Individuals are welcome to apply.  We do encourage teams to apply, collaborating through virtual means.

The competition is open to all, including individuals and all types of firms, including emerging and established firms. There are two submission categories: Young Adults (teams aged 21 and below) and Professionals (teams aged 22 and up). Finalists and Winners will be selected from both categories. 

The competition is open to any ideas to improve the experience on the bridge, and we are looking for diverse perspectives. While the ideal team from the Professional category should represent an interdisciplinary mix of expertise across transportation, public space, and engineering, competitors do not need to have formal training in design, planning, or engineering to submit a proposal.

There is no minimum or maximum number of team members, but the recommended number of team members is 4. We do encourage interdisciplinary teams.

Yes, firms and studios are welcome to apply as a team. Please include information about the individual expertise of team members in the application.

Once a team is selected, the team members cannot change. The team can draw upon the resources of their larger firm, if they are applying through their firm.

Only one submission per firm is allowed. Individuals who work at the same firm may create their own teams and submit their own applications, as long as neither team is submitting on behalf of the firm. No firm or individual can be a member of more than one submission.

If any member of your team is 22 or older, you will need to apply under the Professionals category.

If anyone on your team will turn 22 before April 19, you must submit under the Professional category.

If you will turn 22 after April 19, apply to the Young Adults track.

Yes, previous work is a requirement for the Professional category.

Previous work should speak to the applicants’ past experience and does not have to be related to architecture, design, or engineering. Ideally, examples of previous work should be relevant to the competition and demonstrate familiarity with the topics at hand, such as transportation, mobility, and/or the public realm. Previous work can be submitted in any medium, including drawings, photographs, writings, or other forms of visual communication.

Previous work must include team members’ direct experience, and can include experience with creation, design, or implementation. Applicants should explain their role on the project in their application.

Previous work can be realized or conceptualized projects, with a preference for realized.

No additional documentation will be required, but please describe your role on the project with each Previous Work submission. If selected, we will conduct reference calls to verify.

New York City Council and Van Alen Institute seek visionary ideas that would improve every aspect of the Brooklyn Bridge experience: access, the journey across, understanding of its history, landmark status and extraordinary engineering, and the meaning and pleasure that visiting one of the globe’s most iconic public spaces should deliver.

This competition is a collaboration between New York City Council and Van Alen Institute.

The competition rules can be found in the Design Brief in the “Eligibility, Terms and Conditions” section.

Requirements can be found in the Design Brief in the “Applicants Submission Requirements” section.

Yes!

We encourage creative, envelope-pushing ideas. For the Professional track, feasibility is one of the criteria that will be considered. Feasibility is not a requirement for the Young Adults track, as one goal of this competition is to give young people an opportunity to share their opinion on future infrastructure that they will experience.

Proposals must balance celebration of the bridge’s rich history and iconic status with its everyday utility. Please refer to the Design Brief for the full set of evaluation criteria.

Individuals of the same organization that do not report to a jury member are eligible to participate. Please find other details about individuals with relationships to jury members in the Design Brief under “Eligibility, Terms, and Conditions.”

Thanks for the offer! However, the jury has already been identified for this competition.

Yes, the 10-page maximum is inclusive of all elements of the Applicants Submission Requirements listed in the Design Brief.

The cover sheet must be its own page. You can divide content at your discretion across the other pages.

There is no pre-registration. Your submission through our application portal by Sunday, April 19 at 11:59 pm ET is sufficient.

This is the standard submission size to enable both paper and electronic review.

Submissions are limited to a single ‘poster image.’ You can divide written content at your discretion across the other pages.

Please arrange responses as sections according to the “Submission Requirements” in the Design Brief.

The jury will review the items included under “Submission Requirements” in the Design Brief. The ‘poster image’ included in your proposal can be a sketch, rendering, collage, or other format and should look to address the competition goals. Your poster image should aim to bring your concept to life—make sure it is vibrant, contextual, engaging, and responsive to the competition brief. Entries will be judged and narrowed to six finalists based on the Evaluation Criteria in the Design Brief.

Participants are to describe how they came to the recommended proposal through their responses to the thematic prompts in the Project Approach section. No separate description is required.

Submissions should be formatted as a single PDF document but may have multiple pages. The document can be a maximum of 10 pages.

You can submit a drawing, photograph, or other forms of visual communication. All proposals must be submitted in PDF format.

Responses in the Project Approach section should be limited to text and should provide further detail regarding the ‘poster image’ you submit.

You may link to additional information in your proposal, but the jury is only required to look at the information in the PDF proposal submitted. Supplemental materials beyond the submitted PDF will not be part of the evaluation process.

There is no word limit, but your proposal must be no longer than 10 pages.

Only one image is required as part of your submission. This image should fully convey your design idea.

We are accepting both formats! 11×13 was initially included in error.

Teams may be eligible to receive a travel stipend of up to $1,000. Teams are expected to participate in-person at two events, one in May and one in July. Not all team members must attend in person. 

Yes, the design development period will be conducted by phone and email.

Reference documents provided by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), including the bridge’s site plan and statistics regarding the pedestrian, cyclist, and car usage of the Brooklyn Bridge can be found here.

Drawings provided by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) can be found here.

The cable inspection has not been completed at this time. As of the launch of the competition, New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) was working to procure engineering services to complete the cable inspection as quickly as possible. We will update participants if we learn more.

Provided that another team member can be available, it should not be a problem to miss 3-4 days between finalist selection and the public jury session. If you are selected as a finalist, please inform the competition team of any foreseeable scheduling conflicts as soon as possible.

Data projections are not available at this time.

Please plan around the current state of the bridge.

Walkway specifications, including cross-sections of the bridge, can be found under Resources. Slide 7 of the Brooklyn Bridge Promenade Recommendation Report is particularly helpful.

DOT’s ongoing structural study is intended to determine the current load capacity of the bridge. In the meantime, we encourage participants to think about how to accommodate the needs of various users, and how to move toward their vision for the next hundred years of New York City’s transportation and public realm, more than about the precise feasibility of their design.

Please submit your entry to competitions@vanalen.org. Please include responses to the questions on the Google form in the body of your email:

Team Name; Number of Teammates; Competition Category (Professional or Young Adult); Primary Contact Name; Primary Contact Address; Primary Contact City, State; Primary Contact Country; Primary Contact Zip Code; Primary Contact Phone; and the following statement:
“In making this submission, I/we acknowledge, agree to and accept the Eligibility, Terms and Conditions requirements outlined in the Design Brief.”