2015 Winning Entry by Jacques Gaffigan. Image Courtesy of The Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced the names of the 158 finalists in the Knight Cities Challenge. The nationwide call was for innovative ideas to make the 26 communities where the Knight Foundation invests more social and vibrant places to live. More than 4,500 entries were submitted proposing a range of ideas from opening the world’s largest African American history museum in Detroit to a card game that encourages residents of Charlotte to visit new neighborhoods. The winners, who will split a prize of $5 million, will be announced in the spring of 2016.
Copyright Cornell University
Cornell University’s proposed New York City Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island plans to become a sustainable landmark. Oriented by the sun, the 10-acre campus encompasses the largest solar array in New York City, four acres of geothermal wells, and 500,000 square-feet of open green space dedicated to the public. If built today, the campus’s 150,000 square-foot main academic building would be the largest net-zero energy building in the eastern United States.
The proposed campus is designed by
Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM). Landscape will be designed by
James Corner Field Operations. Cornell teamed up with alumnus and managing director of Distributed Sun, Jeff Weiss, to help build a comprehensive energy solution. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) also participated in the conceptualization of the proposed renewable energy and energy efficient aspects.