Houston-based Rice Design Alliance Partners sponsored the charrette to focus architects, designers and the community on Galveston’s need to unite the disparate elements of history and tourism.

Participants were organized into 18 teams made up mostly of Houston-area architects. The specific challenge was to design a master plan for a vacant stretch of land between 21st and 22nd streets along Seawall Boulevard, just west of the historic Hotel Galvez. The master plan was to include a 5,000-sq-ft outdoor event area and a 2,000-sq-ft event facility.

The team from TBG Partners and Curry Boudreaux won the Best All Around award for designing a series of concrete “pods” to provide event services such as tickets and vending, which could be reproduced along the seawall and withstand a hurricane.

Clark Condon and Associates won the Thinking Big award for its “spiral jetty” off the coast, which if reproduced along the island could create pockets of activity along the seawall.

The team from Studio Red won the Building Small award. It designed a moveable trolley system (using shipping containers) to bring various cultural events to the site.