Falls Park Named Silver Medalist for 2015 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence

GREENVILLE, SC – The Bruner Foundation Inc., sponsor of the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA), has announced Falls Park as a 2015 Silver Medalist. The biennial award celebrates transformative places distinguished by physical design and contributions to the economic, environmental and social vitality of America’s cities. Singled out as one of five finalists from a competitive nationwide pool of 55 applications in early February, Falls Park now joins the ranks of only 73 previous RBA medalists.

Bruner Foundation staff visited Greenville and Falls Park in early May in preparation for the judging committee’s selection of the medal winners this past weekend. A blog post written by RBA director Anne-Marie Lubenau after the site visit captures Falls Park’s evolution and its links to RBA’s hallmarks—design quality, innovation and proven social and economic impacts.

Ultimately, the nationwide selection committee of urban experts named Baltimore’s Miller’s Court as the 2015 RBA Gold Medalist and recipient of $50,000. As a Silver Medalist, Falls Park receives $10,000. In addition to the monetary award, each medalist is also documented with a detailed case study that chronicles the development process—including design, financing and operations—and impact in the community, along with a distillation of the selection committee’s discussions.

According to Dana Souza, director of the City’s Parks, Recreation and Sustainability Department, as a RBA Silver Medalist, Greenville has a unique opportunity to share Falls Park’s incredible story and its resounding social and economic impacts with a national audience. “Falls Park has a unique and stunning aesthetic created through the harmony of its natural beauty and architectural elements,” said Souza. “However, to understand the magnitude of the park’s success, one only has to observe how the park is used and loved by all members of our community. It is rich, vibrant and a living example of Greenville’s renaissance and how a well-conceived park can serve as a place of respite and as a catalyst for significant economic development.”

 

The 2015 RBA Medalists:

• Miller’s Court – Baltimore, MD (Gold Medalist)

The redevelopment of a vacant manufacturing building into an affordable and supportive living and working environment for public school teachers and education-focused nonprofits (submitted by Enterprise Community Investment, Inc.).

• Falls Park on the Reedy – Greenville, SC (Silver Medalist)

The renaissance of a 26-acre river corridor running through the heart of Greenville, restoring public access to the falls and greenspace and catalyzing adjacent downtown development (submitted by the City of Greenville).

• Grand Rapids Downtown Market – Grand Rapids, MI (Silver Medalist)

A new downtown public space promoting local food producers and community events, entrepreneurship and education about nutrition and healthy lifestyles (submitted by Grand Rapids Downtown Market).

• Quixote Village – Olympia, WA (Silver Medalist)

A two-acre community of 30 tiny houses and a common building that provides permanent, supportive housing for chronically homeless adults (submitted by Panza).

• Uptown District – Cleveland, OH (Silver Medalist)

The redevelopment of a corridor linking art and educational institutions with neighborhoods and the downtown, creating new community and retail space, student housing and transit connections (submitted by Case Western Reserve University).

 

The 2015 RBA Selection Committee:

• Rebecca Flora – AICP, LEED ND-BD+C, Sustainable Communities Practice Leader, Ecology & Environment, Chestertown, MD
• Larry Kearns – AIA, CSA, LEED AP, Principal, Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago, IL
• India Pierce Lee – Program Director, Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, OH
• Mia Lehrer – FASLA, President, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Los Angeles, CA
• James Stockard – Lecturer in Housing, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA
• Mark Stodola – Mayor, Little Rock, AR

The 2015 winner case studies will be posted in 2016. For more information about the award, contact Anne-Marie Lubenau at (617) 492-8404 or Debra Pickrel with Pickrel Communications at (212) 753-3140 or [email protected].