Creative Actio is all about the Next Big Thing. In this case, it's the future of downtown Lafayette via the Imagine Downtown ideas competition.
Creative Action, in partnership with the Urban Land Institute Louisiana, UL Lafayette, the Acadiana Center for the Arts and AOL Community Media, is all about the Next Big Thing. In this case, it's the future of downtown Lafayette via the Imagine Downtown ideas competition. Urban designers and architects from around the world entered the Creative Action design contest for several months, focusing on design solutions for the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. A jury of architects - Silvia Vargas, Justin Garret Moore, Steve Oubre, John Knott and Jonathan Segal - judged the entries and six "best design" entries were selected.
The designs will be on exhibition at the AcA beginning with an opening reception on Saturday, April 13 from 4-6 p.m. A side exhibition of entries from UL Lafayette students will also be on display.
Exhibition coordinator and Creative Action founding member Colin Miller says the purpose of the competition is to spur creativity and get the community talking. "We are not proposing demolitions or new construction projects for downtown. The competition is a way for us to generate fresh, new ideas from all over the world and put them out there for the people of Acadiana to see, talk about, and start to imagine a downtown where they want to live, work, and play."
The winners of the competition were awarded a $1,500 prize. But more important, says Miller, they've made a contribution to a dialogue about creating an urban core in Lafayette where people want to live and work. "The exhibition of the winning Imagine Downtown designs is intended for everyone in the community, not just a handful of architects and designers," he says. "People who come to the exhibition at AcA on April 13 will see some really cool renderings, diagrams, and information they didn't know about Downtown Lafayette, as well as some beautiful renderings by UL architecture students in the galleries upstairs."
The opening reception is free to the public. To find out more about the competition or about Creative Action, check out their Facebook page or log on to CreativeActionAcadiana.org.