In our December issue

2023 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence: The Winners are…

We are proud to announce the winners of the 2023 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence. We had a strong response to the program this year, including 160 project submissions to the professional Awards of Excellence program and 34 submissions to the Photo Awards of Excellence program. The work of 24 thesis students was nominated by schools of architecture from across Canada.

Jurors Omar Gandhi, Claire Weisz, and Michael Heeney selected five Awards of Excellence winners, eight Award of Merit winners, and three Student Award of Excellence winners. They were joined by photo juror Jacqueline Young to select two Photo Award of Excellence winners.

This year’s winners are featured in the December issue of Canadian Architect. The full jury commentary can be viewed here.

Here are this year’s winners:

Awards of Excellence

The National Centre for Indigenous Laws by a Collaborative Partnership between Two Row Architect (Prime), Teeple Architects Inc., and Low Hammond Rowe Architects

Nelson Pier by MBAC (Urban Design) and SOA (Architect of Record)

Frog Lake First Nations’ Children & Family, Intervention/Prevention Horse Healing Centre by Reimagine Architects Ltd.

Don Mills Jamatkhana and Ismaili Community Centre by architects—Alliance

The New Vic, McGill University by Diamond Schmitt/Lemay Michaud Architectes

Awards of Merit

The Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum by Hariri Pontarini Architects and Iredale Architecture

Triptych by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design

The Parti Wall by JA Architecture Studio

Indigenous House by Formline Architecture in association with LGA Architectural Partners with Public Work

Dawes Road Library & Community Hub by Perkins&Will and Smoke Architecture

Inuusirvik Community Wellness Hub by Lateral Office (Design Architect), Verne Reimer Architecture Inc. (Prime Consultant)

John Innes Community Recreation Centre by MJMA Architecture & Design

El Aleph – Main House by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Limited

Student Awards of Excellence

Toronto’s Terrestrial Reefs by Cameron Penney, Carleton University

Kushirikiana Architectural Guide by Jonathan Kabumbe, Laurentian University

The Third Space by Kaamil Allah Baksh, University of Manitoba

Photo Awards of Excellence

CAPO by James Brittain

Creating the Landmark Project: Structural Framework by Salina Kassam

On behalf of the magazine and the jurors, we wish to extend thanks to all of our readers who participated in this year’s awards program, and congratulations to all of this year’s winners.

See all the 2023 Awards of Excellence winners

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In our November issue

In early 2023, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and Canadian Architect partnered to refresh and update the Canadian Architectural Practices Benchmark Report, with the goal of providing comprehensive, anonymized data on the current standards for compensation, billings, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and other key indicators among Canadian architectural practices.

This survey and report were last completed in 2011, and prior to that, in 2009. For the 2023 report, we refreshed the 2011 survey, and added new sections related to Indigenous themes and reconciliation, climate action, and EDI. To complete this work, we partnered with Bramm Research Inc., a consultancy which has supported previous editions.

The full report is now available for purchase. Here at Canadian Architect, our November issue delves deep into select findings.

How has the profession been doing in the past decade? Editor Elsa Lam’s introductory piece compares findings from the 2011 and 2023 reports, and presents comments on what architects see as the greatest challenges to the profession in the coming five years.

Architect and practice management leader Rick Linley shares two top indicators of an architecture firm’s financial health, and AED business strategist Elaine Panel offers other KPIs to help build value in firms with a view towards succession planning.

Taking a North American perspective, KPMB managing partner Phyllis Crawford examines the intertwined economic forecasts for architecture in Canada and the United States, and strategies for firms to address the current economic climate.

Leadership and marketing consultant Russell Pollard contributes two pieces: one on the value of marketing in aligning a firm’s brand story with business development, and a second on managing the “new normal” of remote work and flexibility. For recruitment consultant Vered Klein, flexibility is also a component in a full compensation package that looks beyond salary to incentivize staff.

