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Foundation Launches National Student Design Competition: Imagining Penn Center

The Ed Bacon Foundation launches "IMAGINING PENN CENTER: A National Student Design Competition to Plan New Life for Philadelphia's Central Civic Space." The competition is open to any college or university student in the U.S. studying planning, architecture, urban design, or related fields. Prizes total $6,100, including $2,000 for first place.

Penn Center, one of Center City Philadelphia's important spaces, is located across from City Hall, at the eastern end of the city's business district. It houses Suburban Station, office towers, retail, and public plazas. Originally conceived by Edmund N. Bacon, Philadelphia's renowned former planning director, Penn Center changed the face of Philadelphia when it was built in the 1960s, as one of the largest and most ambitious downtown redevelopments of its time.

Today, Penn Center is vastly underutilized by the public, yet it holds great potential for revitalization. With IMAGINING PENN CENTER, The Ed Bacon Foundation challenges students to imagine the site's potential, and to generate ideas for restoring this important space as a modern Philadelphia epicenter and icon.

Entries are due September 15, 2006 and winners will be announced in October. Entries will be judged by a national expert jury including Elinor Bacon (Washington D.C.), Alexander Garvin (New York), and Harris Steinberg (Philadelphia).

"This competition holds exciting potential to begin a dialogue about the revitalization of one of America's important downtown spaces," said Gregory Heller, the Foundation's President, "It focuses on the next generation to guide us in shaping Philadelphia's future, while educating students about the life and work of Ed Bacon, one of our nation's great urban planners."

For more information, please visit www.edbacon.org/penncenter

COMPETITION SPONSORS: Gold-Level: Center City District, Domus Inc. Silver-Level: Bower Lewis Thrower Architects (BLT); Liberty Property Trust; Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) In-kind support and publicity assistance provided by the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)

The Ed Bacon Foundation is a Philadelphia-based, non-profit organization, established in 2004 with the mission of preserving and strengthening the vision and legacy of Philadelphia's renowned city planner, Edmund N. Bacon.