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Reimagining Vintage Office Design Competition

Purpose

Through a design competition process, identify and share how reimagining vintage office can add a range of additional destinations and economic activities to strengthen Uptown as a regional asset.

Goals

  • Share ideas and enable collective conversations to create and advance ideas for reimagining vintage office space in Uptown.
  • Advance and promote viable submission-based solutions and innovations.
  • Develop recommendations to help adapt vintage office for modern uses with greater public benefits.

Design Competition Details

Overview

Identify and share how the future of Uptown can be more balanced with office, residential, retail, and civic uses. Charlotte Center City Partners (CCCP), in conjunction with CBI, seek to identify, share, promote, and innovate ideas that explore the potential for vintage office spaces to be:

  • Repurposed for:
    • Residential neighborhoods
    • Civic engagements
    • Educational environments
    • Hospitality sector
  • Repositioned for:
    • Pandemic-informed work to attract new businesses
    • Non-profit investments
    • Medical practices
    • Life science sector
    • More activated ground-floor uses
    • Retail opportunities to support a blend of national, regional, and local businesses

Prize Money

  • Highest scoring submittal: $15,000
  • Next two highest scoring submittals: $2,500

Timeframe

  • 9-week window for submittals
    • September 5 – November 7
    • The deadline for submittals is November 7, 2023 at 5 p.m.

Minimum Submittal Requirements

Teams must be comprised of a:

  • Design or development firm; and
  • Construction company

Additional community, not-for-profit, and business partners are an added benefit.

Important Requirement Update as of September 29, 2023: Submittals need to be in Uptown (view map), but indicating a building’s owner, name, and/or address are not required.   

Submissions must include:

  • Floorplates: The building’s typical existing floorplate, and that same floorplate after a proposed reimagining for a repurposed and/or repositioned use. Describe the use the proposal would seek to serve and potential benefits.
  • Renderings: At least three visualization images of the project including a:
    • Ground floor, pedestrian-level external image of how the project contributes to the streetscape and public realm where the building meets the sidewalk
    • Interior image of how the project will reimagine the space
    • Architectural rendering showing the proposal’s key attributes
  • Financial model: A rough order of magnitude of the proposed project total combined hard and soft costs, associated per square foot construction costs, and a rough order of magnitude estimation of rent or income generated from the repurposed and/or repositioned space.
  • Policy recommendations: The potential code/policy changes and financial incentives that would make it easier or more desirable for the team to complete the project.

Exhibitions and Celebratory Event

All submittals meeting the requirements for the design competition will be included in a digital gallery.

Digital Format Submissions

Submit digital files and scale down images prepared for the exhibition boards to the following specifications:

  • Wide format, 16:9 ratio (1920x1080 pixels)
  • Rgb color space
  • 150 dpi preferred (up to 300 dpi)
  • PDF files are preferred. Eps and jpg also acceptable.
  • Name files with [Submitters Name]­_1of2.[filetype] and [Submitters Name]_2of2.[filetype].
  • For Example: CCCP_1of2.pdf, CCCP_2of2.pdf
  • Email your submission to jlabar@charlottecentercity.org

Submissions will be displayed on Charlotte Center City Partners website, social media, and slideshows.

Physical Format Submissions

All submittals meeting the requirements for the design competition will be included in a celebratory event and exhibition space in Uptown.

  • Up to two 48 inches wide x 36 inches tall foam core mounted boards.
  • To maintain a cohesive final presentation of all submitted ideas, follow the recommended type sizes and spaces delineated within the template to demonstrate how the project meets the listed criteria. Downloadable templates contain margins, type specifications, and required footer information.
  • Label boards with project primary contact name and indicate 1 of 2 and 2 of 2. Click on image below
    to enlarge.
  • Deliver to Charlotte Center City Partners at 200 S. Tryon, Suite 1600 Charlotte, NC 28202

The submitters retain ownership of the IP rights, but by submitting the proposal, the submitter is granting Charlotte Center City Partners an unlimited and non-revocable license to use the materials, including the right to post the materials to Charlotte Center City Partners website and make them publicly available.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated by a committee of community member experts. The committee will score proposals according to the five criteria with a maximum of 20 points in each category. Additional considerations may be considered by the jury to further distinguish proposals.

  • Leaning Towards Action: Likelihood of implementation with appropriate support.
  • Innovative: Demonstrates creativity, innovation, and scalability.
  • Uptown Activation: Contributes to advancing Uptown’s vitality.
  • Economic Development: Provides meaningful impacts towards continuous growth, prosperity, and inclusion.
  • Public Benefits: Delivers enhancements to community amenities that enrich the quality of life.

Stay in the Loop

  • During the nine-week submittal timeframe, if there are updates to the design competition, posts
    will be made on this page and through email. If your team is interested in submitting designs to the competition and/or you have any questions about the process, please email James LaBar, SVP Economic Development, jlabar@charlottecentercity.org