Today, Gallaudet University, a Washington, D.C., bilingual school geared towards deaf students, announced the four shortlisted projects for its International Design Competition, in collaboration with real estate developer JBG, and U.K.-based Malcolm Reading Consultants. The four firms chosen out of 51 submissions include: Belfast, Ireland–based Hall McKnight Architects, Roxbury, Mass.–based Kennedy & Violich Architecture, New York–based Marvel Architects, and Boston-based MASS Design Group. Each finalist was awarded $50,000 to produce concept designs, one of which will ultimately be chosen and announced as the winner in January 2016. The competition, which launched its first phase in September, will determine which firm will reimagine the Olmstead Green, and create a new public space for the campus, including a gateway plaza and gateway pavilion building.
Gallaudet aims to incorporate DeafSpace design guidelines into the redesign of what is dubbed as the 6th Street Corridor Project. The DeafSpace Project was founded by architect Hansel Bauman in 2005, and “address[es] the five major touch points between deaf experiences and the built environment: space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color, and finally acoustics.” The winner of the international design competition will be the first project in which DeafSpace guidelines are used in the public realm.
Read more about the first phase of the competition here.