The Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA) was established in 1986 by
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
architect Simeon Bruner. The award is named after Simeon Bruner's late father, Rudy Bruner, founder of the Bruner Foundation.
According to the Bruner Foundation, the RBA was created to increase understanding of the role of architecture in the urban environment and promote discussion of what constitutes urban excellence. The award seeks to identify and honor places, rather than people, that address economic and social concerns along with urban design.
Description
According to the Bruner Foundation, the award is intended to be a platform for the discussion of issues related to urban architecture, planning and revitalization. It has been recognized by the
United States Conference of Mayors, The
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...
, and the
Environmental Design Research Association.
The biennial award recognizes one Gold Medal and four silver medal winners each cycle. Each medalist is documented with a detailed case study published online and in a book by the Bruner Foundation. The gold medal winner receives $50,000 and the four silver medalists each receive $10,000 which must be used to benefit the project.
These winners are chosen by a diverse committee of professionals involved in design and development. These committee members include architects, landscape architects, planners, developers, community organizers, financiers, and the mayor of a major metropolitan area.
Criteria and selection process
The selection process involves a study of a project's effect on its urban environment including a detailed application, discussion by selection committee members, and site visits to finalist projects. A selection committee is organized anew for each award cycle.
In order to be eligible for consideration, projects must be:
* an actual place, not just a plan or a program;
* completed and in operation for sufficient amount of time to demonstrate success
* located in the continental US
There are no distinct categories. Projects may include any type that makes a positive contribution to the urban environment. Urban environment is broadly defined to include cities, towns, neighborhoods, counties and/or regions. Previous applicants and honorable mention winners may apply up to three times. Previous winners are not eligible.
Resources
In 1998 the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...
collaborated with the Bruner Foundation and the Urban Design Project of the School of Architecture and Planning to create
digital archive making data gathered in reference to past winners of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence accessible to the public.
The goal of this archive is to allow public "access to award winning
and fully documented urban design case studies as a resource for architecture students and practitioners as they study precedents in urban design." The Digital Archive is managed by the UB Institutional Repository.
The Bruner Foundation has published fifteen books containing detailed case studies of award-winning projects.
List of winners
2017 Gold Medal
:SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus, Bethlehem, PA
2017 Silver Medals
:La Kretz Innovation Campus + Arts District Park, Los Angeles, CA
:Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Boston, MA
:Iberville Offsite Rehabs I & II, New Orleans, LA
:Chicago’s Riverwalk, Chicago, IL
2015 Gold Medal
:Miller's Court, Baltimore, MD
2015 Silver Medals
:
Falls Park on the Reedy
Falls Park on the Reedy is a park adjacent to downtown Greenville, South Carolina in the historic West End district. Considered the birthplace of Greenville, the park was founded in 1967 when the Carolina Foothills Garden Club reclaimed of land ...
, Greenville, SC
:Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Grand Rapids, MI
:Quixote Village, Olympia, WA
:Uptown District, Cleveland, OH
2013 Gold Medal
:Inspiration Kitchens--Garfield Park, Chicago, Illinois
2013 Silver Medals
:Congo Street Initiative, Dallas, Texas
:
Louisville Waterfront Park
Louisville Waterfront Park is both a non-profit organization and an public park adjacent to the downtown area of Louisville, Kentucky and the Ohio River. Specifically, it is adjacent to Louisville's wharf and Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, which ar ...
, Louisville, Kentucky
:The Steel Yard, Providence, Rhode Island
:Via Verde, Bronx, New York
2011 Gold Medal:
:The Bridge Homeless Assistance Center, Dallas, Texas
2011 Silver Medals:
:
Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, New York
:
Phoenix Civic Space Park, Phoenix, Arizona
:Gary Comer Youth Center/Gary Comer College Prep, Chicago, Illinois
:The Santa Fe Railyard Redevelopment, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2009 Gold Medal:
:Inner-City Arts, Los Angeles, California
2009 Silver Medals:
:
Hunts Point Riverside Park, Bronx, New York
:
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
, Chicago, Illinois
:St. Joseph Rebuild Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
:The Community Chalkboard and Podium, Charlottesville, Virginia
2007 Gold Medal:
:Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2007 Silver Medals:
:
Artists for Humanity Epicenter, Boston, Massachusetts
:Crossroads Project and Marsupial Bridge, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
:High Point Redevelopment Project, Seattle, Washington
:LA Design Center, Los Angeles, California
:
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the ...
Public Plaza, New York, New York
2005 Gold Medal:
:
Portland Streetcar Project, Portland, Oregon
2005 Silver Medals:
:Lower Town Artist Relocation Program, Paducah, Kentucky
:
Heidelberg Project
The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor art project in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood on Detroit's east side, just north of the city's historically African-American Black Bottom area. It was created in 1986 by the artist Tyree Guyton, who was as ...
, Detroit, Michigan
:Fruitvale Village, Oakland, California
:
Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland
2003 Gold Medal:
:
Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Los Angeles, California
2003 Silver Medals:
:Bridgemarket, New York, New York
:
Colorado Court Housing, Santa Monica, California
:Red Hook Community Justice Center, Brooklyn, New York
:Providence River Relocation, Providence, Rhode Island
2001 Gold Medal:
:
The Village of Arts and Humanities, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2001 Silver Medals:
:Swan’s Marketplace (
10th Street Market), Oakland, California
:South Platte River Greenway, Denver, Colorado
:
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors ...
, Newark, New Jersey
:
Lower East Side Tenement Museum, New York, New York
1999 Gold Medal:
:
Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, California
1999 Silver Medals:
:
ARTScorps LA, Los Angeles, California
:
National AIDS Memorial Grove
The National AIDS Memorial Grove, or "The Grove," is located at the de Laveaga Dell in eastern Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, California. , San Francisco, California
:Parkside Historic Preservation Corporation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
:
Portland Public Market
The Portland Public Market was a public market in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1933 at a widely advertised cost of $1 million ($ million in ). Controversial and ambitious, it was intended to replace the Carroll Public Market, c ...