How are Canadian architects doing on equity and sustainability? Rhys Phillips look at how the profession is making progress towards gender equity, but how much work remains to be done. And Terri Peters and Ted Kesik discuss how a series of recent surveys point to the need to adapt education and practice to address urgent sustainability challenges.

The fall has been a difficult time for the Canadian architectural community, with a number of deaths that have affected many of us deeply. We have collected several tributes to George Baird (1939-2023). Trevor Boddy offers a piece on the importance of Raymond Moriyama (1929-2023)’s life and work. Lam’s editorial renders homage to landscape architect Claude Cormier (1960-2023).

Rounding out our most content-packed issue of the year are several more pieces. Jake Nicholson investigates what legacy means for architects through interviews with Daniel Cohlmeyer, Shallyn Murray, John Patkau and Silva Stojak. Cameron Cummings reviews Canadian ex-pat curator Carson Chan’s inaugural exhibition at NYC’s MoMA. Christian Maidankine reflects on experiencing aphantasia as an architecture student. And Chris Gower and Martin Segger reflect on the work of mid-century Victoria architect John Di Castri.

Finally, we look at several recent books: the new Building Arguments series with writings by Arthur Erickson and Cornelia Oberlander, the 5th edition of Exploring Vancouver, a volume on the rise of awards in architecture, a book about workers’ cottages in Toronto, and a place-based architectural memoir.

-Elsa Lam, editor

Full list of articles in Canadian Architect’s series on the Canadian Architectural Practices Benchmark Report (2023 Edition):

·        Benchmark Report 2023: The State of Canadian Architectural Practice

·        Benchmark Report 2023: How’s Your Firm’s Financial Health?

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Mixed Prospects

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Architecture and Capital “M” Marketing

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Firm Expectations—Managing Remote Work and Flexibility

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Women in Canadian Architecture—An Update

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Competitive Compensation

·        Benchmark Report 2023: Looking Ahead—Succession Planning and Firm Value

·        Benchmark 2023: Future Forward—Adaptive Change in Architecture Education and Practice

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In our October Issue

Our October issue offers a variety of perspectives on the urgent topic of sustainability in architecture.

For our cover story, Greg Whistance-Church visited S2 Architecture and gh3*’s Windermere Fire Station No. 31 in Edmonton. The striking, photovoltaic-topped design delivers on dual promises, writes Whistance-Church: “creating an expressive form that includes its community, and performing as a net-zero building that wears its sustainability credentials on its sleeve.”

We also take a look at another Edmonton project that turns a large solar panel array into a design feature—an office/college building called The Edge, designed by Dub Architects.

Ted Kesik takes a bigger picture in considering the past twenty years of architectural sustainability practices in Canada, and what’s needed for the current and coming generations of architects to tackle the wickedly complex problem of sustainability. “Unlike two decades ago, the issues and challenges are not primarily technological,” he writes. “They are cultural.”

Next up is an overview of three major mass timber innovations by Canadians: Intelligent City’s robotic mass timber factory in Delta, BC; Moriyama Teshima and Acton Ostry’s Limberlost in Toronto; and Michael Green Architecture’s Flora in Nanterre, France. “As more innovative and impressive projects near completion and prove their mettle, Canadian architects will continue to show that they remain at the forefront of mass timber innovation,” writes Adele Weder.

Our project coverage wraps up with a look at Park by Sidewalk Citizen in Calgary. Designed and built by local firm Studio North, the design turns humble plywood into a dining room draped in cascading ribs, inspired by Victorian greenhouses.

Calgary is one of the leading cities in converting office stock to residential and mixed-use—the kind of adaptive reuse that will be a necessary part of building sustainably. Stephanie Calvet reports on the Alberta capital’s strategy, and what other cities can learn from it.

This month’s editorial looks at the dilemma facing Ontario’s former Architectural Technologists OAA, while the AIA Canada Journal, published within our pages, considers the impact of tools like MIdjourney on visual communications in architecture, and reports on a panel discussion about the future of the profession.

-Elsa Lam, editor

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In our September Issue

Our September issue looks at a series of projects where craft and collaboration have resulted in exceptional results.

