Texas Central, the private developer of the Texas bullet train, recently announced its sponsorship of a design competition for architecture students from accredited Texas universities to help produce an inspiring vision for the high-speed train passenger stations.
Individual students and multi-disciplinary student teams that are actively enrolled in a Texas college or university-level program in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, architectural engineering or transportation were contacted before the fall semester and encouraged to take part in the competition.
“Students like these are early adopters, driving demand for travel options like the Texas bullet train. We can’t wait to see the proposals they put together, with a vision for the station of the future,” said Holly Reed, managing director, external affairs, for Texas Central.
The private sector-led group is developing Texas’ high-speed railway between North Texas and Houston. Students are now working on their initial design proposals, which are due Oct. 31. Each proposal will include:
- A vision statement.
- Station concepts, with considerations for programming, urban connectivity, use of local materials, environmental sustainability and customer focus.
- Maximum of three presentations 24” x 36” posters expressing the students’ vision.
- Five to 10 conceptual design drawings.
The Texas Central Student Design Competition Committee and its judges will evaluate the students’ entries, based their creativity in vision, technical accuracy, quality of submittal materials and overall presentation.
All competition documents are available at www.texascentral.com/station-competition.
Finalists will be announced Nov. 7, and the finalist teams then will have two weeks to refine their original proposal and prepare a 20-minute in-person presentation for judges.
“We are honored to be working with Texas Central to provide our students with a unique, hands-on opportunity to contribute to a real-world transportation solution, said April Ward, professor of architecture at Prairie View A&M University, one of the participating universities. “Our student teams are excited to submit their designs after having researched and created their proposals from the concepts of sustainability, innovation and biomimicry.”
Winners of the competition will be announced on Nov. 21 for the three different categories:
- Bullet Train Station Architecture Design
- Urban Design
- Sustainable Design
Each of the winning teams will receive $5,000 for their school and $2,000 to be split among team members. They also will be recognized in print and on social media.
ABOUT TEXAS CENTRAL PARTNERS, LLC
Texas Central is a private, Texas-based company bringing a transformational project to Texas that advances the economy, respects Texas values and keeps our state on track for future growth. We are employing a market-led approach that is unlike other high-speed train projects because we are backed by private investors, not public funds. Texas Central is developing a new high-speed passenger rail system that will connect North Texas, the Brazos Valley and Houston using a proven, world-class technology that will provide a travel time of less than 90 minutes. For more information, please visit www.texascentral.com.
Source: www.texascentral.com
