Arc Project News
May 2008
Suisman Urban Design Awarded 2008 EDRA/Places Award
Aerial view rendering of the projected transit boulevard and growth sequence
Suisman Urban Design was awarded the 2008 EDRA/Places Award in the category of Place Planning for The Arc Project. As a visionary exercise grounded in research, the jury praised the project for its use of planning to “move the bar.” Since its initial release in 2005, it has had an overwhelmingly positive reception, as evidenced by reviews in more than 200 media outlets worldwide. By raising typical planning concerns in a dispassionate way and placing the needs of a future Palestine at the center of discussion, it offers an object of hope to all who have sought peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The plan envisions construction of an infrastructural “arc” linking the major cities of the two territories and providing connection to an international airport and seaport. Consisting of a high-speed trunk rail line, water, electricity and telecommunications lines, the arc would follow the high ground in the West Bank before sweeping through the Israeli Negev to Gaza. Perpendicular to it would be subsidiary collecting infrastructures allowing development of linear urban areas. In analyzing this scheme, the plan looks at underlying natural conditions; compares aspects of the resulting Palestinian state to those of other small nations; relates the potential character of its cities to models from Phoenix to Istanbul; and sets the overall density of settlement in context of other metropolitan areas.
The project team at Suisman Urban Design consisted of Doug Suisman, FAIA (Principal), Eli Garilazo (Senior Associate), and Helen Choi, Kevin Short, and Daniel Windsor (Designers). The RAND research team was led by C. Ross Anthony and Steven N. Simon, and included Glenn E. Robinson, Michael Schoenbaum, and Mary Vaiana. Robert Lane of Regional Plan Association also contributed to the plan.
December 2006
Arc Update
Andover Bulletin article
The Arc, Suisman Urban Design’s award-winning infrastructure proposal for a Palestinian state developed in partnership with the RAND corporation, continues to inspire interest both internationally and in the region. The election of Hamas last January to lead the government has led to a series of political repercussions that have stymied peace initiatives, damaged the Palestinian economy, and created growing tension and unrest both with Israelis and within Palestinian society. The war in Iraq and last summer’s short war in Lebanon have only exacerbated the situation in the region. Despite the bleak climate of the moment, many groups continue to press forward with initiatives aimed at improving the situation, including individuals and companies in the private sector, private foundations, and NGO’s. Suisman Urban Design and RAND presented their proposal last summer in Washington D.C. to the Aspen Institute’s Middle East Strategy Group, and to a reception at the residence of the Egyptian Ambassador. This led to planning for a two-day conference on the Arc, to be held in the region in early 2007. Meanwhile, the press continues to report on the project. The project had already been covered in more than 250 media outlets worldwide, including an extensive 3-page story in the New York Times in May 2005. Recently, there have been feature articles or reviews in:
The Andover Bulletin “Building the Arc” http://www.andover.edu/publications/Bulletin_PDF/06_Sum_bulletin.pdf
Architectural Record
Bloomberg “A blueprint for the day after peace” http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=arc+palestinian+bloomberg&btnG=Search
Business Week “Design Meets Diplomacy” http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061011_530763.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_designers+unmasked
BBC World Service interview with Doug Suisman on the program “One Planet”, as part of a special program on “Supercities”.
January 26, 2006
Suisman Urban Design takes home a 2006 P/A Award for the Arc
Doug Suisman (center) accepting the P/A Award at the Center for Architecture in New York; at right is former Suisman team member Daniel Windsor
At an awards ceremony attended by more than 300 people at the Center for Architecture in New York, Doug Suisman accepted a prestigious P/A award for Suisman Urban Design’s project with RAND Corporation, “The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State”. The P/A Awards program, now in its 53rd year and administered by Architecture magazine, is considered by architects to be one of the world’s top honors for unbuilt projects, recognizing innovative architecture at its conception. The Arc, which lays out an unprecedented vision for infrastructure and urban growth in an eventual Palestinian state comprised of the West Bank and Gaza, was one of only eight projects selected for the 2006 Awards. The jury said of the Arc, “It has a clear, functional logic, and organizes and anticipates phased development...a great project”.
The Arc and the other winning projects are published in the January 2006 issue of Architecture, and are also on exhibit at the AIA New York’s Center for Architecture in lower Manhattan. The exhibition will continue through February 25, 2006.
http://www.architecturemag.com/architecture/reports_analysis/design_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001845161
http://www.aiany.org/centerforarchitecture/exhibitions.php
January 13, 2006
The Arc wins a 2006 AIA National Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design
The U.S. architectural profession’s highest recognition of excellence; jury calls project “compelling” and “visionary”
American Institute of Architects
Suisman Urban Design received the architectural profession’s highest recognition of excellence for a project when its plan for a Palestinian state, “The Arc”, won a national Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design from the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The AIA awards are given in the areas of architecture, interior architecture, and urban design. Selected from over 680 total submissions, the 30 recipients will be honored in June at the AIA 2006 National Convention and Design Exposition in Los Angeles.
