American Institute of Architects Flint Chapter Announces “Revisioning the Municipal Center” International Design Award winners
Flint, Michigan – The Flint Chapter of The American Institute of Architects announced and unveiled its 2022 International Design Competition winners as part of the Greater Flint Arts Council monthly 2ND FRIDAY ART WALK in downtown Flint last week. We received submissions from five different countries spanning across three continents. The design competition was for the REVISIONing of the City of Flint Municipal Center (including City Hall) into a vibrant mixed use development. The purpose of the competition was to come up with a design solution that would demonstrate how a city’s municipal center can be supported and maintained with the revenues generated through creating a vibrant live / work / entertainment. The architectural design program that needed to be incorporated was an entertainment venue, municipal offices, welcome center, residential, business space and retail venues for shopping. With the use of Architectural Design, AIA-Flint challenged competition designers to VISION a state-of-the-art municipal/living/working/shopping/entertaining experience for the future in the heart of downtown Flint.
A panel of judges including local architect John Costa, Former Flint Institute of Arts Director John Henry, Bryan Boyer, Director of the Urban Technology at Taubman College of Architecture and local business owner and downtown activist, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala juried the submittals and selected 3 projects worthy of cash prizes from AIA-Flint. Additionally, the jury selected two projects to receive an Honorable Mention Award. All projects submitted are in the Greater Flint Arts Council Gallery in downtown Flint on display for public viewing until the September 2nd Friday Art walk.

1st Place Winner – Roy & Partners – New Jersey, USA

Judges Comments: the project design “maintains historical status by keeping the existing buildings,” “very practical and creates a new public square!”

2nd Place Winner – Martin Gold Architects – Florida, USA

Judges Comments: this project design expresses “Big picture thinking that addresses all of Downtown and arranges the buildings to create an interior promenade.”

3rd Place Winner – Wu Hao (RMIT University) & Li Tai Chen (University of Melbourne) – Victoria, Australia

Judges Comments: “The proposed buildings use the same DNA as the existing buildings.”

Honorable Mention – Wenyi Zhu – Beijing, China

Judges Comments: the “Most provocative and Most unique.”

Honorable Mention – Natsuki Mori & K2LAB (Waseda University) – Tokyo, Japan

Judges Comments: developed an “awesome model with an interesting concept.”

If you’d like to review the other projects, follow the link below to access the digital submissions.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11NwsBbyVPLDJgz2LuQKRB-SCxVBDk7Jj?usp=sharing

If you’d like to see photos of the awards ceremony (and the Kid Architect design competition also on display) check out this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zNRgPb3yO7wzMJ-cP16y0DF8RpPDvPR3?usp=sharing

If you’d like to check out the project brief or photographs of the existing buildings and site, click on the buttons below.