| Visions and Master Plans - Award |
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Laneway Architecture and Urbanism
Address: Laneways throughout Toronto
Architect: Professor Brigitte Shim with Donald Chong
Masters Students: Steffanie Adams, Ali Abir, Kiran Chhiba, Laragh Halldorson, Jane Hutton, Al Kably, Adam Kanza, Selena Kwok, Christopher Routley, Kirsten Thomson, Seyedeh-zahra-de Yekrangian, Jingpi Zhuang, Karen Zwart-Hielema
Owner/Developer: Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto |
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| Buildings - Award |
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83a Marlborough Ave.
Address: 83a Marlborough Ave.
Architect/ Designer: Drew Mandel
Urban Design: Amy Falkner, David Miller
Owner/Developer: Denise Cooper and Drew Mandel |
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| Buildings - Award |
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District Lofts
Address: 388 Richmond St. W.
Architect/Urban Designer: Architects Alliance
Owner/Developer: Context Development |
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| Buildings - Award |
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St. Clair Mausoleum at Prospect Cemetery
Address: 1450 St. Clair Ave. W.
Architect/Urban Designer: Baird Sampson Neuert Architects
Owner/Developer: Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries |
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| Buildings - Award |
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Eatonville Public Library
Address: 420 Burnhamthorpe Rd.
Architect/Urban Designer: Teeple Architects Inc.
Landscape Architect: Gunta Mackars
Owner/Developer: City of Toronto |
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| Buildings - Award |
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Bahen Centre for Information Technology - University of Toronto
Address: 40 St. George St.
Architect/Urban Designer: Diamond and Schmitt Architects
Landscape Architect: Ian Gray & Associates
Owner/Developer: University of Toronto |
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| Visions and Master Plans - Honourable Mention |
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Regent Park Revitalization Plan
Address: Gerrard Street (north) to Shuter Street (south), Parliament Street (west) to River Street (east)
Architect/Urban Designer: Markson Borooah Hodgson Architects, Greenberg Consultants Inc.
Owner/Developer: Toronto Community Housing Corporation |
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| Visions and Master Plans - Honourable Mention |
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Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant Site Design
Address: 9 Leslie St.
Architect/Urban Designer: Architects Alliance
Landscape Architect: Diana Gerrard Landscape Architecture
Owner/Developer: City of Toronto |
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| Elements - Honourable Mention |
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Regent Park South Splash Pool
Address: southeast corner of Dundas Street East and Regent Street
Landscape Architect: PMA Landscape Architects
Owner/Developer: City of Toronto |
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| Elements - Honourable Mention |
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City of Toronto Transit Shelter Program
Address: City of Toronto streetscape / Transit stops
Architect/Urban Designer: Kramer Design Associates Ltd.
Owner/Developer: Viacom Outdoor Canada Inc. |
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| Buildings - Honourable Mention |
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Eric Arthur Gallery
Address: 230 College St.
Architect/Urban Designer: Kohn Shnier Architects
Owner/Developer: University of Toronto |
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| Buildings - Honourable Mention |
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Camden Lofts
Address: 29 Camden St.
Architect/Urban Designer: Core Architects Inc. and Oleson Worland Architects
Owner/Developer: Dundee Realty / Red Rocket Management |
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| Buildings - Honourable Mention |
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Ideal Condominiums
Address: 457-471 College St.
Architect/Urban Designer: Architects Alliance
Owner/Developer: Context Development |
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| Buildings - Honourable Mention |
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Queen Richmond Centre
Address: 111 Queen St. E.
Architect/Urban Designer: Dermot J. Sweeny Architects Inc. and Young + Wright Architects Inc.
Landscape Arch: NAK Design Group
Owner/Developer: The Continental Saxon Group and Atlantic Development Inc. |
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| Buildings - Honourable Mention |
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Upper Beach Village
Address: Norwood Terrace / Enderby Road
Architect/Urban Designer: Guthrie Muscovitch Architects
Owner/Developer: Namara Developments / Upper Beach Village Ltd. |
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The winning submissions demonstrate an impressive level of architectural rigor and urbanity.
There is strong evidence that city-building is being actively pursued in Toronto by a select number of individuals and organizations, from the University of Toronto - recognized in Canada for its significant building portfolio - to the architect-homeowner to Context Development, a private developer of condominiums. These award-winning projects heighten the experience of living and learning in Toronto, while the St. Clair Mausoleum at Prospect Cemetery brings a contemporary poetry to a permanent place of rest.
But the role of the city - the public sector - as visionary builder is far less compelling. What these award-winning projects represent is a city in its specificity rather than a city evolving into a more complex, more remarkable whole. Where are the great public squares, the open space systems, the street corridor enhancements and the new neighbourhoods accomplished with innovation and urban conviction? Their absence presents a troubling new reality for Toronto.
The right kind of impulses are here - witness the Butterfly garden along Etobicoke's waterfront - but deep budget cuts and a confused stewardship within city ranks have badly upset an earlier optimism for Toronto's modern city. It's hard to get overly excited about a water play element at Regent Park when swimming pools are being closed. The new transit shelters cannot make up for the lack of visionary leadership in the Union Station redevelopment.
Submissions from individual students were disappointing, an unfortunate showing given the inspired, sometimes brilliant work being presented at year end crits. In fact, there is no shortage of intelligent, dedicated people working on behalf of the city. A University of Toronto studio on laneway architecture and urbanism was submitted and awarded for its remarkable investigation of the current condition and potential for a defining aspect of the city's urbanism.
But what will become of these important findings? So long as the dictates of the public works department are held in higher esteem than urban design or an old school parks mentality of large soccer fields prevails over a finer urban fabric, the city will find it difficult to advance its cause.
In the end, Toronto should learn how to move like so many other cities around the world: one step at a time, forward.