“Forwarding Dallas” has been selected as the final winner of the Re: Vision Dallas competition.  The following resources and brief description of Forwarding Dallas has been organized for researchers, news media and community interests.

Press Release: http://www.revision-dallas.com/?p=757 

Mayor’s Welcome: http://www.revision-dallas.com/?p=380

Developing Firms: Atelier Data & MOOV (Lisbon, Portugal)

Authors: António Louro (MOOV), Filipe Vogt (Atelier Data), Marta Frazão (Atelier Data)

Collaborators: André Almeida (Atelier Data), Carolina Pombo (Atelier Data), Inês Vicente (Atelier Data), José Niza (MOOV), João Calhau (MOOV)

Landscape architecture: Susana Rodrigues

Energy efficiency and resources: Maria João Rodrigues, João Parente
Concept

Communication: João Rato

Forwarding Dallas Features:

• Heavy utilization of native vegetation
• Open ‘green’ spaces including wooded paths and interior courtyards as well as green roof prairies and orchards
• 100% prefabricated construction system, integrating building materials from local sources
• Housing options from studio apartments to three bedroom flats fit to accommodate approximately 854 residents
• Combination of photovoltaic (solar) and wind power which will providing 100% of the energy needed for each resident
• A Southwest façade set up for solar gain in a venetian-blind-like system which adjusts according to the season
• A Northeast façade made from prefabricated, thick, high thermal mass straw bales provides added insulation
• Rooftop water catchment system designed to recycle water collected from rooftops and store underground for later use
• Public green houses, including a sensorial greenhouse, swimming pool green house and meeting point green house
• Water permeable paved areas to prevent pooling and flooding

Images:

• Quick download (2 high res, 2 web res images + narrative brief): DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE (5MB)
• Large download (6 frames including art and process diagrams): DOWNLOAD PDF FILE (14MB)

Interviews:

Urban Re:Vision’s media team will gladly make introductions for interview (subject to availability) with the following:

• António Louro
  Lead Architect/MOOV
• Brent Brown
  Founder/bcWORKSHOP (Dallas)
• Eric Corey Freed
  Executive Director/Urban Re:Vision
• Filipe Vogt
  Lead Architect/Atelier Data
• John Greenan
  Executive Director/Central Dallas CDC
• Stacey Frost
  Founder/Urban Re:Vision

Common questions:

Q Is this a City project?
A No. While the City of Dallas supports and encourages Re:Vision Dallas, it is lead by three nonprofit organizations:

1.  
   1. Urban Re:Vision
   2. Central Dallas CDC
   3. bcWorkshop

Q Will it be built?
A Yes. The following links may help those following this project to understand the timing, financing and players behind this project:

1. Feature article from Dallas Observer, “Are the Plans To Build A Green, Sustainable Building of Tomorrow Smack in the Heart of Downtown Dallas Some Pipedream or A Reality?”
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-10-01/news/are-the-plans-to-build-a-green-sustainable-building-of-tomorrow-smack-in-the-heart-of-downtown-dallas-some-pipedream-or-a-reality/

2. Answer to article by John Greenan, Exec. Director of Central Dallas CDC:
http://citywalktalk.blogspot.com/2009/10/eat-this-building.html

Contact:

Ian Bryan, Media Relations Director: 828.242.1868 / ianbryan@sensiblecity.com

DALLAS – Today, Urban Re:Vision and the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation announced that “Forwarding Dallas” has been selected as the winning design from Re:Vision Dallas, an international design competition. The challenge, to transform a vacant inner-city block behind City Hall into a carbon-neutral community, drew hundreds of entries from top architecture firms and city planners in 14 countries worldwide.  Forwarding Dallas is the product of a collaboration between Portuguese-based architectural firms Atelier Data and Moov, and will run “off the grid,” acting as a working model of sustainability for cities around the globe. Ground breaking is scheduled for early 2011.

Forwarding Dallas is modeled after one of the most diverse systems in nature, the hillside.  The site is a series of valleys and hilltops, the valleys containing trees and more luxurious plants which transition into more resistant plants as the altitude increases.  Atop the hills, solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind energy is harvested.

Other design components include open ‘green’ spaces, housing options from studio apartments to three bedroom flats, a rooftop water catchment system designed to recycle water collected from rooftops and store underground for later use, a 100% prefabricated construction system and public green houses, including a sensorial greenhouse, swimming pool green house and meeting point green house.

A spiritual space, gymnasium, café and exhibition space are also planned to accommodate various lifestyles.  There is a temporary accommodation center as well as a daycare center designed for both children and the elderly.