Toronto’s Ontario Court of Justice, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and NORR, is our cover story. In his review, Joe Lobko describes how an exceptional attention to detail resulted in a building that negotiates the rigorous security and logistical requirements for this building type, while creating a transparent, light-filled atmosphere to reflect Canada’s open court system.

David Down reviews the Aga Khan Garden (Nelson Byrd Landscape Architects) and its new pavilion, The Diwan (AXIA Design Associates, Arriz + Co., and Kasian). “It is rare in landscape architecture and architecture to find a successful fusion of the formal and informal, the natural and the ordered. Equally rare are contemporary interpretations of traditional forms which do not cross the line into kitsch,” writes Down. “The Aga Khan Garden and the Diwan achieve the balance beautifully, with designs that are rooted in ancient heritage while feeling completely comfortable in the contemporary Canadian landscape.”

On a smaller scale, we turn our attention to architectural historian Robert Jan Van Pelt and historian Miriam Greenbaum’s carefully crafted backyard library. Zaven Titizian documents how Paul Dowling Architects started a design-build firm to lead the project’s construction. “While some designers might pass off work to a contractor once the initial design is complete, for Paul, this is when ‘most of the invention begins—and it’s too interesting not to be involved in that part of the work,'” writes Titizian. The resulting building became part of the educational experience for several University of Waterloo students, who participated in the construction, and continues to create a teaching moment for young prospective architects.

The issue is bookended by an editorial on how a largely women-led team contributed to the enduring success of the Calgary Central Library, and by Hadani Ditmars’ account of an annual tour of West Vancouver’s modern and contemporary homes.

Finally, a reminder that the deadline to enter the Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence is quickly approaching. Monday, September 11 is the date by which to submit your design or construction-phase projects.

-Elsa Lam, editor

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In our August issue

Our August issue opens with an editorial on the Ontario government’s proposal to redevelop Ontario Place, and opposition to the current plans.

While debate continues over the intertwined futures of Ontario Place and the Ontario Science Centre, Trevor Boddy reports on the successful revitalization of a West Coast architectural masterwork: Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey’s Simon Fraser University. His review considers the positive impact of two recent developments on the Burnaby mountain campus: a comprehensive public realm renovation by Public Architecture, and a new Student Union Building by Perkins&Will.

Coverage of big-picture issues continues in two articles. First up: the findings of a decade-long report on the state of the architecture profession in Canada. The Rise for Architecture report asks: How can architecture continue to be relevant? What are the profession’s duties in addressing the intertwined crises of global climate change and social inequity? The report includes calls to action for architects, professional organizations, and schools of architecture.

What are architecture’s limits in tackling wider issues? Adele Weder reports on the attempt of a large group of architecture academics, practitioners, and activists to address the housing crisis in the exhibition Not for Sale! at the Venice Biennale.

In this month’s RAIC Journal, scholar Jean-Pierre Chupin reports on another effort underway to understand the social impact of architecture: a multi-nodal research project involving schools or architecture, municipal agencies, and community groups across Canada. The study asks: How can our definitions of architectural quality expand to include the social dimension and lived experience of everyday people?

Three exceptional office buildings are part of this month’s reviews. Bruce Haden visits Focal on Third, a terracotta-clad building in Vancouver by PH5 that raises the bar for spec office developments. Odile Hénault reports on Anne Carrier Architecture’s 1500 rue Métivier, the unexpectedly urbane headquarters for a collective of poultry farmers in Lévis, Quebec. And Jason Brijraj reports on the Wellesley Institute’s new home in Toronto, a pair of townhouses adaptively reused in a design by AGATHOM.

Our issue closes out with a look at a new take on an old design: the original scheme for Safdie’s Habitat 67, now rendered in virtual reality, and as futuristic a vision today as it was over 50 years ago.

-Elsa Lam, editor

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In our June issue

Our June issue spotlights new cultural projects in Canada.

