2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land - 40

ULI Hines Student Competition
Americas Winner
" KnOT CharlesTOn, " the development
plan that earned top
honors in this year's ULI Hines Student
Competition for the Americas
region, was the product of extensive
research, thoughtful design,
and close collaboration among the
winning team of five Harvard University
graduate students.
But what really made the difference,
according to team leader
Youngsoo Yang, was their visit
to the competition site in North
Charleston, South Carolina. " It's
one thing to read through a
28-page competition brief and do
a bunch of research on Google
Earth and maps and plans, " he
says. " But being there in person
really changed how we wanted to
approach the site. "
The team formed after friends of
Yang's competed and were named
finalists in the 2022 ULI Hines
Student Competition. " I saw their
work and was blown away by the
body of work they produced, and
that really got me interested in this
competition, " he says.
Yang recruited four fellow students-Tomas
Quaglia, Ben Parker,
Emily Johansen, and Rachaya Wattanasirichaigoon-to
enter this year.
They brought experience ranging
from architecture and landscape
to urban planning and finance,
including affordable housing develFrom
left: ULI global CEO Ron
Pressman; Gwyneth Jones
Coté, ULI Americas president;
Youngsoo Yang, Rachaya
Wattanasirichaigoon, Ben
Parker, and Tomas Quaglia, from
Harvard University; and Vikram
Mehra, Hines senior managing
director, in North Charleston,
South Carolina.
opment. This collaborative, crossdisciplinary
approach was central
to their success.
Resilience, Economy, and
Community
In crafting their initial proposal for
a mixed-use, mixed-income downtown
area in North Charleston, they
relied on the competition brief and
their own research to understand
the history, challenges, goals, and
needs of the city and its residents.
After being selected from 84 teams
as one of four finalists, the team
had the opportunity to see the site
in person before finalizing and presenting
their development plan.
" We thought in order for the
proposal to be really successful,
every one of us had to experience
the site and share what we
thought, " Yang says. " Our proposal
really focused on three key things-
resilience, economy, and community-and
I think those three things
[were] actually a direct response to
the site itself. "
The team's proposal-a mixeduse
project dubbed " The Knot " -
combines these values " with the
city's unique context to create a
well-connected, affordable, and
enriching place to live for generations. "
For instance, they proposed
a riverwalk along the Cooper River
both as a public space for recreation
and dining and as resilience
infrastructure to protect against
potential climate risks.
Their plan envisioned a " Maker's
Wharf " with space for manufacturing,
a seafood market, and other
economic activity. And the team
addressed the city's housing challenges
by including new affordable
housing close to schools, health
care facilities, and more.
The hands-on, real-world exercise
in urban planning and design
gave the team a new perspective
on how land use decisions affect
how people live, work, and play in
cities. " I'm very interested in climate
change and the impact it has
on our urban environments, " Yang
says. " I think as developers, architects,
urban planners, designers, we
have really strong agency to have a
big part of shaping how that goes. "
Before pursuing his master
of urban design degree, Yang
worked for more than four years
as an architect. Now he hopes to
shape the built environment from
the development side, with an
emphasis on creating sustainable
and healthy communities. Yang
completed his degree a week after
attending the 2023 ULI Spring
Meeting in Toronto, where he presented
his team's winning proposal.
His experience in the ULI Hines
Student Competition only sharpened
his focus on the future.
" This was probably one of the
best-if not the best-work team
projects I've been on, mainly
because of the people on the
team, " he says. " It was a truly great
learning experience, and I'm glad
I did this because I feel like-for
me-this is only the beginning. "
JACK MORRISEY is ULI director of executive communications
and is based in Chicago.
40
URBAN LAND SUMMER 2023
ULI
2023 Summer Issue of Urban Land

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