Teeple Architects Inc.

Jury Comments: The co-op housing project in Toronto puts a new face on a typically banal building form, and has a strong sense of social sustainability that relates to the needs of its residents. Its public spaces, mostly gardens, depend on the care and co-operation of the residents. Atriums and single-loaded corridors in a building of this type, scale and density are adventurous and forward-thinking. Credit goes to the client, the Toronto Housing Authority, for taking a risk. Rainscreen cladding, drain water heat recovery, and the clever use of windows, instead of more typical large expanses of glazing, are examples of how this project re-thinks the high-rise building.

(more…)

Acton Ostry Architects Inc.

Jury comments: The rehabilitation of existing heritage buildings is always welcomed, and the additional new multi-storey infill construction of this project happily maintains the historic Gastown facade of Vancouver. The new construction is of high quality that does not mimic but rather complements the older buildings. The small, exquisite interior spaces, only three metres wide, feel larger, and the design makes effective use of natural light and thermal mass, geoth-ermal heating, high-efficiency heat pumps, and salvaged building materials.

(more…)

Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg, and Smith Carter Architects

and Engineers Incorporated

Jury comments: Manitoba Hydro is to be congratulated for building such an ambitious project and locating it in a downtown area of Winnipeg that will rejuvenate that part of the city. Its 65% energy conservation is remarkable for a building of such scale, and radical by North American standards. Higher than average construction costs reflect the long-term thinking that the building will pay back through its durability, superior energy performance, and healthy working conditions for its employees in the form of daylighting, natural ventilation and pleasing interiors. The building is a game-changer that we hope other corporate clients will replicate.

(more…)

Diamond and Schmitt Architects

Jury Comments: The project is less a building than a landscape pavilion and garden wall that fits beautifully with the orientation of the planted vineyards. A fully-glazed wall on the east brings in natural light, and rain water storage occurs in retention ponds that are expressive and fully integrated with the building design. The building details are beautiful, the building owner is to be commended for achieving LEED Gold while also operating the only bio-dynamic vineyard in North America that also includes a wetland for waste water treatment.

(more…)

Hughes Condon Marler Architects

Jury comments: The project adds to an earlier built indoor pool that creates an exciting public space. It has a clarity of design concept with a joyous, animated interior in which the activities of the building users are on display. Building orientation for optimum solar conditions, natural ventilation, reduction of water use, re-use of building materials, and geothermal energy are the salient sustainability features that represent a new approach to community centre design.

(more…)

The fifth facade

In the world of Industrial, Commercial and Institutional [ICI] construction, the vast majority of buildings have flat roofs that are often not in view. Yet they exist in the harshest of environments - baked under blazing sun, exposed to wind, rain and snow, walked upon by various trades with little concern for the integrity of the membrane. All of this while performing arguably the most important building envelope function - protecting the interior space below by keeping the exterior elements out.

(more…)

Heritage home morphs to open modern

The renewal of this 125-year old small Victorian home presented a typical challenge in Toronto – altering and updating the existing residential urban fabric while preserving the historic character of heritage neighbourhoods.

(more…)

Strategies for Wireless Systems

Minimizing the energy consumption for lighting can only be achieved when the lighting is controlled in an efficient manner. The better this goal is achieved, the greater the energy savings.

(more…)

Green agenda helps the chronically ill

The Darling Home for Kids provides high quality respite and palliative care services for families with children who are medically fragile and technology dependent, many of whom suffer from progressive or terminal illnesses. The building sits amid 31 hectares of woodland, among the rolling hills of the Niagara escarpment.

(more…)