On the Atlantic Coast, Abbott Brown’s Highland Village Interpretive Centre puts a contemporary spin on Cape Breton’s cultural landscape. In Fredericton, KPMB’s addition to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery is a masterpiece of context sensitivity.

Public libraries are key facilities for many communities. Two libraries in Edmonton—the Capilano Branch by Patkau Architects with Group2, and the Calder Branch by AtelierTAG with The Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative—approach the typology from different angles, with striking results. We also visit LGA Architectural Partners’ renovation of the Albert Campbell Library in Toronto, a brilliant re-thinking of the 1970s Fairfield & DuBois building.

Have you tried ChatGPT for responding to RFPs? Proposal writing specialist Jake Nicholson did, and reports back on how it went.

To round out things out, we’re broadcasting Moriyama Teshima Architects’ statement opposing the proposed demolition of the Ontario Science Centre. Our June issue also includes AIA Canada Society’s interview with accessibility consultant Darby Lee Young, and reviews of two new books: Alissa North’s Innate Terrain and Hans Ibelings’ Modern Architecture: A Planetary Warming History.

Finally, we pay tribute to our magazine’s production manager, Laura Moffatt, who passed away this spring.

-Elsa Lam, editor

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In our May issue

Our May issue celebrates the winners of the RAIC’s 2023 annual awards. These prestigious national awards recognize architectural practices, people, research, and initiatives that make significant contributions to Canadian architecture.

The Gold Medal—the RAIC’s highest honour—goes to the late Claude Provencher, FRAIC. Co-founder of one of Canada’s most significant architecture firms, Provencher has long been recognized for the quality of his realized projects, as well as for his trailblazing work as part of the new urban architecture movement of the late 1970s in Canada.

Patkau Architects is the recipient of the RAIC Architectural Practice Award. “Patkau Architects has remained a north star for over forty years: providing practitioners and the academy alike with a model for the authentic pursuit of design excellence in a range of building typologies and budgets,” writes the jury.

Two practices received the RAIC’s Emerging Architectural Practice Award: Toronto-based Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA) was noted as “a new voice in Canadian architecture that is approaching a wide range of projects with an acute sensitivity to social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.” Dartmouth-based Fathom Studio was seen as “differentiating itself by confidently curating an interdisciplinary approach, seamlessly integrated within one studio, which resets the way architects collaborate and engage with their teams, clients, communities, and contexts.”

Carol Bélanger received an Advocate for Architecture Award, recognizing the work he has done in revamping architectural procurement for the City of Edmonton to prioritize quality designs. As City Architect, Bélanger has facilitated the design and construction of public spaces and facilities that have improved the daily lives of many Edmontonians, and in doing so, garnered excitement and respect for what good architecture can mean for a growing city.

A second Advocate for Architecture Award was given to Kollectif, a Québec-based entity that is a key resource for the province’s architectural community. “This outward-focused organization was conceived to spotlight, advocate for, promote, and raise the profile of architects both to the public and to one another,” writes the jury. “Through their various campaigns, they have played a unique role in the promotion of architectural practice across Québec, making it accessible to the public while connecting practices to each other.”

The RAIC’s new Research & Innovation Award recognized Limberlost Place by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects. Under construction in Toronto, the mass timber project combines design and structural innovation with advanced prefabricated, tall-building façade systems, as well as an optimized use of decentralized mechanical systems working in consort with passive systems. The result is a building that provides the healthiest environment for both its users and for the planet.

Two RAIC Architectural Journalism and Media Award recipients were named. ᐊᖏᕐᕋᒧᑦ / Ruovttu Guvlui / Towards Home, is an Indigenous-led exhibition and publication project hosted by the CCA that explores how Inuit, Sámi, and other communities across the Arctic are creating self-determined spaces. Dalhousie Architectural Press was recognized as Canada’s most prolific and dedicated publisher of books on our country’s modern and contemporary architecture.

Finally, our May issue also visits Polymétis’ Pergola Garden in Richmond, BC, and celebrates all of our mothers—especially those who followed a path in architecture before us. Happy Mother’s Day!

