The post Jon Sasaki and DTAH to design Terry Fox memorial on Toronto’s waterfront appeared first on Canadian Architect.

OTTAWA, March 21, 2019 — The $100,000 RAIC International Prize for transformative architecture is accepting submissions from architects anywhere in the world, of any nationality, until April 26, 2019.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) is looking worldwide for buildings that are “inspired as well as inspiring” and promote equality, respect, and inclusiveness. Projects should have been completed and in use for at least two years.

This unique international award recognizes the power of great architecture to transform society.  In 2017, the competition had submissions from 17 countries across six continents, and the RAIC hopes for entries from even more countries.

The RAIC, the RAIC Foundation and distinguished Canadian architect Raymond Moriyama created the prize in 2013. Their goal was to share Canadian architectural values with an international audience and to celebrate architecture that is socially transformative.

The winner is selected in an open, juried competition.  The prize includes a monetary award of CAD $100,000 and a handcrafted sculpture designed by Canadian designer Wei Yew.

The members of the 2019 RAIC International Prize jury are:  Anne Carrier, FRAIC, Stephen Hodder, MBE, Barry Johns, FRAIC, Eva Matsuzaki, PP/FRAIC, Diarmuid Nash, PP/FRAIC, Chair of the Jury, and Gilles Saucier, FIRAC. David Covo, FRAIC, is the Professional Advisor to the jury.

All submissions are due by April 26, 2019. The winner of the 2019 Prize will be announced on October 25, 2019 at a gala event in Toronto.

For more information on the 2019 RAIC International Prize and how to submit an application, please visit:  internationalprize.raic.org

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Storefront Manitoba and The Forks are inviting design teams to submit proposals for a temporary, contemporary summer garden installation to be located at The Forks in Winnipeg. They are asking designers to put their skills to work and challenge the concept of garden and cool(ing). They are looking for interventions that have the power to stop people in their tracks.

Cool Gardens is a public garden, art and architecture exhibition that offers a shift of sensation for the summer—cooling—as a general theme. The project brings architects, designers, landscape architects, and artists together to celebrate contemporary garden culture and the local landscape. Cool Gardens takes place annually from beginning of July until the end of September.

The competition brief can be downloaded here.

The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2019 at 6 pm CST.

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Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is now accepting applications for its 2019 Summer Institutes. The Summer Institute is an international post-graduate artist research program for professional artists and thinkers working in all disciplines and media, including architecture. One of the summer’s two sessions will be facilitated by Norwegian- Sámi artist/architect Joar Nango for an intensive session focused on Indigenous architectures. The session runs from August 6th until August 16th.  Applications are due Monday, March 25.

Foregrounding Indigenous approaches to design and alternative models of social space, Nango will lead participants through a series of texts, discussions, guest lectures, workshops, and studio time for the first week, engaging local, Winnipeg-based, Indigenous architects and thinkers. Participants will be encouraged to produce individually, with the possibility to work with Nango on a new piece by the Winnipeg Rivers, generating a reciprocal engagement to producing work in the second week. The seminar and workshop is open to visual artists of all kinds as well as writers, critics and scholars.

A number of other visiting artists, curators and theorists will visit the Summer Institute for additional lectures, discussions, and studio visits still to be determined. Plug In ICA invites applications for participants who will work collaboratively in a peer-to-peer environment based upon their own interests and projects, as well as by exploring and aligning their work with collaborative or group activities which will be planned during the session.

This critical discursive opportunity will take place in Plug In ICA’s purpose-built facilities, with an adjoining workshop, art research library, gallery, bookshop and café. Plug In ICA is located at the heart of downtown Winnipeg and adjacent to the Winnipeg Art Gallery within walking distance to various amenities for new visitors to the city.

There is no application fee for this program and everyone is welcome to apply. The standard tuition fee of $300.00 CDN has been generously covered by Winnipeg’s Johnston Group. All other costs associated with participating in this program are the responsibility of the participant: meals, accommodation, travel, travel insurance, materials and related production costs. Participants must also be Plug In ICA members in good standing, for an additional fee of $35 CDN (artist members). Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by the end of April 2019.

Application forms can be downloaded from our website. If you have any difficulties, please contact Erin Josephson-Laidlaw. All applications should be sent to Erin@plugin.org

Joar Nango is an architect, builder, artist and self-publisher. Nango’s work often explores the division between design, architecture and visual art and uses improvisation as method and process. Nango has been part of a number of exhibition projects throughout Canada and elsewhere. Among which includes, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Vancouver’s Western Front, Gallery Deluxe in Halifax, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway and Sydhavn Station in Copenhagen, Denmark. He recently presented European Everything at Documenta14 in Athens and Kassel in 2017. As well as facilitating the Summer Institute, Nango is one of the participating artists for the 2019 iteration of Winnipeg’s public art project STAGES.

