Ottawa’s finest urban designs were recently honoured at the Ottawa Urban Design Awards held at the Canadian Museum of Nature, which was itself a recipient of the award in 2011. This biennial program recognizes projects exhibiting urban design excellence built between September 1, 2011 and September 1, 2013.
“Urban design has a strong impact in creating a liveable, vibrant and dynamic city,” said Councillor Peter Hume, Chair of the City’s Planning Committee. “That’s why the judging panel set the bar so high this year. The competition was very tough, and the winning projects are exemplary.”
The competition was open to urban designers, planners, landscape architects, architects, engineers, developers, contractors, consultants, students, artists, property owners and the general public.
Three expert independent jurors assessed 51 submissions in five categories — Student Projects, Urban Infill , Urban Elements, Public Places, Civic Spaces and the newest category featured this year, Visions and Master Plans. This time around, three projects received the Award of Excellence and will move on to compete nationally in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) 2014 Urban Design Awards Program.
In addition, one project submission was unique enough that it did not fall in any of the established categories. As a result, a “Campus Infill” category was created to properly acknowledge the work behind the Robert C. Gillett Student Commons at Algonquin College.
“RAIC’s Urban Design Awards Program will host its 6th edition in 2014, and Ottawa has won an award in each of the previous events,” said Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager of Planning and Infrastructure. “This speaks volumes about both the innovative and vibrant designs in our city’s architecture and use of public space. Ottawa has plenty to be proud about.”
Following is the list of recipients of the Award of Merit and the Award of Excellence for 2013.
In the Student Project category, an Award of Excellence was given to Lucas Boyd of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University for Urban Agritecture. Two Awards of Merit were given to Lucas Boyd and Shane Dalke of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University for 417 Rideau Street, and to Mateusz Nowacki of the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University for YouCube.
In the Urban Infill (Low-Rise) category, The Hintonburg Six claimed the Award of Excellence, and was submitted by James Colizza, Anthony Bruni and Nic De Socio of Colizza Bruni Architecture Inc. In the same category, Zen Barn by Christopher Simmonds and Rick Shean of Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc. took the Award of Merit.
In the Urban Infill (Mid- to High-Rise) category, an Award of Merit distinguished 360 LOFTS Condominium by Toon Dreessen of Farrow Dreessen Architects Inc.
In the Urban Elements category, an Award of Excellence was given to the National Capital Commission’s Rideau Canal Skateway Chalets by Anthony Leaning and Richard Gurnham of CSV Architects.
In the new Campus Infill category, an Award of Merit was claimed by the Robert C. Gillett Student Commons by Stephen Teeple, Chris Radigan, Eric Boelling, Tomer Diamant, Rob Cheung and Carla Pereja of Teeple Architects Inc.
And finally, in the Visions & Master Plans category, an Award of Merit was given to Downtown Moves –Transforming Ottawa’s Streets by Ron Clarke, Ana Stuermer and Mark Baker of Delcan Corporation; David Leinster, Donna Hinde and Robin Chubb of the Planning Partnership; Marc Jolicoeur and Bartek Komorowski of Vélo-Québec; Ken Greenberg of Greenberg Consultants Inc.; and Jill Sparling of David S.McRobie Architects Inc. Another Award of Merit was given to Rideau Canal Multi-Use Crossing by Mark Langridge and Peter Fletcher Smith of DTAH; and Michael Vachon, Peter Steacy and Tim Dickinson of the MMM Group.
For more information, please visit http://ottawa.ca/en/news/city-honours-best-urban-designs-awards-ceremony