Projects in nine cities receive National Urban Design Awards

April 11, 2016
by Canadian Architect

Nine cities across Canada “have been enriched by the addition of remarkable urban design initiatives,” says the jury of the 2016 National Urban Design Awards.

“The quality of the submissions this year was impressive,” said the three-member jury. “These unique solutions displayed a refreshing inventiveness and a strong commitment to the overarching objective of urban design to respond to and enhance the immediate surroundings and wider community.”

The winning projects range from urban infill to renewed public spaces and playful installations.

The awards are part of a two-tier program held in cooperation with Canadian municipalities. The National Urban Design Awards program judged winners of the 2015 municipal awards and entries submitted at large.

The awards will be presented during the RAIC’s Festival of Architecture to be held in Nanaimo from June 8-11.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CLSA) are pleased to announce the 2016 National Urban Design Award winners in the following categories:

Photo: Steven Evans

Civic Design Projects

Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization (Toronto, ON)

PLANT Architect Inc. | Perkins + Will Canada in Joint Venture, with Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architecture and Adrian Blackwell Urban Projects

“…a successful revitalization of a civic heart that draws people in with an enduring, timeless, restrained intervention.”

Photo: Eric Scott

Urban Architecture

Union Street EcoHeritage (Vancouver, BC)

SHAPE Architecture Inc.

“…achieves an elegant solution that is both simple and profoundly important in creating a precedent for infill densification.”

Image: Provencher_Roy

Urban Design Plan

Technopôle Angus – Phase II (Montreal, QC)

Provencher_Roy

“The design creates a public realm with high degree of pedestrian connectivity and permeability.”

Photo: Marc Cramer

Urban Fragments

Entre les Rangs (Montreal, QC)

KANVA

“…inviting, educational and playful.”

Photo: Ulysse Lemerise

Urban Fragments

Impulse (Montreal, QC)

Lateral Office / CS Design

“… innovative and playful and brings people out into the city.”

Photo: Kate Zago

Community Initiatives

The Bench Project (Calgary, AB)

Developers: anonymous

Designers: anonymous

“This project offers a new and vibrant interpretation of this basic piece of public furniture and cuts directly to what community initiated urban design should be.”

Photo: Aspen Zettel Photography

Student Projects

Impose (Edmonton, AB)

Brad Comis, Sebastian Sauve-Hoover, Danielle Soneff of Threshold Art and Design working with Jesse Sherburne

“…evokes thoughts of human habitat and urban wildlife while making a connection to the built fabric.”

Image: Michael Zabinski

Student Projects

Regenerating Rossdale (Edmonton, AB)

Michael Zabinski, Designer

“…a thought provoking reclamation of an artifact of a previously polluting industry. It is a powerful statement of urban renewal.”

The following are recognized with Special Jury Awards:

Sustainable Development Award

St. Patrick’s Island Park (Calgary, AB) – Calgary Municipal Land Corporation

Small or Medium Community Urban Design Award

Kinsmen Park (Saskatoon, SK) – space2place design inc.

Certificates of Merit are awarded to:

Civic Design Projects

• Lansdowne Park (Ottawa, ON) PFS Studio

Urban Architecture

• Queen Richmond Centre West (Toronto, ON) Sweeny&Co Architects Inc.

Urban Design Plans

• University of Ottawa Campus Master Plan (Ottawa, ON) University of Ottawa / Urban Strategies Inc. 

Urban Fragments

• Quartier des spectacles (Montreal QC) Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles

• Limoilou dans la rue (Québec QC) Groupe A / Annexe U

Community Initiatives

• Gore Pedestrianization Initiative; Veterans’ Place (Hamilton, ON) The MBTW Group

The jury included Carl A Knipfel, MRAIC, RPP, architect, and planner,  principal architect/ designer at Lankinhouse Design, Toronto, ON; Franc D’Ambrosio, MRAIC, architect, principal at D’AMBROSIO architecture + urbanism, Victoria, BC; and Joanne Moran, CSLA, landscape architect, board member of Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, senior project manager at the City of Ottawa.