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Winnipeg is nicknamed “River City,” but despite its centre being located at the conflux of two waterways, the reality is that the city’s waterfronts have long been neglected. Most modern metropolitan areas around the world orient themselves towards their waterways, and water-facing sites are generally sought-after real estate. There are numerous case studies of reactivated waterfronts that have yielded cultural and economic gains through public access. Winnipeg’s waterfront sites, in contrast, are often used as surface parking lots and industrial infrastructure.

Our conviction that Winnipeg needs to rethink its relation to its rivers led the two of us to organize a community-based ideas competition in 2018. The intent of On the Docks was to involve citizens in exploring the urban potential of the abandoned Alexander Docks, a riverside site that is starting to be surrounded by developments. We asked the community a simple question: What type of public space would most benefit the site? Designers as well as non-designers were encouraged to dream big with imaginative solutions.

Along Waterfront Drive, the western bank of the Red River, the Alexander Docks was once a central hub for river traffic. The adjacent railway line and road networks provided easy access to the nearby Exchange District. As rails and roads expanded over the following decades, river traffic diminished. The wharf was closed in 2015. Now owned by the City of Winnipeg, the acre-large site remains fenced due to concerns over structural integrity and safety. Additionally, the site is also limited by erratic river levels, and the city water and hydro lines running underneath.

With the revitalization of the Exchange District over the past decade, there is an increasing interest in living downtown, and with this comes the urgency to create more useful and enjoyable urban public spaces. The once-industrial Waterfront Drive has been rehabilitated to re-engage with our waterways and connect them to downtown, but the Alexander Docks remains as a key missing link. 

In order to make the competition accessible to all, we provided an axonometric view of the site as a template, and asked the community to communicate their ideas through any means—drawing, collage, painting, writing. In two months, we received 200 submissions. Teachers used On the Docks as a classroom learning tool; nearby residents and businesses used it to express their views on development. We reached out beyond the city limits to architectural associations across Canada and to online forums, and received entries from around the world. A multidisciplinary jury panel was selected to reflect the community and bring perspectives from the realms of development, politics, design and culture.

The most successful aspect of the competition was its accessibility to everyone in the community. The submissions were varied and proposed a wide range of elements—from beaches, markets and pavilions, to Ferris wheels, Mars launch pads and amusement parks. Most, however, expressed the need for truly public space—areas that are programmatically flexible with full access to the Red River. The competition made us wonder: how can we redefine public space to create a core support system for many uses? How can we push public spaces to perform better, responding with a built-in flexibility that accommodates activity and conversation? It’s clear that entrants were thinking beyond typical uses, pointing to the need for a broader approach to urban public developments.

The Alexander Docks is the site of the tragic discovery of the body of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, which spurred the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Design responses reimagined the idea of memorials by proposing spaces for conversations, community centres, and various places for gathering and sharing—public spaces that celebrate all cultures and promote healing through reconciliation. The Alexander Docks has gained significant national exposure as a symbolic place for an important conversation happening in Canada today.

We organized an awards evening that brought together city officials, designers and members of the community to discuss the future of the Alexander Docks. The conversation continued on social media and through a month-long exhibit displayed in various public places throughout Winnipeg. An event co-organized by On the Docks and Storefront Manitoba included presentations by students, teachers, designers, and university faculty, along with a panel of Winnipeg decision-makers. Throughout the process, the City of Winnipeg has supported the competition. The enthusiastic response to the competition inspired us to create a publication that summarizes the possibilities for moving forward. 

On the Docks has demonstrated that Winnipeg’s citizens see value in creating public spaces that engage the river. The site presents a complex layering of emotional, cultural and environmental issues. This complexity can yield dynamic and exciting design solutions, and On the Docks has helped create momentum within the community for a thoughtful approach to the site. The present renewal of the Exchange District and Waterfront Drive, along with the community’s efforts towards reconciliation, make this is the right time to move forward with a progressive new idea for the Alexander Docks site.

Laurène Bachand and Aaron Pollock both work at Number TEN Architectural Group, and see opportunities in revitalizing spaces within cities by engaging with the community to uncover their latent potentials.

The post On the Docks: Reimagining Winnipeg’s Waterfront appeared first on Canadian Architect.

The Moriyama RAIC International Prize is unique in Canada, and indeed the world, for its emphasis on how great architecture transforms society.

