NYC2012, the committee leading New York City’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, announced the five finalists on December 11 for an Innovative Design Study for the proposed 2012 Olympic Village. Selected from 130 entries from 20 countries, the finalists, whose designs embody the project’s objective “to strengthen the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of the Olympians in the Olympic Village and form the basis of a model for future urban housing,” are:

• Henning Larsens Tegnestue A/S, Copenhagen
• MVRDV, Rotterdam, who will be working with LEESER Architecture, Brooklyn, N.Y., and StoSS Landscape Architects, Boston
• Morphosis, Santa Monica, Calif.
• Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, New York City, who will lead an international team of Shigeru Ban Architects + Dean Maltz Architect, Tokyo; Ralph Lerner Architect, Princeton N.J.; D.I.R.T. Studio, Charlottesville, Va.; and Sasaki Architects, Landscape Architects and PE, Boston
• Zaha Hadid Architects, London.

The five finalists will now participate in a 14-week planning and design study, culminating in March 2004 with public presentations via an exhibit and an interactive Web site. The final round of competition will include an evaluation and public comment period, and the winning design will be announced in May. The winning design will form the basis of NYC2012’s Olympic Village proposal, part of the bid submitted to the International Olympic Committee on November 15, 2004.

Queens West, directly across the East River from the United Nations complex, forms the proposed site for the residential village. During the 2012 Olympic Games, the project would house 16,000 athletes and coaches. Afterward, it would provide world-class residential housing for some 18,000 New Yorkers.

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