Local architects say they are pleased to hear about the competition.
"I think it's a fantastic idea," said Adam Gross, a principal of Ayers Saint Gross in Baltimore. "It couldn't be a more dramatic site. I think it's terrific that the University of Baltimore and Bob [Bogomolny] have international aspirations for the type of architecture they want on their campus."
"It's the best site in Baltimore outside the harbor area," agreed architect Steve Ziger of Ziger/Snead Architects. "It deserves the highest possible level of design."
Other local projects whose architects were selected after a design competition include the Gallery at Harborplace, won by the Zeidler Roberts Partnership of Toronto, and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in College Park, won by a team led by Moore Ruble Yudell of Santa Monica, Calif. Other finalists in the College Park competition included such luminaries as Cesar Pelli, Antoine Predock and the late James Freed of Pei Cobb Freed.
Limited design competitions were held to select the architects for the Marine Mammal Pavilion on Pier 4 and the Columbus Center on Inner Harbor Piers 5 and 6. The Columbus Center's builders ended up not constructing the design of the winning architects, a group headed by Richard Rogers of Great Britain.
A design competition cannot by itself ensure that a building will turn out better than one whose architect is selected without such a competition, Embry said. "Nothing is a guarantee," but "it makes it more likely."
A design competition gives a selection panel more information on which to base its selection of an architect, said Steve Cassard, vice president of facilities management and capital planning for the University of Baltimore.
It "affords the extra detail, more development of the design concept," than written or oral presentations outlining a designer's past work, he explained. "It gives us a higher degree of confidence as to what the final product will be."
ed.gunts@baltsun.com