, Portland, Maine
1997 Gold Medal:
:The Times Square, New York, New York
1997 Silver Medals:
:Cleveland Historic Warehouse District, Cleveland, Ohio
:
Project Row Houses
Project Row Houses is a development in the Third Ward area of Houston, Texas. Project Row Houses includes a group of shotgun houses restored in the 1990s. Eight houses serve as studios for visiting artists. Those houses are art studios for ar ...
, Houston, Texas
:Center in the Square, Roanoke, Virginia
:Hismen Hin-nu (Sun Gate) Terrace, Oakland, California
1995 Winner:
:Maya Angelou Community Initiative, Portland, Oregon
1995 Finalists:
:Campus Circle, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
:Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Boston, Massachusetts
:Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, Brooklyn, New York
:
Harlem Meer
Harlem Meer is a man-made lake at the northeast corner of New York City's Central Park. It lies west of Fifth Avenue, south of 110th Street, and north of the Conservatory Garden, near the Harlem and East Harlem neighborhoods of Manhattan. The la ...
, New York, New York
:Lowertown, Saint Paul, Minnesota
1993 Co-winners:
:Harbor Point (
Columbia Point
Columbia Point is a high mountain summit of the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The thirteener is located east by south ( bearing 102°) of the Town of Crestone in Saguache County, Colorado, ...
), Boston, Massachusetts
:
New Community Corporation, Newark, New Jersey
1993 Finalists:
:
Betts-Longworth Historic District, Cincinnati, Ohio
:Beyond Homelessness, San Francisco, California
:The Park at Post Office Square, Boston, Massachusetts
1991 Winner:
:Greenmarket, New York, New York
1991 Finalists:
:
Brooklyn-Queens Greenway, Brooklyn and Queens, New York
:Ocean Drive Improvement Project, Miami Beach, Florida
:Roslindale Village Main Street, Boston, Massachusetts
:West Clinton Action Plan, Portland, Oregon
1989 Co-winners:
:Tenant Interim Leasing Program, New York, New York
:Downtown Plan, Portland, Oregon
1989 Finalists:
:Southwest Corridor Project, Boston, Massachusetts
:
Stowe Recreation Path, Stowe, Vermont
:Radial Reuse Project, Lincoln, Nebraska
:
Cabrillo Village, Saticoy, California
1987 Winner:
:
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is a public market in Seattle, Washington, United States. It opened on August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront on Pug ...
, Seattle, Washington
1987 Finalists:
:Casa Rita, South Bronx, New York
:
Quality Hill, Kansas City, Missouri
:Fairmount Health Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
List of publications
2015 Challenging Conventions: The 2015 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Richard Wener, PhD; Jay Farbstein, FAIA, PhD; Anne-Marie Lubenau, AIA; and Robert Shibley, FAIA, FAICP; Edited by Elizabeth Chesla, MA
2013 Inspiring Change: 2013 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Richard Wener, PhD; Jay Farbstein, FAIA, PhD; Anne-Marie Lubenau, AIA; and Robert Shibley, FAIA, AICP
2011 Partnering Strategies for the Urban Edge: 2011 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Robert
Shibley, AIA, AICP, with Brandy Brooks, Director,
Rudy Bruner Award, Jay Farbstein, PhD, FAIA, and
Richard Wener, PhD, Bruner Foundation, 2011.
2009 Urban Transformation: 2009 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Jay Farbstein, PhD, FAIA,
with Emily Axelrod, MCP, Robert Shibley, AIA, AICP,
and Richard Wener, PhD, Bruner Foundation, 2009.
2007 Building Sustainable Neighborhoods: 2007 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Richard
Wener, PhD, with Emily Axelrod, MCP, Jay Farbstein,
PhD, FAIA, and Robert Shibley, AIA, AICP,
Bruner Foundation, 2007.
2005 Reinventing Downtown: 2005 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Robert Shibley
with Emily Axelrod, Jay Farbstein, FAIA, and
Richard Wener, PhD, Bruner Foundation, 2005.
2003 New Directions in Urban Excellence Jay Farbstein
with Emily Axelrod, Robert Shibley and
Richard Wener, Bruner Foundation, 2003.
2001 Placemaking for Change: 2001 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence Richard
Wener with Emily Axelrod, Jay Farbstein and
Polly Welch, Bruner Foundation, 2002.
1999 Commitment to Place: Urban Excellence and Community Robert G. Shibley with Emily
Axelrod, Jay Farbstein, and Richard Wener,
Bruner Foundation, 1999.
1997 Visions of Urban Excellence Emily Axelrod, Jay
Farbstein and Richard Wener, Bruner Foundation,
1998.
1995 Building Coalitions for Urban Excellence Jay
Farbstein and Richard Wener, Bruner Foundation,
1996.
1993 Rebuilding Communities: Re-creating Urban Excellence Jay Farbstein and Richard Wener,
Bruner Foundation, 1993.
1991 Connections: Creating Urban Excellence Jay
Farbstein and Richard Wener, Bruner Foundation,
1992.
1989 Breakthroughs: Re-creating the American City
Neal R. Peirce and Robert Guskind, Center for
Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University, 1993.
1987 Urban Excellence Philip Langdon with Robert
Shibley and Polly Welch, Van Nostrand Reinhold,
1990.
References
{{reflist
Architecture awards
Architecture organizations based in the United States
Awards established in 1987
Urban design
Urban planning in the United States
Non-profit organizations based in the United States
University at Buffalo