It was launched in 2013 by celebrated architect Raymond Moriyama FRAIC CM, in collaboration with the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) and the RAIC Foundation. The RAIC will soon launch a call for submissions for the third edition of the prize.

The award is unique for its size – $100,000 for a single work of architecture – but above all for its intention. The building must have a transformative impact, demonstrating humanistic values of respect and inclusivity and creating environments for the well-being of all people. (Full criteria and requirements can be found at moriyama.raic.org.)

“This award, hopefully, will be about more than beautiful architecture,” Moriyama explained in 2014. “I want it to recognize qualities of inclusion, equality, true democracy.”

Brian MacKay-Lyons (MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Halifax) was on the jury for the first Moriyama RAIC International Prize and was a finalist for the second. “The award has succeeded and gained credibility,” he says, “by focusing on strong architectural design. On the 2014 jury, we wanted to make sure that the prize recognized great architecture coupled with social purpose.”

Li Xiaodong of China was the first winner, for a modest library in Beijing’s periphery that had a tremendous impact on tourism and development of its community. The jury praised the elegance of Liyuan Library’s siting, its contemplative spaces, and its environmental design.

The 2017 winner was the Tokyo firm Tezuka Architects, founded by Takaharu and Yui Tezuka, for its Fuji Kindergarten. The project won against submissions from 17 countries across six continents.

The oval-shaped Fuji Kindergarten, with a large rooftop play area built around trees, restores a connection with nature and creates an environment where children can follow their instincts for play and movement. The design encourages calmness and focus in students.

Previous shortlist nominees and winners agree that the Moriyama RAIC International Prize plays an important role.

Takaharu Tezuka reflects: “I think it will take time for the public to understand the meaning of the Moriyama RAIC International Prize, but someday it will be very important in the world. The criteria are very genuine and unique. This prize will help us to understand the true meaning of architecture.”

Katherine Faulkner is a partner in the Boston-based architecture and urban design firm NADAAA, shortlisted in 2017 for the Melbourne School of Design (in collaboration with John Wardle Architects).

She was impressed by the Fuji Kindergarten and its contribution to society, “demonstrating that architecture can inspire happiness,” as well as by the fact that jurors travel to every finalist project, no matter how far away: “One of the many lessons of the Moriyama RAIC International Prize was the reminder that excellence in architecture can only be appreciated upon visiting a building.”

“I can think of few other awards so committed to recognizing merit in our global profession,” says Faulkner. “In this time of hyper-media saturation, it’s worth emphasizing the power of experience and an architect’s obligation to the greater good.”

The 2019 Moriyama RAIC International Prize Gala will be held in October in Toronto. We welcome you to review our sponsorship opportunities at moriyama.raic.org and hope we can count on your support.

Le Prix international Moriyama IRAC est unique au Canada, et en fait dans le monde entier, car il insiste sur la façon dont la grande architecture transforme la société.

Il a été lancé en 2013 par l’architecte de renom Raymond Moriyama, FRAIC, CM, en collaboration avec l’Institut royal d’architecture du Canada (IRAC) et la Fondation de l’IRAC. L’IRAC lancera bientôt l’appel de candidatures pour sa troisième édition.

Le prix se distingue par son ampleur – 100 000 $ pour une réalisation architecturale – mais surtout par sa finalité. Le bâtiment doit avoir un impact transformateur, illustrer les valeurs humanistes de respect et d’inclusion et créer des milieux qui assurent le bien-être de tous. (Les critères et les exigences du prix sont affichés à moriyama.raic.org.)

« Ce prix, je l’espère, ira au-delà de la beauté architecturale », disait Moriyama en 2014. « Je veux qu’il reconnaisse les qualités d’inclusion, d’égalité et de réelle démocratie. »

Brian MacKay-Lyons (MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, Halifax) a fait partie du jury de la première édition du Prix international Moriyama IRAC et a compté parmi les finalistes de la deuxième édition. « Le prix a remporté un vif succès et a gagné en crédibilité en insistant sur la force du design architectural », souligne-t-il. « Le jury de 2014 voulait s’assurer de décerner le prix à un projet d’une architecture remarquable associée à un but social. »

Li Xiaodong, de la Chine, a été le premier lauréat, pour une modeste bibliothèque en banlieue de Beijing qui a eu un énorme impact sur le tourisme et le développement de sa collectivité. Le jury a loué l’élégance de l’emplacement de la bibliothèque Liyuan, ses espaces contemplatifs et son design de l’environnement.

En 2017, le prix a été décerné à la firme tokyoïte Tezuka Architects fondée par Takaharu et Yui Tezuka, pour l’école maternelle Fuji. Le projet s’est démarqué parmi les candidatures provenant de 17 pays sur six continents. 

