The first-ever City of Vancouver Urban Design Awards recognize and celebrate great architecture and urban design in Vancouver. Vancouver urban design strives to enrich the overall experience of the city by carefully considering the design of public spaces, as well as the buildings that interact with these spaces.
Design awards are given out to projects that demonstrate visionary thinking and support design excellence in Vancouver. The Urban Design Awards will be presented every other year at a ceremony to celebrate entries and winners.
The Small Residential Buildings category was won by Cloister House by Measured Architecture Inc., while Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture took the Medium Residential Buildings category for Monad. The Large Residential Buildings category was claimed by Henriquez Partners Architects, landscape architects Durante Kreuk Ltd. and developer Westbank Projects Corp. For 6th & Fir – A Bridgehead Interface.
Two projects by Acton Ostry Architects Inc. were recognized with awards: Cactus Club Café in English Bay in the Commercial Buildings category, and York House Senior School in the Government and Institutional Buildings category.
The 1025 Robson Street Canopy by 8 inc. (design architect) and Francl Architecture Inc. (architect of record) won the Urban Elements category, while the Paris Annex by Gair Williamson Architects with Ankenman Marchand Architects won in the Innovation category.
In the Outstanding Sustainable Design category, Shape Architecture Inc. and developers Karli Gillespie and Dick Hellofs were recognized for Union Street ECOheritage, and the Jericho Park Restoration by Sharp & Diamond Landscape Architects took the award in the Landscape, Public Space and Infrastructure category
Three special jury awards were also announced. The Architectural Design Excellence and Innovative Systems Integration category was won by Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture’s Monad; Shape Architecture Inc. and developers Karli Gillespie and Dick Hellofs were again recognized for Union Street ECOheritage in the Architectural Design Excellence and Innovative Community Densification category; and finally, 60 West Cordova by Henriquez Partners Architects and developer Westbank Projects and Vancity was the winner in the Reinforcing Community Through Collaboration and Social Innovation category.
The jury for the 2014 Vancouver Urban Design Awards was comprised of Arthur Wreglesworth Architect AIBC, FRAIC, Senior Principal, Sector Leader, Commercial Development, Stantec Architecture; David Dove MRAIC, Architect AIBC, LEED AP, Corporate, Commercial, Civic Market Sector Leader, Perkins + Will; Greg Bellerby, Former Director/Curator, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and Design; and Joseph Fry BCSLA CSLA ASLA, Principal, Hapa Collaborative.
For more information, please visit http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/urban-design-awards.aspx