County of Santa Barbara, UCSB

Type:  Open, two-stage
Registration Deadline: November 1, 2000
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2000
Open to: Architects, planners and landscape architects
Entry Fee: US$100
Awards: Right to negotiate contract for services
Jury: Not yet announced
 
The County of Santa Barbara, University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District are sponsoring an open two-stage competition to select a winning urban design plan that provides a vision for the revitalization of Isla Vista, and, thereby, to select a planning team to implement this vision for the long term renewal of Isla Vista. The competition winners will receive the first right to negotiate a multi-year contract with the County to provide the requisite professional services to develop the Master Plan, zoning amendments, Local Coastal Plan amendments, environmental assessments and other planning documents needed to implement the winning urban design plan. The design competition begins with a series of public workshops to obtain community criteria for the design competition. These workshops are scheduled for May 8th, 15th, and 24th at 6:30 p.m. in the Isla Vista Theater located at 960 Embarcadero Del Norte in Isla Vista and also on June 6 th at 6:30 p.m. at Isla Vista Elementary School located at 6875 El Colegio in Isla Vista. A public exhibit of the design entries will be displayed in Fall 2000 and the selected consultants are expected to be under contract by the beginning of 2001.

Isla Vista
Isla Vista, California is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County. The area is surrounded on three sides by the University of California, Santa Barbara and on the fourth by the Pacific Ocean. Isla Vista is just less than one square mile in size. The community was first subdivided in the 1920's and still retains the character set by the early creation of numerous 20 foot lots intended for summer housing and a largely grid street system. When the University moved to its present site in 1954, the area experienced a building boom of apartment houses and the buildup of a small business district.

Since that time, buildings have deteriorated and the current population of 20,000 (predominantly students) consists of separate student and Latino communities. Both groups live primarily in apartments and duplexes. There is also a small single family residential district, still inhabited by homeowner families, most of whom have lived there for at least 15 to 20 years. Although densely populated and burdened with inadequate parking, old buildings, and urban design problems, the community still enjoys a physical setting of great beauty overlooking the Pacific. It also has the advantage of adjacency to one of the most beautiful campuses on the West Coast and the larger environment of Santa Barbara, which is known throughout the world for its architecture, climate, and livability.

Design Competition
The purpose of this competition is to create a master plan vision, which will take Isla Vista from its present configuration to a state that is compatible with the physical beauty of its surroundings and the intellectual environment of the University. An active redevelopment agency for Isla Vista is in place, which will help to implement the winning plan.

This competition will be conducted in two stages. The first stage will be open to all architects, urban designers, and planners. All first stage submissions will be anonymous. A Competition Jury comprised of planning and design professionals will select the five most promising submissions to become Finalists for the second stage of this competition. Each Finalist team will receive an honorarium toward their competition costs in preparing detailed area studies and proposed implementation tools in the refinement of their plans during the Second Stage of this competition. Competition packets are scheduled for release on August 1, 2000.

For more information or to register, contact:
County of Santa Barbara
Planning and Development
123 Easr Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara, CA  93101
Phone: 805.568.2006
Email: lporras@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
Website: http://www.islavistaplan.org