The OAA is thrilled to announce the 17 Finalists for its 2022 Design Excellence Awards. This year’s selection includes building types ranging from libraries and learning institutions to striking residences and performing arts venues in Southwestern Ontario and Northwestern Texas. Chosen by a jury of design experts, the projects serve as the shortlist for the OAA’s Design Excellence Winners, which will be announced next month and celebrated at the OAA Conference in Toronto this May.

The biennial OAA Design Excellence Awards program offers Ontario’s architecture profession an opportunity to showcase the possibilities for the built environment, and promote broader public appreciation and understanding of architecture. Submissions required inclusion of Energy Use Intensity (EUI) metrics, reflecting the OAA’s commitment to pursuing climate stability in the public interest and ensuring sustainable, resilient design is a critical component of any successful project.

“I am pleased to be able to share these incredible projects,” says OAA President Susan Speigel. “Individually, they highlight the innovation and skill of their design teams; collectively, they show Ontario’s architecture profession has such incredible talent, able to create beautiful, thoughtful, and effective buildings that inspire.”

Selected from more than 80 eligible submissions, the 17 Finalists were judged on criteria such as creativity, context, sustainability, good design/good business, and legacy. The selections, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

• Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences (Lubbock, Texas) by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated (Design Architect), Parkhill (Architect of Record), and MWM Architects, Inc. (Associate Architect);
• Centennial College Downsview Campus Centre for Aerospace and Aviation (Toronto) by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd. In association with Stantec Architecture Ltd.;
• Clearview Public Library, Stayner Branch (Stayner, Ontario) by Lebel & Bouliane Inc.;
• Craven Road Micro House (Toronto) by Anya Moryoussef Architect;
• m.o.r.e. Cabin (La Peche, Quebec) by Kariouk Architects;
• Ontario Tech University Shawenjigewining Hall (Oshawa, Ontario) by Montgomery Sisam Architects in joint venture with Architecture Counsel Inc.;
• Orillia Community Recreation Centre (Orillia, Ontario) by MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects Ltd.;
• The Osler Bluff Ski Club (Town of the Blue Mountains, Ontario) by Williamson Williamson Inc.
• Ottawa Art Gallery Expansion (Ottawa) by Barry Padolsky Associates Inc. Architects and KPMB Architects (advocate architects) / EBC Inc., DevMcGill, and Groupe Germain with Régis Côté et Associés (DBFM consortium) / LEMAYMICHAUD (private-sector tower architects);
• SmartVMC Bus Terminal (Vaughan, Ontario) by Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated;
• The Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park (Brampton, Ontario) by RDH Architects Inc.;
• Tile House (Toronto) by Kohn Shnier Architects;
• Tom Patterson Theatre (Stratford, Ontario) by Hariri Pontarini Architects;
• Tommy Thompson Park Entrance Pavilion (Toronto) by DTAH Architects Limited;
• University College Revitalization (Toronto) by Kohn Shnier Architects in association with E.R.A. Architects Inc.;
• University of Toronto Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Toronto) by Montgomery Sisam Architects Inc. in association with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; and
• Visitor Education Centre at Canadian National Vimy Memorial (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France) by Robertson Martin Architects Incorporated and John Lampros Architect.

The final Design Excellence Winners—as well as the recipients of the Best Emerging Practice, G. Randy Roberts Service Award, Lifetime Design Achievement Award, and Order of da Vinci—will be announced in early April. They will be honoured at the OAA Conference in Toronto, along with the unveiled winners of the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award, the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Design Excellence in Architecture, and the People’s Choice Award, which asks members of the public to vote for their favourite Winner.

Profiles of the 17 Finalists will be posted on the OAA Website throughout the rest of March.

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