News

T.Y. Lin International Wins Planning Excellence Award for Upstate New York Farmer's Market

T.Y. Lin International Wins Planning Excellence Award for Upstate New York Farmer's Market

Company News
Awards
Concept art for Rochester Public Market

The Rochester Public Market Master Plan has been selected by the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association (NYUAPA) as winner of a 2012 NYUAPA Planning Excellence Award in the Best Practice category. T.Y. Lin International (TYLI) led the consulting team that created the master plan. The NYUAPA Awards recognize outstanding work by planners and planning firms in Upstate New York.

The TYLI team included the City of Rochester, PLAN Architectural Studio (PLAN Studio) and Market Ventures, Inc. Through an intensive year-long stakeholder visioning process, the team gathered input from multiple vendors, customers, market staff, and surrounding business owners to develop an initial plan; charrette-style meetings followed to refine and progress the plan. At the same time, a market study focusing on the financial and economical impact analyses was completed along with an online consumer survey. The resulting master plan addressed the city’s goals for the project: to create an active everyday market district that serves a diverse customer base; to expand, modernize, and enclose facilities (particularly the Wintershed) to meet vendor needs; to maintain operation throughout the completion of the improvements; to assure a variety of vending and price options; and to create facilities for special events and educational programming.

“During the planning process, the design team had a deep appreciation for the fact that the market is a very special public place. They have put together a plan which upgrades and expands the market while maintaining the character of the space and also insures that the market can continue to operate throughout the project,” said Jim Farr, the public market director.

Christopher Lopez, AIA, principal architect and planner at PLAN Studio, said, “The plan addresses a highly complex problem, loaded with public opinion, by drawing from the past and embracing change.” Lopez’s favorite aspect of the design is the market plaza. He added that, “This centralized hub will provide a much needed gathering space to provide relief for patrons from the active vendor sales aisles. It will also provide a great venue for market events.”

The market plaza is envisioned to border a renovated, expanded Market House that is programmed to provide culinary educational facilities including a demonstration kitchen. Joseph Kosiorek, AIA, a senior architect at TYLI’s Rochester office acknowledged, “It is a great honor to be recognized for the master plan. The public market is an iconic part of the city and is successful because of its rich history, diversity and functionality. These collective traits will be respected with subtle design that allows the market to continue to be the gem that it is.” Kosiorek said that the consultant team is getting ready for the next phase which will bring the design toward implementation.

“We look forward to working together to finalize the design and begin construction," affirmed Farr.

An illustration of the Master Plan is available for viewing here.

Related Projects

Related News