The winners of the 2013 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Awards have been announced. Representing some of Ontario’s most acclaimed architecture firms, the 15 recipients of the 2013 Design Excellence Award were selected from a pool of over 170 submissions by a jury of peers from within the design community. Winning projects were picked from across the globe, displaying Ontarian architects’ wide body of international work. Recipients of the 2013 OAA Design Excellence Award were judged by their peers based on the following criteria:

• Creativity: The innovative nature of the design solution.
• Context: The contribution a project makes to its unique location, to neighbouring uses and to community building.
• Sustainability: The contribution the project makes to a sustainable environment. Considers project design merits and the reduced use of raw materials and dependence on fossil fuels, as well as projects that achieve high quality interior environments, with regards to daylighting, air quality and material use.
• Good Design/Good Business: The degree to which the project creatively supports and interprets the business and architectural goals of the client through programming and design.
• Legacy: The contribution of the project in establishing a new benchmark for architectural excellence.

As well as the peer-jury winners, the OAA invites the public to cast their votes for the People’s Choice Award. Between March 27 and April 15, the public is encouraged to pick their favourite new building from the list of 2013 winners, posted below. Choices may be submitted to the OAA’s Peoples' Choice Award page on the OAA website.

This year’s batch of winning projects hail from around the world. Aside from local Toronto projects, like the Ryerson Image Centre, winners can be found in Montreal, Los Angeles, Tel-Aviv, Waterloo, Sequin Township, and Vancouver. A complete list of the 15 recipients of the OAA Design Excellence Award can be found below, most with images. You will find a comprehensive selection of images as of March 27 on the OAA's website.

Design Excellence:

Assuta Medical Centre • Tel Aviv, Israel • Zeidler Partnership Architects with Moore Architects Ltd. and M. Brestovisky Architects & Urban Design (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Assuta Medical Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel, image courtesy of Zeidler Partnership Architects

Cedarvale Ravine House • Toronto, ON • Drew Mandel Architects

Cedarvale Ravine House, image courtesy of Drew Mandel Architects

Centre for Green Cities, Evergreen Brickworks • Toronto, ON • Diamond Schmitt Architects Incorporated

Centre for Green Cities, Evergreen Brickworks, image courtesy of Diamond and Schmitt Architects

Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art • Montreal, QC • Provencher Roy + Associés Architectes

Clear Lake Cottage • Sequin Township, ON • MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd.

Toronto Police, Division 11 • Toronto, ON • Stantec Architecture Ltd., Architects and E.R.A. Architects Inc. (Heritage Consultant)

Division 11 Toronto, Stantec Architecture Ltd., image by Richard Johnson

House on the Bluffs • Toronto, ON • Taylor Smyth Architects

House on the Bluffs, image courtesy of Taylor Smyth Architects

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust • Los Angeles, California • Belzberg Architects

Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Los Angeles, image courtesy of California Belzberg Architects

Regent Park Aquatic Centre • Toronto, ON • MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd.

Regent Park Aquatic Centre, image courtesy of MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd.

Rotman School of Management • Toronto, ON • KPMB Architects

Rotman School of Management, KPMB Architects, image by Tom Arban

Ryerson Image Centre/School of Image Arts • Toronto, ON • Diamond Schmitt Architects Incorporated

Ryerson Image Centre/School of Image Arts, image courtesy of Diamond Schmitt Architects

Stone Residence • Toronto, ON • Hagy Belzberg Architect

Stone Residence, Hagy Belzberg Architect, image by A-Frame Ben Rahn

The CIGI Campus • Waterloo, ON • KPMB Architects   

University of British Columbia, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences/CDRD • Vancouver, BC • Saucier + Perrotte Architectes & Hughes Condon Marler Architects

UBC, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences/CDRD Vancouver, image courtesy of Saucier + Perrotte Architectes

The 2013 Ontario Association of Architects awards will be presented on Friday May 10, 2013 at the OAA Celebration of Excellence Awards and Dinner. The event will take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, hosted by OAA President Bill Birdsell and Master of Ceremonies, Ben Mulroney.

Additional awards to be announced at the event include Best of Show, the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award, and People’s Choice. For more information about the 2013 OAA Awards and to purchase tickets please visit: http://conferenceregistration.oaa.on.ca.