L’école de forme ovale comporte une grande aire de jeu en toiture, construite autour des arbres existants. Elle rétablit un lien avec la nature et crée un milieu dans lequel les enfants peuvent suivre leurs instincts pour jouer et bouger. Le design favorise également le calme et la concentration chez les élèves.

Les lauréats et les finalistes des éditions antérieures s’entendent pour dire que le Prix international Moriyama IRAC joue un rôle important, ce que confirme Takaharu Tezuka : « Je crois qu’il faudra un certain temps avant que le public comprenne le sens profond du Prix international Moriyama IRAC, mais un jour viendra où ce prix sera très important dans le monde. Les critères sont vraiment originaux et particuliers. Le prix nous aidera à comprendre le vrai sens de l’architecture. »

Katherine Faulkner est quant à elle une associée du cabinet d’architecture et de design urbain de Boston, NADAAA, finaliste en 2017 pour l’École de design de Melbourne (en collaboration avec John Wardle Architects).

Elle s’est dite impressionnée par l’école maternelle Fuji et sa contribution à la société. « Ce projet démontre que l’architecture peut inspirer le bonheur », at-elle dit. Par ailleurs, elle se réjouit du fait que les jurés visitent tous les projets finalistes, peu importe où ils sont situés dans le monde. « Le Prix international Moriyama IRAC nous enseigne, parmi ses nombreuses leçons, qu’on ne peut apprécier l’excellence en architecture qu’en visitant un bâtiment. »

« Je ne connais pas d’autre prix aussi déterminé à reconnaître le mérite dans notre profession à l’échelle mondiale », conclut-elle. « En cette époque de saturation médiatique, il vaut la peine d’insister sur le pouvoir de l’expérience et sur l’obligation des architectes par rapport au plus grand bien de tous. »

Le gala du Prix international Moriyama IRAC 2019 aura lieu en octobre, à Toronto. Nous vous invitons à examiner les possibilités de commandites sur le site moriyama.raic.org et nous espérons  pouvoir compter sur votre appui.

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In the context of social unrest, violent protests, easy access to guns, the decanting of mental health services and the legalization of marijuana, society’s standard institutions and approaches are being challenged and questioned. Police often find themselves on the front lines of these issues, and are asked to serve and protect in a complex and changing environment. New skill sets, changing laws and evolving expectations need a commensurate evolution in building typology to support them, symbolize those changes, and positively enhance the connection between policing and the community.

Architecture students are invited to speculate on these issues in an international design competition sponsored by the Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice (CAAJ). Submissions are welcomed from either studio groups or individuals. The design will be evaluated by a jury of police, and architects with experience in the field. Participants are highly encouraged to explore a wide spectrum of architectural responses from functional and practical at one end to philosophical and social at the other – including ways in which this building could be integrated into the community and be a catalyst for building a positive relationship between the police and the community they serve.

The Canadian Academy of Architecture for Justice (CAAJ) is a group of architects, designers and allied professionals working in the field of justice architecture, with the aim of sharing knowledge and advancing Canadian expertise in the field. The Academy focuses on the three areas of justice architecture – law enforcement, courts and detention/corrections. Future competitions are envisioned for the Courts and Detention/Corrections fields.

Winners will be featured on the CAAJ website. Prize awards of $3,000 for the first place winner and $1,000 for the 2nd and 3rd place winners will be provided by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Foundation.

More information about the competition – including a registration link — is now available via the CAAJ website, linked here.

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The Canadian Competitions Catalogue (CCC), a free online public resource, reached a major milestone in February 2019. More than 5,000 projects, documenting over 180 competitions, are now digitally archived in the CCC.

To illustrate the current extent of the archive, imagine you wanted to review all the projects in one sitting and dedicated only five minutes per project: it would take you three weeks to browse through the entire database.

The Canadian Competitions Catalogue is the digital and bilingual repository for architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture competitions in Canada. A non-profit endeavour, the CCC was created in 2002 by researchers at the LEAP (Laboratoire d’étude de l’architecture potentielle: www.leap-architecture.org) in order to facilitate comparative studies on contemporary architecture.

In 2006, the CCC became accessible online, gradually becoming a true collective public resource with only a handful of equivalents worldwide. This vast library of projects currently lists 425 competitions, with half of these already documented. This corresponds to nearly 46,000 documents for projects imagined and/or realized in Canada since 1905.

The CCC is regularly updated. However, the collaboration of professional firms and competition organizers across the country is required for more frequent updates. The CCC earned national recognition from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) in 2012, with a substantial grant to revamp its database system.

