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The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has unveiled the winners of its prestigious 2024 Design Excellence Awards, showcasing a panorama of new buildings completed across Ontario, and by Ontario architects beyond our own province. With an impressive array of 100 submissions, the OAA distilled a shortlist of 20 finalists, eventually spotlighting ten exemplary designs that strive for innovation, sustainability, and community engagement. Among these, four outstanding projects are right here in the Greater Toronto Area, highlighting the city's dynamic architectural landscape.
This year's winners will be duly recognized at the OAA's annual conference, this year entitled "Housing: Pushing the Envelope" at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre, from May 22 to 24.
Here are this year’s winners
…within Toronto
1. Centennial College A-Building Expansion
Designed by DIALOG, in collaboration with Smoke Architecture, the new building at Centennial College’s Progress Campus in Scarborough was developed in partnership with EllisDon. The A-Building Expansion is Canada's first zero carbon, WELL-certified, mass timber higher education facility, emphasizing sustainability, as well as Indigenous perspectives, inspired by the Mi’kmaq concept of “Two-Eyed Seeing”.
2. Churchill Meadows Community Centre and Sports Park
Designed by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (MJMA), this Mississauga community centre's design revolves around social interaction and recreation, integrated into a recreational parkland setting while showcasing a striking mass timber structure.
In collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop, NORR Architects & Engineers Limited crafted a new court facility for Toronto. Developed by Infrastructure Ontario, it offers an open and accessible space that resonates with the surrounding civic and judicial buildings, including Toronto City Hall and Osgoode Hall.
4. Toronto Public Library — Albert Campbell Branch
LGA Architectural Partners revitalized this Toronto Public Library branch in Scarborough, offering a community hub flooded with natural light while preserving the library's brutalist roots dating back to 1971, with a re-clad exterior and waves of wood making a distinctive mark for its ceilings.
…into the rest of Ontario
5. Neil Campbell Rowing Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario
MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects, in association with Raimondo + Associates Architects Inc., has brought a transparent design to this legacy facility that was one of the venues used for the 2022 Canada Summer Games. It sets a new standard for sustainability in sports architecture, achieving Zero-Carbon Emissions and Net-Zero Energy Design benchmarks.
6. Place des Arts, Greater Sudbury, Ontario
A collaboration between Moriyama Teshima Architects and Bélanger Salach Architecture, this multidisciplinary art centre houses seven member organizations in Northern Ontario. Its flexible design allows for multiple uses in Downtown Sudbury.
…across Canada
7. Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation, Prince Edward Island
This east-coast project by Baird Sampson Neuert, now part of WF Group, and SableARC Studio overlooks the Saint Peter’s Bay village, with a population of just over 300. It incorporates ground source heating and cooling as well as a solar array for its fully electric design, bringing together Indigenous and research communities.
8. Virgin Vineyard House, North Hatley, Quebec
LAMAS Architecture Ltd. (Lee and Macgillivray Architecture Studio) designed this Quebec residence that sits alongside a hillside vineyard. It blends with its natural surroundings, with a stone wall inspired by the surrounding agriculture, with all rooms oriented towards the nearby lake.
…and into the United States
9. Center for Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University, Massachusetts
KPMB Architects has crafted this landmark building for the Boston University campus. It features cantilevered volumes for a series of vertical neighbourhoods, along with a central atrium and public areas for collaboration.
10. David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City
Diamond Schmitt Architects, in partnership with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects respectively designed the master plan and theatre, and public spaces at the fully renovated music performance facility. Their collaboration has reimagined this iconic venue, home of the New York Philharmonic. Improvements were made to its acoustics and audience experience, with flexible performance spaces and a warm material palette.
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