal to build a “student services building” on part of what’s now parking lot H.
GGHTransit
11-23-2010, 03:16 PM
Just a tiny request for all the people who plan to participate in this challenge......FIX THE EVIL PEDESTRIAN CROSSING AT THE RAILWAY BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED WALKING IN FRONT OF A BUS!
Thats all for now. :RpS_laugh:
- As a quick sort of response to this: on the Your Team page, it says that you need at least two faculties represented. Watch all the planners and architects try to form teams with each other. xD
Haha, funny you mention that. I'm in planning, and I might've contacted a few of my buddies in architecture.. :P
mpd618
12-15-2010, 02:31 PM
Are people still forming teams? Any spots open for someone in Arts?
panamaniac
12-15-2010, 07:23 PM
Are people still forming teams? Any spots open for someone in Arts?
What good would an Artsie be to the team? (Do they still do that at UofW or am I dating myself terribly?) :RpS_smile:
mpd618
12-15-2010, 09:06 PM
What good would an Artsie be to the team? (Do they still do that at UofW or am I dating myself terribly?) :RpS_smile:
Oh, there's certainly the Arts / Engineering / Math divisions in regular interactions, but in this case the teams are actually required to have a mix of Faculties.
Spokes
12-26-2010, 10:49 PM
How many people here on WW are going to be a part of this?
WizardofGAHHXD
12-31-2010, 01:31 PM
=) Looking for one non-environment member to join my team. Private message if you're interested!
Top 10 Semi-Finalist.
http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/team/
;)
van Hemessen
02-16-2011, 09:17 PM
Glad to see there are a few non-ENV/ENG students participating. So it isn't all Planning/Architecture.
Finalists:
http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/team/
DKsan
04-05-2011, 01:12 PM
Finalists:
http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/team/
Wrong thread, Rowe. :P
mpd618
07-15-2011, 03:20 PM
Apparently the i3 Challenge final event (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/team/) is next Wednesday. Registration and other info is here (http://i3challenge.eventbrite.com/).
mpd618
07-21-2011, 01:27 PM
So the i3 Challenge (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/) winner has been revealed. The winning proposal (http://innovate.uwaterloo.ca/final_six/innovate11-final.pdf) (PDF) is from team INOVE.
I liked the idea of the challenge, but I have to say I am underwhelmed by the proposal. Meet the new south gateway, pretty much the same as the old one. (And a counter-flow bike lane on that tiny portion of Seagram? Really?)
markster
07-21-2011, 02:34 PM
Bikes only go into campus, never out.
The top-down view seems to suggest a curb-protected counterflow bike lane.
Also, where are those counter-flow bikes coming from, exactly? Ideas!
A) They're coming from Seagram, and dashing diagonally across the intersection
2) They're coming from the east on Uni, and are dutifully waiting at a red light before they go through the intersection to turn right at the lane
iii) They're coming from the west on Uni, and are dismounting their bicycle and legally walking at the crosswalk across University, then remounting to use the bike lane.
Also...
Oh architects, and their needlessly gigantic PDF files.
BuildingScout
07-21-2011, 02:39 PM
I liked the idea of the challenge, but I have to say I am underwhelmed by the proposal.
From the terms of the competition they are not bound to follow the winning proposal exactly. The good things it has are:
large signage with the name of the university
no real arch on the driveway (that is so two centuries ago)
moving the focus away from cars (four lanes) to a general entrance which includes walking and cycling
Hopefully, university architects will work on this design and take it a step further.
DKsan
07-21-2011, 06:05 PM
Oh architects, and their needlessly gigantic PDF files.
As somebody who is in the planning program at UW, I think I can suggest a reason why the PDF is so huge.
It's the PDF the groups gave to the printers to print out and make their huge poster boards. Generally, the bigger you need to print something out, the bigger the PDF file will be.
van Hemessen
07-21-2011, 06:59 PM
But they totally could have compressed it. 60MB is unreasonably huge.
markster
07-22-2011, 01:33 AM
My father regularly gets scanned, single page, monochrome text documents from architects that are 5 MB.
Their scanners are just set to 3200dpi all the time, and they don't even notice!
IEFBR14
07-30-2011, 09:32 AM
New gateway to UW’s south campus will have wider sidewalk, arches
30Jul11 | Terry Pender, Record staff | Link (http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/571189--new-gateway-to-uw-s-south-campus-will-have-wider-sidewalk-arches)
501
Pedestrians will walk along a wider sidewalk below arches with inspiring words at the main entrance to the south campus of the University of Waterloo.
The university recently sifted through more than 20 entries in a design competition for a new gateway to the south campus and the winning plans call for a grand concourse that is more sustainable, pedestrian-oriented and bicycle friendly...
SeekForth
08-02-2011, 09:51 AM
Can someone explain to me the bike lane in this picture?
It has arrows going towards the University but it appears to be on the wrong side of the street.
What about people riding out of the university? How do you get from the bike lane going the normal way on Seagram to here - I guess with the scramble?
Edit: I see these questions have already been addressed - still quite confusing.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.1.12 Copyright © 2012 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.