-Elsa Lam, editor

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In our April issue

Our April issue looks at multi-unit residential housing across Canada. We begin our survey in Toronto, the fastest-growing city in the developed world. The needed strategies for accommodating this growing populace are the subject of a recent exhibition at the Daniels School of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, and a student-organized symposium at Toronto Metropolitan University.

On the east coast, Brian MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple and FBM recently unveiled Queen’s Marque, a mixed-use development that includes high-end apartments; luxury condos also feature in BIG and DIALOG’s sinuous Telus Sky in downtown Calgary. In Vancouver, the Hollywood Theatre and Residences by MA+HG Architects demonstrates how a new residential development can help facilitate the restoration of a community landmark.

But affordable accommodations are also vital to the health of our cities. Exploring how design can contribute to the rental market, we visit Montreal’s Link Apartments by ACDF, designed with student tenants in mind. Architects are also increasingly bringing their skills to assist the unhoused, as seen in the Maison de Lauberivière in Quebec City by Lafond Côté Architectes.

Our book reviews section delves further into design for people experiencing homelessness, and also includes a look at a book of photographs by architect and philanthropist Phyllis Lambert, a memoir by Moshe Safdie, a monograph on D’Arcy Jones Architects, and a book on video game environments.

Finally, Brian MacKay-Lyons pays homage to educator and former Dalhousie School of Architecture Dean Essy Baniassad, who passed away this winter.

– Elsa Lam, editor

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In our February issue

Existing buildings are, increasingly, a mainstay of the architecture profession. According to the AIA’s latest Firm Survey, 48 percent of architecture firm billings in the United States are linked to work on existing buildings, whether through renovations, adaptive reuse, additions, or historic preservation.

It’s a trend that seems here to stay: these rates have risen steadily from 15 years ago, when a third of revenue was tied to existing buildings. With a predicted moderation in population and economic growth in coming years, it’s expected that the levels of work on existing buildings will remain high.

This is good news on the sustainability front. When it comes to embodied carbon, the most sustainable buildings are, arguably, the ones that already exist. In the United States, some 40 percent of the national building stock is over 50 years old. Many of these facilities would benefit from upgrades to increase energy efficiency, improve accessibility, and address public health risks emerging from the pandemic.

In the current issue of Canadian Architect, we look at several projects that have taken different approaches to working with existing structures. For the University of Calgary’s MacKimmie Block, DIALOG upgraded a 1950s tower by adding a sculpted double-skin façade. The result is a striking visual presence—and a flagship for the university’s ambitious sustainability goals. Adding to this project’s interest as a technical case study, the retrofit was paired with an adjacent new-build that is similarly equipped with a double-skin façade system.

Cohlmeyer’s work on transforming a mercantile building in the Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal into a furniture showroom for Montauk Sofa embraces both sophistication and modesty. The designers stripped back the building to its steel-and-concrete structure and removed its front section to create a semi-public outdoor garden, leaving the historic façade in place to keep the street wall intact.

Giannone Petricone’s work on The Royal Hotel in Picton, Ontario, similarly made a strategic decision to reduce a historic building’s footprint; in this case, to improve light and views for guest rooms. Here, little remained of the original building, which had suffered from neglect and extensive water damage, but a conscientious owner and architect still aimed to preserve what they could, while also creating a new contemporary identity for the hotel.

On our backpage, Tiffany Shaw considers a renovation and addition planned for Queen’s University’s Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Agnes Director and Curator Emelie Chhangur sees this as an opportunity not just for a visual refresh—but a fundamental pivot that will help Agnes to centre the social impact and social role of an art institution.

Also in our pages this month, architect Valerie Gow shares highlights from the Feria Hábitat Valencia trade show, including products inspired by Mediterranean traditions.

In all work with existing buildings, from the modest to the grand, design works in the tension between the past and the present, asking: what do we value from the past? And how does that interact with our values today? By approaching each existing building with sensitivity, architects bring enormous value to creating new places that are grounded—and enriched—by their past.

-Elsa Lam

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