Suisman wins two of three 2010 Honor Awards for Urban Design given by AIACC

The iQuilt project in Hartford and the Arc project in Palestine, both designed by Suisman Urban Design, receive Honor Awards by the AIACC.

Los Angeles, 2010 – The American Institute of Architects California Council (AIACC) has awarded two of three coveted 2010 Honor Awards in Urban Design to Suisman Urban Design for its iQuilt project, a culture-based plan for downtown Hartford and the Arc project, a transportation and infrastructure plan for Palestine. Only three Honor Awards in urban design were given by the AIACC jury this year.

The honor award for the iQuilt project also recognizes project partner Smith Edwards Architects, and the project’s initiator and client, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. The iQuilt is a plan to connect some 45 of Hartford’s cultural assets and public spaces with enhanced pedestrian and bike routes running from the State Capitol building and historic Bushnell Park to the Connecticut River waterfront.

Of the AIACC Award for Suisman, Hartford’s mayor Pedro E. Segarra said, “This coveted honor is truly another exclamation point in the ‘bravos’ all around for the iQuilt, which is part of the City’s long-term plan for conservation and development.” The next planning and design phase of this urban plan that features a unique “knitting together” of parks, plazas and walkways is expected to start in early 2011.

The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State, is a transportation and infrastructure plan for Palestine developed by Suisman Urban Design and the RAND Corporation. The Arc establishes a national corridor that would provide swift rail service, roadway, water, power, and parkland for the main Palestinian towns and cities. The corridor – and its lateral branches within each city – would enable the new state to accommodate a fast growing population by expanding urban neighborhoods and housing stock in a coherent and sustainable manner. This would allow private investment and international aid to be efficiently directed towards an integrated national space, rather than towards a costly array of scattered and disconnected projects.

The Arc is also a finalist at November’s World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.