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:
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.”
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.”
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.”
Urban Fragments
Entre les Rangs (Montreal, QC)
KANVA
“…inviting, educational and playful.”
Urban Fragments
Impulse (Montreal, QC)
Lateral Office / CS Design
“… innovative and playful and brings people out into the city.”
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.”
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.”
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
Urban Architecture
Urban Design Plans
Urban Fragments
Community Initiatives
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.
[…] Projects in nine cities receive National Urban Design Awards – 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 … […]