Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, the lead architects of the Camana Bay development, were awarded the 2006 American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award recently.
Camana Bay is the 300-acre, mixed-use, multi-decade, master planned community being developed by Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. between Seven Mile Beach and the North Sound.
The annually awarded honour is the highest honour the AIA bestows on an architecture firm, and recognises a practice that has consistently produced distinguished architecture for at least 10 years.
‘This is a wonderful honour which we share with our colleagues and clients’ said founding partners Buzz Yudell and John Ruble of the firm. ‘We hope to do more and do better as we go forward.’
Franklin Ross of the AIA’s Committee on Design, praised Moore Ruble Yudell.
‘The firm has consistently produced an outstanding body of work rooted in a deep commitment to humanistic architecture,’ he said. ‘Their work is widely admired for its spirited celebration of habitation at many scales and its respect for people, context and place.’
‘Sandy Urquhart, Vice President of Design at Dart Realty (Cayman) Limited, said the award further illustrated Dart’s reasoning to partner with Moore Ruble Yudell.
‘Their vast experience and expertise ensures that the design and architecture of Camana Bay with be to the highest standards,’ he said. ‘The outcome will be a whole new community, and an international showpiece that generations of Caymanians and visitors alike, will be able to experience.’
The Town Centre of the Camana Bay development, which is currently under construction, will have Caribbean-inspired architecture, designed courtyards, streets, and walkways.
Among other things, the Town Centre will offer residential apartments, garden and commercial offices, an international school, and a variety of retail and entertainment venues, including a state-of-the-art multiplex cinema.
The Town Centre will also have up to six restaurants featuring different atmospheres and cuisines overlooking the Harbour.
This first phase of Camana Bay is scheduled to open in 2007.
Mr. Yudell said the Camana Bay project presented an opportunity to create a community which is uniquely of the place.
‘It will be a sustainable community which is responsive to the site, landscape, climate, and culture of the island,’ he said. ‘Yet it is conceived and will be executed with contemporary materials, technologies and methods.
‘This will be a lively and diverse mixed use community accommodating residents, visitors and those who work there. The landscape and architecture will have a range of expression within a harmonious whole.’
Moore Ruble Yudell, which has been in practice for 28 years, has become a major influence in the integration of light and color in design.
Its work in the international arena is credited with bringing to the foreground issues in sustainability, social housing, construction practices and the need to work collaboratively with diverse civic groups, clients, and consultants throughout the lifecycle of a project.
Working with Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd. and a range of talented design and technical consultants on the Camana Bay project, Moore Ruble Yudell has developed an approach to the community that would allow for the full range of activities of daily life, including living, working, shopping, education, and recreation.
In addition, the plan envisions a wide array of housing types, from apartments to single family houses to multi-unit housing.
The plan is set up to encourage pedestrian interaction as well as to encourage the possibility of working and living in the same neighborhoods.
The architecture and landscape will reflect the climate and culture of the island without being overly nostalgic.
Camana Bay also aims to create a community which can evolve, adapt and grow over time.
Toward this end, the careful design of the hierarchy of different kinds of pedestrian paths, lanes and streets, as well as a diversity of landscape and street planting is a way to create a strong identity even as the uses over time may change.
Similarly there will be a strong framework of community-serving areas like parks, as well as cultural, recreational, waterfront and educational amenities.
In March, Moore, Ruble Yudell, in conjunction with Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd., will sponsor a workshop on architecture and other related fields. MRY will be sending some of their staff members to Grand Cayman to conduct the workshop, details of which will be announced soon.
Related Videos
