Landscape Architecture Student a Finalist in International Design Ideas Competition

February 7, 2006

Matt Langan, a fifth-year Penn State landscape architecture student, is one of five finalists in the Urban Voids Competition, an international design ideas competition for Philadelphia’s vacant land. Langan was chosen out of a field of 220 entries from 25 countries.

The Van Alen Institute of New York City, an organization whose mission is to improve the design of the public realm, is advising the competition, which is the second phase of a three-part program sponsored by the City Parks Association of Philadelphia. In spring 2005, participants attended a series of community education and ‘visioning’ sessions that examined natural land and water resources at the regional scale, as well as neighborhood structure at a local scale. The competition challenged them to present compelling ideas that would address vacancy as an opportunity, creating long-term solutions for the 40,000 vacant properties in Philadelphia. Each of the finalists received $5,000 to help them prepare sight-specific design proposals and a detailed implementation scheme. The winner will be selected in May 2006.

Langan’s advisors for this project are Tim Baird and Gale Fulton, both assistant professors of landscape architecture, and local architect and Penn State architecture alumnus Randy Hudson.

For more information on the Urban Voids Competition, visit http://www.vanalen.org/urbanvoids/images/stories/urbanvoidsfinalists.pdf.

Contact: Amy Milgrub Marshall, alm157@psu.edu or 814.863.2104