Redesign ideas sought for Fort Collins’ Mason Street
FORT COLLINS — Suggestions are being sought for redesign of the Mason Street corridor between Mulberry and Laurel streets in Fort Collins.
The UniverCity Urban Lab — a partnership among Colorado State University’s Institute for the Built Environment, the city of Fort Collins, the Downtown Development Authority, professionals and citizens — is seeking creative suggestions for the improvements along Mason from sidewalk to sidewalk, but excluding the railroad easement.
Mason Street runs one block west of College Avenue, Fort Collins’ main north-south artery, and is distinguished by the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks in the middle of the street. Frequent freight-train traffic uses those tracks, and Transfort’s MAX bus rapid transit system stops at stations along the route.
SPONSORED CONTENT
How Platte River Power Authority is accelerating its energy transition
Platte River Power Authority, the community-owned wholesale electricity provider for Northern Colorado, has a history of bold initiatives.
“Fort Collins grew up alongside the railroad, but the relationship has not always been a comfortable one,” said Scott Carman, principal of landscape architecture firm C2 Studio. “What was once seen as a lifeblood of the city is now often the focus of residents’ complaints about noise, traffic delays and safety issues. It’s quite unusual for an American city to have a major freight line running right down the middle of one of its downtown thoroughfares, utterly unseparated from the adjacent city streets. But it’s a condition that we hope can become an opportunity for visionary urban design and artistic intervention that creates a more welcoming pedestrian environment, addresses the safety issues inherent in this arrangement, and ideally transforms what many consider to be a nuisance into a unique expression of the culture and heritage for Fort Collins.”
UniverCity, which advocates for high-quality urban design and a livable city through community involvement and collaboration, is challenging architects, artists, urban planners, designers, students and others to submit their ideas to enhance the area for all users, whether they are traveling by car, bus, bicycle or foot.
Cash prizes of $3,000, $1,500 and $500 will be awarded for the top designs. The three-stage design competition, which launched Friday, will accept submissions until July 29. A finalist exhibition and award announcement will take place at Galvanize Fort Collins this fall.
“In a rapidly growing city like Fort Collins, having an inclusive discussion about the built environment is becoming ever more crucial,” said Jane Choi, assistant professor in CSU’s Department of Landscape Architecture, in a media release. “A design competition, and this one in particular, is a critical tool that allows us to have a fruitful dialogue across a wide spectrum of community members, from planners to academics to business leaders to policy makers to ordinary citizens. It invites both far-reaching and practical ideas, promotes excellence in our endeavor to create beautiful solutions for our city’s development, and promotes a culture of shared investment in space.”
Three winners will be selected from six finalists by a panel of judges that includes Hansy Better Barraza, associate professor in the Rhode Island School of Design and principal of Studio Luz Architects; Ed Goodman of Fort Collins-based design studio Spiral Experiences; Walter Hood, professor at the University of California-Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design and creative director of Hood Design Studio; and Fort Collins Mayor Wade Troxell.
Entry fees for teams or individuals are $75 for professionals and $25 for students. The competition aims to inspire bold and visionary design possibilities that create a unique and memorable experience for residents and visitors to the area.
The Urban Lab hosted a series of open houses from 2013 to 2015 seeking public input regarding concerns over the Mason Street Downtown Corridor. Those who submit designs are asked to address the areas identified by citizens during those forums, including lack of pedestrian safety and priority; pollution including noise, litter and exhaust; confusion of shared road responsibilities for multi-modal users; a lack of local cultural features and engagement with natural systems; aesthetic concerns; a need for messaging in the corridor; and a sense of division between the east and west sides of the street.
For more information or to register, visit http://urbanlab.colostate.edu.
