Honorable Mention: FUNdaMENTAL Design Build Initiative

FUNdaMENTAL Design Build Initiative brings together early-career architects & designers from around the world to experiment at the intersection of design, social space, and landscape while working on a public project in concert with local communities. The project connects the highly complex topological, social, and environmental components of urban San Jose, Costa Rica’s public Polideportivo Park, which sits at the intersection of a contaminated river, an informal settlement, and a littered railway on one side, and a playground, farmer’s market, and public cultural space on the other. Previously, the areas were nearly inaccessible to each other, dividing communities along both geographical and socioeconomic lines. The student design team forged a spatial and visual connection between the areas by installing a pathway flanked by brightly colored bamboo totems that had the dual purpose of indicating air quality through a special Titanium Dioxide paint, and recycled tires used to shape grass-covered pedestals.