“The jury reviewed a broad spectrum of submissions from the smallest scale projects to the largest proposal for the transportation framework for the new nation of Palestine” said Jury Chair Diane T. Georgopulos, FAIA, of Mass Housing Finance Agency in Boston. “The awards recognized projects that best demonstrated the application of sustainable design principles to creatively use open space and density to advance social, economic and environmental health”.
Of Suisman Urban Design’s Arc project with RAND Corporation, the jury said, “Clear and compelling framework plan for a thoughtfully shaping expansion of the newly created Palestinian nation... The necessity to create public transit to support the huge expansion of population was proposed through the development of a transportation spine, settlement areas and intertwining environmentally sensitive areas, which were conveyed with extraordinary sensitivity...Visionary plan built on logical approach to infrastructure creating immeasurable hope for a displaced people and nation.
www.aia.org
www.aia.org/SiteObjects/files/Arc.pdf
www.aia.org/press2_template.cfm?pagename=release_011306_honorawards
October 27, 2005
The Arc wins a 2005 AIA/Los Angeles Honor Award
Only Honor award in the Unbuilt category; jury was unanimous, called the project “elegant”, “unprecedented” and “breathtaking”
RAND’s Executive Vice President Michael Rich with Doug Suisman at the AIA Awards Gala in Los Angeles
© Suisman Urban Design
Suisman Urban Design’s “Arc” project, an infrastructure master plan for a Palestinian state, was the sole winner of a coveted Honor Award in the Unbuilt category of the AIA / Los Angeles’s 2005 Awards program. The awards were announced at annual Awards Gala held in October.
In its comments, the awards jury said, “The jury was unanimous on this entry, whose strength derives from the simplicity of its diagram and its depth of research…the design is elegant and clear. The simplicity in its gesture is its strength, integrating complex systems in an unprecedented way. It’s amazing that this investigation is even happening. It’s breathtaking.”
Joining the Suisman team were RAND Corporation Executive Vice President Michael Rich and RAND Vice President and Director of RAND Health Dr. Robert Brook, as well as project supporters Carol and David Richards. The Suisman team included Principal Doug Suisman and his wife Moye Thompson, Senior Associate Eli Garsilazo, and designers Helen Choi and Kevin Short.
www.aialosangeles.org/events/next_winners.htm
September 30, 2005
Suisman presents Arc in New York at Columbia and Jewish Community Center
In a series of public presentations, the RAND project and Arc concept receive wider public attention
“The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State” was Doug Suisman’s subject at two speaking engagements in New York, at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University, and at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Manhattan.
At the JCC, Suisman spoke in the new facility’s auditorium on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, discussing his personal connection to the conflict, the development of the Arc project with RAND Corporation, and the current status of the project. A question-and-answer period was followed by a reception.
At the GSAPP, from which Suisman graduated in 1981, he addressed an audience of students and faculty from the school, including Dean Mark Wigley, and from related fields in international affairs. A lively discussion followed, with questions and comments from a number of both Palestinian and Israeli students. Also in the audience was Robert Lane, urban design director of the Regional Plan Association in New York, and an early contributor to the Arc project.
September 15, 2005
Suisman briefs Palestinian Prime Minister Qurei
Represents the RAND Corporation, presents Arc project; PM expresses appreciation for RAND’s efforts and depth of thinking on Palestinians’ behalf
Doug Suisman briefs Prime Minister Qurei in Ramallah
© Suisman Urban Design
Representing the RAND Palestine State Study Team, Doug Suisman traveled to Ramallah where he briefed Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and his senior staff. Qurei signalled the public nature of the meeting by calling in the press for photographs before the briefing began.
After the briefing, Qurei asked a number of questions and said he was very appreciative of the effort that had been made by the RAND team on behalf of a Palestinian state, and the depth of its thinking. He said the project helped the Palestinians open their minds to new ideas. The Prime Minister said his office was organizing an international conference with the World Economic Forum in December in Bethlehem, to meet with major investors in the private sector, and that it would be a good idea for RAND to present the project there.
www.pna.gov.ps/
August 18, 2005
Arc plan presented to Seeds of Peace “Summit”
Suisman visits with young Israelis and Palestinians at renowned camp in Maine
Doug Suisman meeting with Seeds graduates, all young professionals from Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt
© Suisman Urban Design
Seeds of Peace, the renowned organization which brings young Israeli, Palestinian and other Arab youth together in the neutral setting of a lakeside camp in Maine, invited Doug Suisman to its first “Leadership Summit” to discuss his work with RAND Corporation on the structure of a new Palestinian state.
The Summit was attended by more than 100 graduates of the first years of the program, who by now are in their mid-twenties and embarked on a range of careers in Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, England, and the United States. Suisman talk in the main hall was followed by a lively round of questions and comments.
Following the talk, Suisman had lunch with a number of the attendees, and then joined several focused seminars for further discussion.
www.seedsofpeace.org
www.seedsofpeace.org/site/News2page=NewsArticle&id=7568