San José, California, a major hub of Silicon Valley, was once home to a 207-foot-tall steel “moonlight tower” that used arcing incandescent lights to illuminate the city’s downtown. The tower was designed by J.J. Owen, the owner of the San Jose Mercury newspaper, who crowd-sourced some $3,500 in 1881 to build it. Some 34 years later, after suffering damage from wind storms, the tower collapsed.
Now, the San Jose Light Tower Corporation has initiated the Urban Confluence Silicon Valley ideas competition to generate concepts for a new technological landmark that can define contemporary Silicon Valley.
The organizers invite teams of landscape architects, artists, architects, urban planners, lighting designers, students, designers, engineers — “anyone with a passion for place-making” — to transform 5 acres of Arena Green, an existing city park in San José, into a true destination for Silicon Valley. Three finalists will receive $150,000 to further flesh out their proposals.
The organizers seek a “transformative design complete with dramatic lighting, a net-zero energy approach, and an impressive physical presence that will become a powerful and enduring symbol of how Silicon Valley operates as a bridge from past to present to future. Urban Confluence Silicon Valley can be a structure, an object, a sculpture, a work of architecture—with an activated landscape enjoyed both day and night.”
The Corporation proposes the 14.3-acre Arena Green at Guadalupe River Park and Gardens as the site for the project because of its central location. The park is across the street from a mixed-use development now in development: the 6-8 million-square foot, transit-oriented Google Downtown West. Arena Green is also two blocks from Diridon Station, which is being re-envisioned as a multi-modal hub for bus, light rail, BART regional transit, Amtrak, and high-speed rail, with an “expected ridership of 140,000 per day by 2040.” The new landmark is expected to help support “the growth of restaurants, bars, retail stores, hotels, service businesses, and residences within the area.”
The Arena Green area is also a true urban confluence: it is set within riparian corridors for the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek, so just 5 acres of the site can be redeveloped — and it must be done in an ecologically-sensitive manner. Project proposals will need to demonstrate an understanding of the site’s river and creek ecosystem, lighting limitations given the proximity to Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport, and existing site-specific public art that can’t be removed.
A public community panel will review all submissions and pick the top 50, which will be sent to a jury that includes Jon Cicirelli, San José director of parks and recreation; Susan Chin, former head of the Design Trust for Public Space; and landscape architect Jerry van Eyck, International ASLA, founder of !Melk.
There is no fee to enter the competition. The deadline is April 3, 2020. Read the detailed brief and explore resources for submitters.
There are 14 operating original Moonlight Towers in Austin, TX. All date back to 1894, refurbished 1993. While the 161 foot towers originally were outfitted with carbon arc lamps, they currently have a turret of six Mercury vapor lamps.