Proposals for "Universal Art Center" Subject of UB Exhibit

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "Southpoint: from Ruin to Rejuvenation," is a traveling exhibition of jury-selected entries in a 2006 competition for proposals for a Universal Arts Center on the site of the Renwick Smallpox Hospital ruin in Southpoint Park on New York City's Roosevelt Island.

The exhibition, which opened the Spring 2007 Exhibition Series sponsored by the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, will run through Feb. 16 in the school's James Dyett Gallery in Hayes Hall on UB's South (Main Street) Campus. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

The 2006 Southpoint competition was an open, international "ideas competition" designed to explore issues of universal design and historic rejuvenation in the development of the center.

Entrants each proposed plans in keeping with the requirement that the center provide public access to the making and performance of drama, music, dance, singing and poetry; space for creating and exhibition of visual art, photography and fashion, including work created by island residents. It also had to accommodate educational seminars and conferences, notably those focusing on disability issues and universal design and access.

The designs also were required to provide easy entry and movement throughout the facility for visitors and performers of all ages and physical abilities, including patients at the island's Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility, a long-term and sub-acute care hospital specializing in geriatric and rehabilitation in-patient services.

The competition was one in a series of biennial competitions sponsored by the Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) and the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). It was designed to involve emerging professionals not only in "making," but in advocacy, public service, fund raising and community engagement.