The Prairie Design Awards for Architecture and Interior Design is a tri-provincial initiative organized by The Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba Association of Architects. Members across the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba rose to the occasion in support of the 2006 Prairie Design Awards program. This year’s event was hosted and organized by The Alberta Association of Architects with the adjudication of the submissions taking place in Edmonton, Alberta. Forty-one entry submissions were received into the program in three categories. Jurors from across Canada expressed their appreciation of the quality of work submitted. Awards of Excellence and Merit were presented in all categories.
The presentation of the awards took place on the evening of Thursday March 23, 2006 as part of the 2006 Banff Session at the Max Bell Auditorium, Banff Centre. Awarded projects were on display during the Banff Session, and an exhibition of all submissions to the program is planned for the cities of Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg.
The jury included Stephen Teeple of Toronto’s Teeple Architects, Mario Saia of Montreal’s Saia Barbarese Topouzanov architectes, Kelly Rude, design journalist, and Tim Antoniuk, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Alberta.
In the Recent Work category, Dub Architects Ltd. won an Award of Excellence for the Seventh Street Lofts in Edmonton, while John Brown Architect Ltd. won an Award of Merit for the Rothney Astrophysical visitor Cenre in Priddis, Alberta, as did Patkau Architects/LM Architectural Group for the Winnipeg Millennium Library.
In the category of Interior Design, Cohlmeyer Architects Limited collected an Award of Excellence for Big Brother-Little Sister in Winnipeg. An Award of Merit was given to martensGroup Licensed Interior Design Studio Ltd. for Caron + Partners LLP in Calgary.
Finally, three awards were given in the Heritage Restoration/Conservation category. Stantec Architecture earned an Award of Excellence for the Recapitalization of the Northern and Southern Jubilee Auditoria in Edmonton and Calgary, while Dub Architects Ltd. won two Awards of Merit for the McLeod Building and the Shaw Building, both in Edmonton.