Charlottesville's Department of Neighborhood Development Services selected four designs Saturday that it would consider constructing on the Downtown Mall, as part of the 2009 Sister Cities Clock Design Competition.
The competition was first announced in August as a way to honor Charlottesville's Sister Cities Program, the goal of which is to create cultural and economic ties among Charlottesville and its four sister cities: Besancon, France; Pleven, Bulgaria; Poggio a Caiano, Italy; and Winneba, Ghana.
A jury of six individuals - including Architecture School Prof. Peter Waldman - judged the 10 entries before picking three winners. Later in the afternoon, the public also voted on the designs for the recipient of the people's choice award. These four clock designs have been forwarded to City Council to make a final decision.
Preservation and Design Planner Mary Joy Scala said City Council may not necessarily choose to build any of the clock proposals. Scala said Council likely will begin to debate the clocks in December, adding that "we have a few months before we even begin fabrication of a clock."
The contest, which was open to everyone, resulted in several different designs. Some designs chose to represent each sister city with its own clock, displaying the appropriate time zone, while others utilized plaques or seals. One entry included a vertical clock with a horizontal plane that displayed a map of the world with a marker for each of the cities.
All entries were made up of one or two 24-by-36-inch boards displaying everything contestants wished to convey about their design proposal.
The jury, which also included Marthe Rowen, a representative from the Sister Cities Commission, judged the entries based on seven criteria: quality, appropriateness, originality, sustainability, adherence to historic guidelines, functionality and reasonable cost. The contest set a limit for the designs to cost no more than $25,000.
"This amount was picked so that contestants would be designing similar costing clocks," Scala said. "City Council will decide later how much they want to spend."
Though Council may save some money by not hiring a professional designer for the clock, the intent of the competition was not to cut costs. Instead, the purpose was to support the arts, Scala said. Moreover, the competition also was an effort to make use of local talent and to have a clock that holds special meaning in the community, as opposed to one not unique to the city.
"I believe the addition of a clock downtown will make more people aware of the Sister Cities Program and foster interest," Rowen said.
The three winning entries picked by the jury received $1,500, $1,000 and $500 prizes, respectively. The people's choice was not granted any monetary award.
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