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On Monday, November 5, 2007 at a gala awards ceremony in Loews Philadelphia Hotel (PSFS Building), the Ed Bacon Foundation announced the winners of its second-annual national student design competition: Connecting Market East. The winning entry came from a team of five second-year graduate students at Boston Architectural College: Nathan Allen, David Haugen, Chris Hillebrand, Joel Isaksen, and Joe Stromer.

The Ed Bacon Foundation is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization, established in 2004, that runs educational programming focusing on the future of Philadelphia and urban America, in honor and memory of Edmund N. Bacon, Philadelphia’s late city planning director. Their student competition is designed to challenge students across North America to focus on urban design problems, while simultaneously raising awareness of Bacon’s work.

This year’s competition focused on Market East one of Center City Philadelphia's prime retail districts that was significantly shaped by Bacon's planning concepts. Entrants were challenged to conceive a new and original concept for improving the site, showing awareness of its historical evolution, the site's modern users and opportunities, and keeping an eye to the future.



The BAC students’ design proposes a bold, new urban center for Market East, with significant commercial and residential development. Through a clear understanding of the successes and failures of Market East over its history, BAC students were able to better respond to its current form. They carefully considered how Market East and the surrounding blocks could be revitalized into an exciting urban, pedestrian, and shopping experience for its diverse set of users. Their winning design creates a diagonal axis connecting Market East with points south, and includes an intercultural center and a below-ground bus depot.

The Ed Bacon Foundation received 15 entries from individuals and teams, representing the work of 31 students from twelve colleges and universities in seven U.S. states and one Canadian province. Seven of the entries were from students at schools in Philadelphia: Drexel University, Temple University, Philadelphia University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The winning designs will go on public exhibition for one month in Philadelphia’s Cira Centre “bridge” lobby area.

For more information on the Ed Bacon Foundation and the ‘Connecting Market East’ competition, please visit www.edbacon.org/marketeast.

Photos courtesy of the Ed Bacon Foundation