The CCC is built on the premise that every project—even those not built—should be considered as both a source of knowledge and ideas. Each design project seeks to construct the present and anticipate the future, while reflecting on the past. The spotlight projected upon the winner of a competition is perhaps what blinds us from seeing that the non-winning schemes are not merely the leftovers of a selection process, but rather “potential architectures” with an important role in the edification of cultures and societies. Having been submitted to the challenge and rigour of a collective and qualitative judgment process, each project can be read as a manifesto for the excellence of spaces and places, as they seek a better way of redefining our living environments

The CCC needs your timely collaboration for improved updating. If you are aware of any missing competition, or if you have access to archives pertaining to competitions in Canada (digitized or not), please contact Professor Jean-Pierre Chupin, PhD, Architect MOAQ, MIRAC at: jean-pierre.chupin@umontreal.ca.

https://www.ccc.umontreal.ca/categories.php?lang=en

Further reading:

• J.-P. Chupin, C. Cucuzzella, B. Helal (Editors), Architecture Competitions and the Production of Culture, Quality and Knowledge (An International Inquiry), Montreal, Potential Architecture Books, 2015.  ISBN 978-0-9921317-0-8
• J.-P. Chupin, (Editor), Competing for Excellence in Architecture (Editorials from the Canadian Competitions Catalogue, 2006 – 2016), Montreal, Potential Architecture Books, 2017.

ISBN 978-0-9921317-5-3

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Due to overwhelming interest in the Missing Middle Infill Design Competition, the registration deadline has been extended to February 22.

Launched in 2016, the Edmonton Infill Design Competition provides an opportunity to encourage productive conversations about infill, help the public and development community envision what’s possible for infill design, and inspire builders and architects to create out of the box designs that enrich the city. The competition’s overarching goal is to showcase improved aesthetics of the community and how good designs can bring neighbours together. The 2016 competition sought ideas for low-density residential infill on a hypothetical site, showing how infill could add to the character of mature and established neighbourhoods.

This year, the Infill Design Competition turns its gaze on demonstrating how medium-density housing can be both economically-feasible and well designed to work in Edmonton. This type of medium scale housing, which falls between single family homes and highrises, is commonly referred to as the ‘missing middle’ because it has been largely absent from urban streetscapes across Canada, including Edmonton.

The competition represents an opportunity to increase the city’s housing choices, particularly how we can integrate infill housing in the ‘missing middle’ range. As the initiative advances, what will be most interesting is the relationships that form between builders, developers and architects, and the proposals they come up with together, pushing the envelope for design and building creativity.

Endorsed by The Alberta Association of Architects, the 2019 ‘Missing Middle’ Infill Design Competition features five City of Edmonton owned parcels of land up for redevelopment at the northeast corner of 112 Avenue and 106 Street in the Spruce Avenue neighbourhood. The City of Edmonton is soliciting proposals from multidisciplinary teams of architects and builders/developers from across Canada and abroad to design a multi-unit, medium-density, or ‘missing middle’, housing development on these lots. The challenge is to submit an innovative design that is not only thoughtful of neighbourhood context, but also economically feasible, responds to local market conditions and advances the design ethic for infill in Edmonton.

The winning team will be given the opportunity to purchase the site and build their winning design, conditional upon rezoning approval. The finished development will be used to inspire innovative ‘missing middle’ infill development in other parts of the city.

Full rules and regulations can be found at edmontoninfilldesign.ca. The competition is part of Edmonton Infill Roadmap 2018’s “Action 5: Partner to pilot innovative housin

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Due to overwhelming interest in the Missing Middle Infill Design Competition, the registration deadline has been extended to February 22.

Launched in 2016, the Edmonton Infill Design Competition provides an opportunity to encourage productive conversations about infill, help the public and development community envision what’s possible for infill design, and inspire builders and architects to create out of the box designs that enrich the city. The competition’s overarching goal is to showcase improved aesthetics of the community and how good designs can bring neighbours together. The 2016 competition sought ideas for low-density residential infill on a hypothetical site, showing how infill could add to the character of mature and established neighbourhoods.

This year, the Infill Design Competition turns its gaze on demonstrating how medium-density housing can be both economically-feasible and well designed to work in Edmonton. This type of medium scale housing, which falls between single family homes and highrises, is commonly referred to as the ‘missing middle’ because it has been largely absent from urban streetscapes across Canada, including Edmonton.

The competition represents an opportunity to increase the city’s housing choices, particularly how we can integrate infill housing in the ‘missing middle’ range. As the initiative advances, what will be most interesting is the relationships that form between builders, developers and architects, and the proposals they come up with together, pushing the envelope for design and building creativity.

