2016 brought a multitude of new ideas and excitement to downtown Rochester with the temporary installation of 16 prototypes at the first ever PlaceMakers | Rochester Prototyping Festival.
Since the September festival, which addressed “Health and the Built Environment,” the community is beginning to see more examples of urban prototyping taking place.
The city of Rochester is conducting four integrated transit studies to support and advance DMC’s plan. On January 24, study consultants will host the first of four public conversations to share their findings and listen to the thoughts of attendees on transportation in downtown.
Richard Freese is the director of the city’s Public Works Department and feels that Rochester is a unique city requiring a unique approach to travel demand management. “Since the invention of the automobile, cities around the world have tried unsuccessfully to build their way out of traffic congestion by building more or wider roads,” Freese says.
A few months ago, DMC developed the design process for the public realm/public infrastructure for the St. Marys Place sub-district and 2nd Street Corridor. With the data collection phase complete, we recently initiated the next step in the process: the Design Sprint.
This process called for teams of stakeholders – property owners, neighborhood leaders, Mayo Clinic representatives, and city staff – to work with a team of designers to develop concepts that address issues such as pedestrian circulation (think streetscape, skyways, and tunnels), parking, and neighborhood connections.
Four transportation consulting groups gathered in Rochester this week to observe traffic conditions and transit operations on a typical weekday and, ultimately, advance the DMC vision through first-hand knowledge of existing capabilities and future needs.
The DMC Plan identifies the need to create an integrated system of parking and transit options to better facilitate pedestrian and bicycle options and create efficient, healthy, high-amenity options that can accommodate a doubling of downtown jobs. “Infrastructure is the backbone of our DMC planning, with transportation being a critical component,” says Lisa Clarke, DMC EDA executive director. A world-class transportation network would not only improve livability for Rochester’s residents and businesses but also attract the workforce talent required to achieve the DMC vision.
This September, the landscape of downtown Rochester will take on a new look when sixteen larger-than-life urban prototypes are put into place.
PlaceMakers | Rochester Prototyping Festival will take place from Thursday, September 15 through Saturday, September 17. The event is a collaboration of Destination Medical Center, the Rochester Art Center, and the Rochester Downtown Alliance and is a unique effort to engage local designers, artists, and community members in remaking of some of Rochester’s public spaces.
Progress continued in the Heart of the City today as the Community Advisory Committee made its recommendation for the team charged with designing the DMC sub-district’s public space.
That recommendation is RSP Architects, a Minneapolis-based architectural firm with offices in Rochester, Phoenix, and other locations, and includes Coen Partners (Twin Cities), which will serve as lead landscape architect; 9.Square (Rochester), which will provide urban design, architecture, planning, and community engagement; HR&A Advisors (New York), which will provide open space development, management, and strategy services; and Kimley-Horn (St. Paul and Rochester), which will provide civil engineering, transportation, and DMC plan continuity.
Rochester community members were given sneak peek of the 16 projects that will be on display during
the 2016 PlaceMakers | Rochester Prototyping Festival in September.
The projects range from the clever, including a rocking chair for multiple people, to the practical, like brightly colored bike paths that are meant to make bikers safer in downtown Rochester.
Patrick Seeb, Destination Medical Center’s director of economic development and placemaking, says all the projects exemplify DMC’s broader goal of helping Rochester become America’s City for Health.
Colorful crosswalks and a collective rocking chair are just two of the 16 installation finalists named this week for the PlaceMakers Rochester Prototyping Festival.
The entire list of projects was announced at Thursdays on 1st earlier today by DMC’s Economic Development Director Patrick Seeb.
Chicago-based entrepreneur Troy Henikoff has a go-to recipe for fostering communities that supports innovation.
Ingredients include investors, co-working spaces for collaboration, and an inclusive attitude.
Henikoff should know. He is the Managing Director for TechStars Chicago, an organization that is part of a global entrepreneurial network helping people with good ideas start a business by giving them access to accelerators, mentors, and capital.
In fact, Techstars already has a presence in Rochester, allowing health care-oriented entrepreneurs who have been through the program to spend several weeks in the city exploring business opportunities with the Mayo Clinic.
Mayo Clinic has officially launched its plan for Destination Medical Center’s Discovery Square, an urban bioscience campus in Rochester where doctors, researchers, and scientists will come together to accelerate new advancements in medical research, technology, and patient care.
Mayo Clinic’s announcement that it is on the hunt for a strategic real estate development firm to build out Discovery Square is a major milestone for the Destination Medical Center’s (DMC) plan to enhance Rochester’s reputation as the world’s premier destination for health and wellness, and to create a robust entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem that encourages start-up companies.