A pair of landscape architects, including a Sacramento native, took home first place in the Catalyst Capitol Mall Design Competition with a vision of turning the corridor from Tower Bridge to the Capitol into a reborn urban forest.
The competition was put on by the city of Sacramento, the American Institute of Architects and other local organizations, including the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, to help gather ideas to transform Capitol Mall after the state handed it over to city control in 2006.
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo building at 400 Capitol Mall. First place received a $20,000 prize, second place received $10,000 and third place received $5,000.
“We wanted to look at this ecologically,” said Kimberly Garza, who along with Andrew ten Brink submitted the winning design, called Sacramento’s Capitol Canopy. “We looked at the current state of the urban canopy, and many of these trees are reaching the end of their lifespans. There needs to be a system to address that, but in a smart way that unfolds across the city.”
Garza grew up in Sacramento, attending high school in Natomas before graduating with a degree in landscape architecture from UC Berkeley. She then went on to Harvard, where she met ten Brink. She currently works in Somerville, Mass., and ten Brink works in New York.
“I was very familiar with the city of Sacramento, and that was what first excited me about the project,” Garza said. “Our project challenges the traditional tree mall design that you typically see.”
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Sacramento Press, November 9, 2011