Edmonton’s unprecedented design competition seeks to turn ideas into action

Endorsed by The Alberta Association of Architects, the 2019 ‘Missing Middle’ Infill Design Competition features five City of Edmonton owned parcels of land up for redevelopment at the northeast corner of 112 Avenue and 106 Street in the Spruce Avenue neighbourhood. The City of Edmonton is soliciting proposals from multidisciplinary teams of architects and builders/developers from across Canada and abroad to design a multi-unit, medium-density, or ‘missing middle’, housing development on these lots. The challenge is to submit an innovative design that is not only thoughtful of neighbourhood context, but also economically feasible, responds to local market conditions and advances the design ethic for infill in Edmonton.

The winning team will be given the opportunity to purchase the site and build their winning design, conditional upon rezoning approval. The finished development will be used to inspire innovative ‘missing middle’ infill development in other parts of the city.

Full rules and regulations can be found at edmontoninfilldesign.ca. The competition is part of Edmonton Infill Roadmap 2018’s “Action 5: Partner to pilot innovative housing.”

The post Deadline extended for Edmonton’s missing middle infill competition appeared first on Canadian Architect.

With increasing densities and challenges in creating new public spaces, we need to creatively make the most of every space in our city. Toronto is seeing a growing interest in innovative ways to inhabit and enliven our public spaces and find new ones. Park People is looking for people who have bold, creative, and radical ideas for Toronto’s parks, plazas, schoolyards, laneways, streets, and other publicly-accessible open spaces.

The Public Space Incubator program aims to encourage and support the next generation of creative public space projects. By providing access to funding and professional networks, this second round of our Public Space Incubator will support tangible pilots that test new, innovative ways to bring under-used public spaces to life.

With a focus on innovation, partnerships, programming, and scalability, the Public Space Incubator will provide five projects with up to $50,000 in funding per project. And, as an incubator, will support successful applicants in implementing projects by connecting them with a network of professionals. Take a look at the five winning projects from last year for some inspiration.

https://www.canadianarchitect.com/architecture/park-people-announces-2018-public-space-incubator-recipients/1003743914/

Park People invites applications from groups and collaborators including but not limited to: community groups, student groups, artist collectives, non-profits, public sector agencies, designers, and registered charities. Private for-profit businesses may not be the sole applicant, but can be part of an application as a partner.

Projects must take place within publicly-accessible outdoor open space in the City of Toronto, whether privately or publicly-owned. Projects can also be temporary or permanent, where temporary is defined as at least four consecutive weeks or a series of events. One-time events are not eligible. If a project is pitched as permanent, the proposal must consider how it will be maintained. Projects should be completed by the fall of 2020.

The Public Space Incubator is a program of Park People and is generously funded by Ken and Eti Greenberg and Balsam Foundation.

The first stage of applications — which calls for Letters of Intent — is due by March 22. More information about rules and eligibility is available via the Park People website, linked here.

The post Park People opens Public Space Incubator applications for 2019 appeared first on Canadian Architect.

In the past decade, Edmonton has undergone significant population growth that has outpaced most of the country. This phenomenon has acted as the catalyst for the conversation around the need for residential infill and to efficiently and sustainably make use of existing infrastructure. Mature neighbourhoods have been positively impacted through redevelopment, introducing more housing choice for residents at all income levels and stages of life.

This increase in infill development over the past few years has sparked significant discussion around the look of new housing and how it fits within a neighbourhood. In 2015, a review of the City’s Mature Neighbourhood Overlay (MNO) resulted in regulatory changes to height, setbacks, privacy and amenity areas. The goal of the review was to ensure that infill is developed in a manner that is sensitive to the current context of the neighbourhood – to maintain the pedestrian-oriented flavour of existing streetscapes. There has been a lot of progress, not only in our built environment and in the cultivation of great spaces, but also in the spirit of residents, politicians, business owners and public institutions coming together to foster a sense of community and work towards realizing game-changing visions for city regeneration.

Despite positive changes made, the conversation around what constitutes good design for infill remains. Questions that seek to define“character” and “contextually appropriate” designs continue to be front and centre. Does “contextually appropriate” mean we should be emulating the existing vernacular of our post war neighbourhoods? Do contemporary designs in fact celebrate the old, by providing stark contrast of what is seen today and what was built yesterday? Or perhaps there is even further conversation that needs to be stoked around the future design language of our residential built forms as homes approach the end of their life expectancy?

