15th Annual ULI Hines Student Competition
Call for projects organizer
The mission of the Urban Land Institute is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.
Description
The ULI Hines Student Competition is an urban design and development challenge for graduate students. The competition engages multidisciplinary student teams to devise a comprehensive development program for a real, large-scale site. Teams of five students representing at least three disciplines have two weeks to develop solutions that include drawings, site plans, tables, and market-feasible financial data.
This is an ideas competition; there is no expectation that any of the submitted schemes will be applied to the site. The winning team receives $50,000 and the finalist teams receive $10,000 each. One representative from each finalist team gets an all-expenses-paid site tour in the selected competition city prior to the final presentation. All participating finalist students attend the all-expenses-paid final presentation in the host city to select the winner of the competition.
Chicago Area Selected as Study Site for 2017 ULI Hines Student Competition
An area adjacent to the North Branch of the Chicago River has been selected as the study site in the 15th annual ULI Hines Student Competition.

The Fleet Management facility located on Chicago’s north side. Image: ULI/Nathan Weber
This year’s competition is based on a hypothetical situation related to the actual 2016 announcement by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that the Chicago Department of Fleet and Facility Management will be relocating their headquarters from the site near Goose Island. The competition’s challenge for students involves an investment group, known as the Windy Crew Investors (WCI), which has assets in the study area next to North Branch. This investment group is seeking a master developer to create a successful bid for building a mixed-use sustainable area that benefits from adjacent synergies in the vacant property near Goose Island. Playing the role of the potential master developer, student teams must the evaluate the benefits and financial possibilities of buying the Fleet Management and Facility site, and potentially combining it with certain parcels to redevelop or sell as one comprehensive development site.
Jury
Partner and LEED AP
Holland & Knight
Washington, DC
Director of Architecture & Sustainability
StreetSense
Bethesda, Maryland
Vice President
Cousins Properties Incorporated
Atlanta, Georgia
Principal
Transform Global
Dallas, Texas
Vice President, Associate Principal
SB Architects
San Francisco, California
Director
Level Infrastructure
New York, New York
Jury Chair
President
JCH Development
New Orleans, Louisiana
President
Oak Point Investors
McLean, Virginia
First Vice President
SunTrust Community Capital
Atlanta, Georgia
Senior Vice President
Selig Enterprises, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia
Senior Associate, Studio Director
Urban Design and Planning
Perkins+Will
San Francisco, California
Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo
Atlanta, Georgia
Rewards
First price
$50 000Finalist
$10 000Timeline
America/ChicagoLaunch of the call for projects starts
Registration starts
Submission starts
All graduate student teams that wish to participate in the ULI Hines Student Competition must submit an application showing that the team meets the criteria for interdisciplinary participation. ULI reserves the right to disqualify teams or to limit the number of participating teams. Review the eligibility requirements of the ULI Hines Student Competition.
Registration ends
Results starts
All graduate student teams that wish to participate in the ULI Hines Student Competition must submit an application showing that the team meets the criteria for interdisciplinary participation. ULI reserves the right to disqualify teams or to limit the number of participating teams. Review the eligibility requirements of the ULI Hines Student Competition.
Submission ends
All graduate student teams that wish to participate in the ULI Hines Student Competition must submit an application showing that the team meets the criteria for interdisciplinary participation. ULI reserves the right to disqualify teams or to limit the number of participating teams. Review the eligibility requirements of the ULI Hines Student Competition.
Results ends
All graduate student teams that wish to participate in the ULI Hines Student Competition must submit an application showing that the team meets the criteria for interdisciplinary participation. ULI reserves the right to disqualify teams or to limit the number of participating teams. Review the eligibility requirements of the ULI Hines Student Competition.
Submission starts
The Competition will kick off at 7 a.m. PST, January 9, 2017, when instructions for accessing the online project briefing materials will be e-mailed to all team leaders and team e-mail addresses. The briefing materials will include a comprehensive problem statement, background information about the site, market information, any relevant existing design proposals, maps, and other information. Teams will also be given a list of required presentation materials.
Submission ends
The Competition will kick off at 7 a.m. PST, January 9, 2017, when instructions for accessing the online project briefing materials will be e-mailed to all team leaders and team e-mail addresses. The briefing materials will include a comprehensive problem statement, background information about the site, market information, any relevant existing design proposals, maps, and other information. Teams will also be given a list of required presentation materials.