Last May, three winners and three honorable mentions were selected from hundreds of entries.  During the months since, Urban Re:vision and the Central Dallas CDC worked with a cadre of pro-bono executives provided by The Real Estate Council Foundation who have done extensive work on the proposed designs, including site analysis, creation of trial proformas, engineering and architectural reviews and estimates of construction costs for all three of the winning designs.  During the first two weeks of November, each of the three winners flew into Dallas for additional discussion.

“All three of the design teams impressed us, both with the quality of their designs and in the interviews,” said John Greenan, Executive Director for Central Dallas CDC.  “Dallas would be a richer city to have the work of any of these architects represented, but as we went further into our review, we began to see the deep logic of the MOOV-Atelier Data design, Forwarding Dallas. Forwarding Dallas seemed to us to do the best job of incorporating concepts of sustainability into the foundation of the design.”

“One of the things that is terrific is the location of the block being right across from city hall,” said Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert during his welcome at City Hall last December. ”I think it is something that is going to be special for Dallas and it fits in well with what we’re trying to do.”

Considerations for the selection included:

• Sustainability and reality of intent
• Affordability/Constructability: Could it be built in the next few years?
• Innovation and Originality
• Incorporation of Sustainable Materials and Practices

As the re-visioning of one Dallas city block gains momentum, Greenan is already looking toward future endeavors. “The greatest economic impact will come from rebuilding a long neglected part of downtown,” Greenan said. “There are probably an additional half dozen underutilized blocks in the area of the project, and once we prove up the viability of rebuilding the south central part of Downtown Dallas, I think all those blocks will also be revitalized.”

“What I would love to see is an entire section of downtown notable for innovative, sustainable design–an attraction in the southern part of downtown balancing the Arts District in the northern part of downtown. There are already some interesting, green projects in The Cedars immediately to the south of downtown. A sustainable district that extends from downtown all the way into The Cedars neighborhood is a very reasonable possibility.”

For more information on Urban Re:Vision, visit http://www.urbanrevision.com

For more information on Re:Vision Dallas, visit http://www.revision-dallas.com

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About Urban Re:Vision: Re:Vision is a revolutionary initiative to create the prototype for an innovative, sustainable urban community. At the heart of the process is a series of contests generating visionary ideas for what can be in the design about urban space.   For more information, visit www.revision-dallas.com.

About CDC: Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (Central Dallas CDC) is a grassroots, faith-based community development organization serving the needs of Dallas County, TX.  Their mission is to build affordable housing, develop communities, and establish economic opportunities in Dallas, Texas.  For more information, visit http://www.centraldallascdc.org.

Press Inquiries:

Ian Bryan
IanBryan@sensiblecity.com
828.242.1868

http://www.revision-dallas.com/?page_id=618

From the mind and heart of Michelle Kaufmann-

“We had a great Re:Vision Salon last Thursday night Wade Crowfoot, West Coast Political Director for the Environmental Defense Fund, as the guest. The group and the conversation were dynamic and inspiring. The group included Wade, the team with Urban Re:Vision, Allison Arieff, Janelle Kellman, Ted Van Der Linden, Scott Badenoch, Warren Karlenzig, Christine Arena, Barry Hooper, Sally Dominguez, Nathaniel Corum, Bryan Burkhart, and other friends and colleagues.”

Want to see what else Ms. Kaufmann had to say about the Re: Vision Salon  click here.

Imagine, if you will, a utopia smack in the heart of downtown Dallas. In this green, sustainable building of tomorrow, you might roll out of bed, take a shower and find your runoff water feeding vegetation growing on the roof and walls, upon which you’ll feast later that night. Or maybe you’ll move downtown and become a cattle rancher several stories above the concrete jungle. Or perhaps you’ll grab a bite in the slow-food café downstairs after knocking off your shift working the counter in the holistic pharmacy next door.

Solar panels heat and light your home, and the high-tech and the natural mesh seamlessly in aLogan’s-Run-to-a-kibbutz kind of way. It’s a place so inviting, so self-contained that there’s really not much reason to ever leave home.

The possibilities, say the three architectural firms competing to design this future world, are endless—so much so they can’t really pin down what life in their buildings would be like, which is precisely what makes it so hard to believe one will ever exist. But if local affordable housing advocates Brent Brown and John Greenan have their way—and they insist they will—this world of tomorrow might be a lot closer than you think.

Click here to read the entire article on the Dallas Observer’s website.

From Michelle Kaufmann’s Blog:

Last night we had our first Re:Vision Salon, where a group of Re:Visionaries get together to discuss topics of relevance and importance in designing a better world.  David Baker, the king of beautifully designed affordable housing, was the one to frame the conversation on Density. He started with a short video he made titled “Better Living through Density”.

Read the entire post here.

Better Living Through Density from Db+P, Architects on Vimeo.