Launched in 2016, the Edmonton Infill Design Competition provides an opportunity to encourage productive conversations about infill, help the public and development community envision what’s possible for infill design, and inspire builders and architects to create out of the box designs that enrich our city. The competition’s overarching goal is to showcase improved aesthetics of the community and how good designs can bring neighbours together. The 2016 competition sought ideas for low-density residential infill on a hypothetical site, showing how infill could add to the character of our mature and established neighbourhoods.

This year, the Infill Design Competition turns its gaze on demonstrating how medium-density housing can be both economically-feasible and well designed to work in Edmonton. This type of medium scale housing, which falls between single family homes and highrises, is commonly referred to as the ‘missing middle’ because it has been largely absent from urban streetscapes across Canada, including Edmonton.

The competition represents an opportunity to increase our city’s housing choices, particularly how we can integrate infill housing in the ‘missing middle’ range. As the initiative advances, what will be most interesting is the relationships that form between builders, developers and architects, and the proposals they come up with together, pushing the envelope for design and building creativity.

Endorsed by The Alberta Association of Architects, the 2019 ‘Missing Middle’ Infill Design Competition features five City of Edmonton owned parcels of land up for redevelopment at the northeast corner of 112 Avenue and 106 Street in the Spruce Avenue neighbourhood. The City of Edmonton is soliciting proposals from multidisciplinary teams of architects and builders/developers from across Canada and abroad to design a multi-unit, medium-density, or ‘missing middle’, housing development on these lots. The challenge is to submit an innovative design that is not only thoughtful of neighbourhood context, but also economically feasible, responds to local market conditions and advances the design ethic for infill in Edmonton.

The winning team will be given the opportunity to purchase the site and build their winning design, conditional upon rezoning approval. The finished development will be used to inspire innovative ‘missing middle’ infill development in other parts of the city. Full rules and regulations can be found at edmontoninfilldesign.ca.

The submissions from across the country and the range of aesthetics and uses they propose will help support a city that looks to someday grow to a city of 2 million people. As new plans and policy initiatives begin to contemplate the types of urban spaces and places that are needed to help people live prosperous lives, design remains a fundamental pillar in the ways in which these spaces and places are used, enjoyed, and accessed. It will be one of the cornerstones on how Edmonton is marketed and perceived by city visionaries, builders, architects, and developers from around the world.

We firmly believe that the architect plays a critical role, not only in the design of our urban fabric, but even in the very policies that regulate our built forms. The architect understands that our built environments are physical manifestations of the metaphysical. Cultures. Religions. Societies. Ideologies. Traditions. The built form is a direct reflection of our independent and collective memories. How these values are translated into what we see today in our daily lives is part of the delight (and often, frustration and complication) of design. Edmonton is getting to the heart of these discussions.

Christian Lee is the Senior Planner for the Strategic Initiatives and Infill Liaison Team with the City of Edmonton and is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture. Christian worked in a private architecture firm in Toronto as well as the planning department for the City of Cambridge prior to moving to Edmonton in 2013.

Jason Syvixay is an award-winning urban planner and public relations professional, having worked as managing director of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ and a community planner with HTFC Planning & Design. More recently, he has focused his planning work in the area of infill development with the City of Edmonton as principal planner with the Infill Liaison Team. Through various media platforms, Jason continues to shape and inform dialogue around pressing urban issues.

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The Design Exchange (DX) and the RBC Foundation are partnering to announce the fourth edition of the RBC Canadian Emerging Designer Competition – billed as the only competition of its kind in Canada, where innovative design and entrepreneurialism intersect.

This national competition provides an unparalleled opportunity for emerging Canadian designers to gain exposure while celebrating the immense and diverse design talent in Canada. The organizers are looking to celebrate the best of the best among Canada’s emerging designers. From digital, interior and graphic design to architecture and fashion design, this national competition provides a game-changing opportunity for emerging Canadian designers to garner recognition and elevate their practices.

The RBC Canadian Emerging Designer Competition winner will be awarded $20,000, receive a personalized mentorship package, and have their work exhibited at the DX in 2019. In the coming weeks, a jury composed of noteworthy design professionals will be announced, with the competition winners set to be notified this Summer.

The competition i open to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents, aged 18 to 35, in all disciplines: graphic design and visual communication, industrial design, interior design, architecture, fashion, UX design, product design, and digital media. Competition submissions are now open, and all entries are due by April 15, 2019.

More information about this year’s RBC Canadian Emerging Designer Competition is now available via the official DX website, linked here.

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The National Capital Commission (NCC) has launched its 2019 Capital Riverfront Challenge, inviting Canadian university students from across the country to come up with ideas for key riverfront parcels in Canada’s Capital Region. The competition is organized by the NCC, the federal Crown corporation dedicated to ensuring that Canada’s Capital is a dynamic and inspiring source of pride for all Canadians, and a legacy for generations to come.

