The University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architects’ plan The Creative Corridor: A Main Street Revitalization for Little Rock has won honorable mention in Urban Design (Concept) in the International Awards 2015 sponsored by Architecture Podium.
The Creative Corridor is a four-block segment of Main Street in downtown Little Rock. The goal is to promote economic development via cultural arts rather than a traditional retail base and to structure an identity in a mixed-use work-live environment that is sensitive to the historical context.
Planning and design for the Creative Corridor was funded by a 2011 Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
“This is yet another in a growing line of international, national and regional recognition for the Creative Corridor,” Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said in a news release. “It is a testament to the outstanding design team at the U of A Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architect. I am grateful for their efforts on this project.”
The Creative Corridor features marquees, green and low impact development elements, and an art installation made from street lamps of different eras from city neighborhoods.
The Creative Corridor has received other honors, including a 2014 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects, 2013 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
It also won a Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District and Corridor category in the 2013 Charter Awards, sponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism, and it was short-listed for the 2013 World Architecture Festival Awards in the Future Projects – Masterplanning category.
