Point Pleasant Park: FAQ

Citizens

Q: What is a design competition?

A: A design competition is a way to generate many ideas for a particular problem. These ideas are assessed by a jury, and are usually ranked according to their ability to solve the problem. In the case of Point Pleasant Park, we're trying to generate many ideas to help us understand the best way to regenerate, restore, and renew the landscape after the destruction caused by Hurricane Juan in September 2003, the brown spruce longhorn beetle in 2000 and the 2001 ice storm.

Q: Won't the forest take care of itself if it is just left alone?

A: Yes, but it might take a very long time to recover and still be susceptible to destruction if we take this approach.

Q: Why a design competition? Point Pleasant Park was a wonderful place before the hurricane, there's nothing wrong with the design—just restore it! What are the real goals?

A: The goal is to regenerate, restore and renew the park and its forest and make a long term management plan for it.

But, how do we restore the forest of the park? Point Pleasant Park had a lot of problems even before Hurricane Juan hit. Hurricane Juan exposed the distressing fact that our forestry management practices were slowly starving the forest of essential nutrients and gradually sterilizing the rich and diverse forest ecology needed to sustain the trees. These problems and the problems caused by Hurricane Juan overwhelmed the existing management plans, and there was no larger plan to fall back on. Just restoring the Park to its state prior to Hurricane Juan would not solve all its current problems.

The people entering the competition need to find answers to the questions: What were the characteristics of the Park that created the sense of tranquility and expansive forest? What views to the ocean do we want to keep and what views do we want to block? How do we manage the forest so that generations to come will have healthy trees to walk under? What kind of trees grow best, look best, and where do we plant them so that they grow healthy and strong? How do we balance the popularity of the park with the overall health of the park? What do we include in a master plan that will support the day-to-day management plan of the park?

Other problems which need consideration include: park entrances do not reflect the beauty of the park; parking lots have been characterized as "grim"; directional and regulatory signs in the Park are either lacking or confusing; and buildings and furnishings lack a style and quality suitable for a park of such civic pride and natural beauty.

These are all fundamental questions of park design. By putting the Point Pleasant Park master plan out to a design competition, we hope to see creative solutions to all of the above questions, and more. This will lead us to an effective and comprehensive management plan.

Q: Why "international"? We have all the expertise right here at home. This is an insult to our local professionals!

A: We feel that Nova Scotian design professionals, scientists, and artists are capable of competing on the world stage amongst their peers. By running an international competition we are showing Point Pleasant Park to the world and seeking advice from the best minds available. An international competition for the master plan of Point Pleasant Park is a vote of confidence for Nova Scotian intellect, ability, and creativity. We know that local professionals will enter the competition, either on their own or as part of international groups.

Q: How can someone from away understand local conditions and what the park means to us?

A: HRM has conducted public workshops and collected 350 questionnaires in order to understand what Point Pleasant Park means to citizens, and what citizens need from the Park. This is was a critical factor in our decision to try and return it to the type of place that we loved. Public participation will be summarized and included in the documentation for the competitors.

One of the biggest challenges for competition administrators is summarizing and organizing all the technical and historical information about Point Pleasant Park. It has to be organized in such a way that teams from Sydney Nova Scotia to Sydney Australia can understand the challenges of the Park, and appreciate what it means to park users.

Local experts in forests, forest ecology, ecological sciences, recreation planning, park planning, and history have been consulted on the competition and have been working on technical papers to help inform competitors about local conditions.

Q: Who is on the jury?

A: An international competition means that jury members will have to be eminent in their respective fields of study and practice. A panel of 5 members with diverse backgrounds in the arts, ecological sciences, architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and engineering will assess the submissions.

Q: If jury members don't live in Halifax Regional Municipality how can they possibly know what's best for Point Pleasant Park?

A: All submissions to the competition will be reviewed by a panel of local experts in various fields before submissions are reviewed by the jury. The review panel will write opinion reports on each submission in order to better inform the jury members about how well the submission meets the assessment criteria. The jury members will also be given a formal tour of the park with HRM staff in order to familiarize themselves with Point Pleasant and the complex issues facing the competition participants. This method of review ensures an informed and objective method of assessment of each submission.

Q: Will I get to see the other submissions?

A: Yes! Competition organizers plan to exhibit all submissions at a local venue. All submissions will be published to the Internet on our competition website. One of the many advantages of the international competition is the visibility it gives to up-and-coming people in the design professions, arts, and sciences. Are you a young designer, scientist, or artist eager to show your stuff to the world? Form a multidisciplinary team and make a submission!

Q: What are the prizes?

A: The five best entries chosen will each receive a prize of $5,000 for Stage 1 and an invitation to produce a more detailed version of their plan for the park in Stage 2 of the competition. The winner chosen from these five will receive the grand prize of $50,000.

Registrants

The Question and Answer period for stage one of the competition has now closed.

Q: Are artists, architects, and landscape architects excluded from the competition?

A: Everyone is encouraged to compete, provided they are not in conflict of interest. The conflict of interest statement (2.1.2 Conflict of Interest) in the competition brief is intended to exclude those who are closely associated with, employed by, or have a close family tie to the PPPIDC steering committee, advisory teams, competition administrator, jury, or the Real Property Planning business unit of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

If you feel you may be in conflict of interest, please contact the Competition Administrator at pointpleasant@halifax.ca for clarification of your particular situation.

Q: There is a reference about the presentation boards bearing numbers in the lower right corner (page 11 of Competition Brief). Is this just #1 on the left board and #2 on the right board or is this something to do with a number given to us when we register?

A: The number 1 must appear on the left board, where indicated, and the number 2 must appear on the right board, where indicated.

Q: I am unclear about the requirement for an A4 format hard copy of the text. Is this just the words from the presentation boards rewritten or is this an opportunity to present the panel concepts to the judges?

A: The text for the A4 (letter size) sheets referred to in the brief is to be of the text from the boards only. The competitor may also save a copy of this text to the submission CD, but the hard copy sheets must be included as required.

Q: It appears that there is no requirement for a written report to accompany the panels. The submitted CD will have the JPEG file of the panels only.

A: This is correct. However, we now leave the competitor the option of including an electronic version of the required text (see above question).

Q: The minimum requirements for the plan view are stated as 1:2000 metric. This map is quite large and takes up most of one board. So long as one plan at this scale is included, can a larger scale map also be included so that a larger area may be looked at as part of the overview of the park in the context of Halifax?

A: Yes, a larger scale map/image may also be included. A 1:2000 metric scaled plan view of the site is required. Other maps, drawings, graphics, images, text, etc. that fit within the requirements are up to the discretion of the competitor.