The Capital Region stretches across the Ottawa River to include lands in both Ontario and Quebec. The NCC is the largest landowner in the Capital Region, with significant landholdings along both the north and the south shores of the river. During 2018, the NCC completed long-range plans to develop a future vision for these important riverfront lands:

• Ottawa River North Shore Parklands Plan: Approved April 2018
• Ottawa River South Shore Riverfront Plan : Approved June 2018

With this groundwork laid, it is a great time to encourage new ideas that could help play a role in enhancing the riverfront of Canada’s Capital.

The NCC is challenging students to propose ideas that create vibrant, animated, inspiring and accessible public spaces along the Ottawa River shoreline. Participants are asked to focus their ideas on one of two riverfront sites:

• SITE 1: Jacques-Cartier Park South (Ottawa River north shore) OR
• SITE 2: Parkdale Node (Ottawa River south shore)

An interdisciplinary jury of planning and design professionals will review the submissions, and decide on the competition winners. A winning submission will provide bold design solutions that consider the following:

• site context
• environmental and ecological features
• public access
• four-season use
• recreational opportunities
• current master plans and policies.

The last day for registration to the Capital Riverfront Challenge is February 15, and all submissions are due by March 31.

More information about the NCC’s Capital Riverfront Challenge — including full submissions and eligibility guidelines — is now available via this link.

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Launched this year, the SHIFT Architecture Challenge is a new Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) program created to highlight the distinct contribution architects and architectural thinking bring to addressing key societal issues. It aims to showcase the profession’s belief that good design can bring about positive change.

Now accepting submissions, the program invites Ontario architects and their collaborative teams to respond to an identified area of concern using their skills and insights. It will run biennially, beginning with the SHIFT 2019 Infrastructure/Architecture Challenge.

In a world facing increasingly urgent and complex challenges—climate change, forced migration, poverty, an aging population and beyond—the need for responsible, innovative and inspiring architectural solutions has never been greater.

Architects are ideally suited to propose creative solutions. The OAA challenges the profession to further enhance the public’s perception of architecture as a force that acts as a catalyst for positive social change. The SHIFT Architecture Challenge will recognize those architects, both emerging and established, whose responses to the challenge best embody these qualities.

The Challenge articulates the importance of architectural thinking as a social determinant that impacts the well-being of people and the planet, and enables the architectural profession to be viewed by the public in a new light, while reflecting the capacity for design thinking to permeate all aspects of life.

Starting next year, the SHIFT Architecture Challenge will operate on a two-year cycle, running in “odd years” as of 2019 (i.e. 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025…). Each edition of the program will have a specific theme. The 2019 theme is infrastructure. Submissions for the 2019 SHIFT Architecture are due by January 18.

More information about the SHIFT Architecture Challenge is available via the OAA’s newly launched SHIFT website, linked here.

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Young architects and designers are invited to submit work to the annual Architectural League Prize Competition. Projects of all types, either theoretical or real, and executed in any medium, are welcome. The jury will select work for presentation in lectures, digital media, and an exhibition in June 2019. Winners will receive a cash prize of $2,000.

Established in 1981 to recognize visionary work by young practitioners, The Architectural League Prize is an annual competition, lecture series, and exhibition led by the League and its Young Architects + Designers Committee.

Theme: Just

The idea that an architectural work might be just—whether formally, materially, contextually, culturally, or otherwise—invokes the diverse and interdependent concerns that shape contemporary practice. In its myriad references, Just explores the implicit tensions between architecture’s affinity for the just so in materials, tectonics, and organization, and a call to act justly.

Escalating conditions of sociopolitical turmoil and environmental calamity have prompted renewed attention to the ethics of architecture. How might architecture serve justice? Confront complex challenges across scales, mediums, and geographies? Build new equitable paradigms for action? Can architecture engage a breadth of constituencies, environments, and species? In an era of global turbulence, how might architecture’s ends justify the means? Can architects advocate for architectural excellence and beauty while still addressing social concerns? Can just architecture, with its laborious process from conceptualization to construction, become a justified statement in itself?

Just explores architectural action with the understanding that a multiplicity of coexisting and contradictory attitudes may be constructive, liberating, and justified. This year’s Architectural League Prize competition asks entrants to consider the just in how they approach the practice of architecture, whether through experimentation in research and design advocacy or by advancing speculative and applied techniques within the discipline.

The competition is open only to current full-time residents, who need not be citizens, of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Submissions for the Architectural League Prize are open until February 11, 2019. More information is available here.

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