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Turenscape is the winner of this year’s RAIC International Prize.
Presenting the winners of the RAIC’s Architectural Practice Award, Research and Innovation in Architecture Awards, Advocate for Architecture Award, Architectural Journalism & Media Award, and Prix du XXe siècle.
His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV has left a legacy of international-calibre architecture in Canada—and a model for how architecture can support the Canadian ideal of pluralism. TEXT Ian Chodikoff PHOTOS Salina Kassam
Editor Elsa Lam on what defines Canadian architecture.
2025 Pritzker Prize winner; CMHC Housing Design Catalogue unveiled; RAIC names new Fellows and Honorary Fellows.
COVER Railside concept plan, Winnipeg, Manitoba, by 5468796 Architecture with Scatliff + Miller + Murray.
What is Canadian architecture? It’s a question that has real urgency in the face of threats from our southern neighbour.
There isn’t a single aesthetic answer. But when you look to process and values, clearer themes emerge. Canadian earnestness and honesty come forward in how we make architecture. Canada’s architects work hard to understand the context of projects—the geography and site, the economic parameters, the relevant codes and zoning, the communities that will inhabit a building—and to provide the best possible solution. These may seem like universal goals, but they’re not to be taken for granted as we reflect on the recent starchitect era that privileged flash and ostentation.
This year’s RAIC award winners showcase these values at work. The Gold Medal winners, Shirley Blumberg and Marianne McKenna, are founding partners of KPMB, a firm that has built its sterling reputation on high-quality, context-driven work. Marianne has an exceptional talent for transforming institutions with landmark projects that are tightly woven into the urban fabric—think Concordia’s business school in downtown Montreal, or Toronto’s Koerner Hall. Shirley’s advocacy mindset has played out in projects ranging from affordable housing to pro bono work with Indigenous communities.
The Architectural Practice Award winner, 5468796 Architecture, celebrates working in constrained situations. Their recent Pumphouse succeeded in redeveloping a heritage site where more than a dozen before had failed, by crafting a novel architectural approach—and financial case—for its adaptive reuse.
Sometimes rules and regulations can pose considerable barriers to building affordably and sustainably, but the Canadian approach isn’t to break those rules—it’s to change them. That’s what LGA Architectural Partners is doing with their research on single stair building code reform, an effort that garnered them an RAIC Research and Innovation in Architecture Award.
Another Research and Innovation Award went to MJMA for their work on designing Western North York Community Centre as a net-zero energy building. Aquatic centres typically consume high amounts of energy, so reaching this goal— on a tight site to boot—involved patiently and persistently searching for ways to reduce and offset the operational and embodied carbon of the building, including pioneering a first-in-Toronto approach to geothermal exchange.
The three Prix du XXe siècle winners remind us how deeply rooted a Canadian approach to archi-
tecture has been. The early-20th-century town of Grand Falls, Newfoundland was possibly the first garden city built outside of the U.K., and aimed to provide healthy, progressive living and working conditions for factory labourers. In 1958, architects Jean Emberley Wallbridge and Mary Louise Imrie, partners in life and work, created a modernist home and studio attuned to its natural setting in Edmonton—exemplifying the possibilities of both building with modest means, and of career success for a same-sex couple even in a more conservative period of Canadian history. And in another diversity success story, the RAIC ’s prizes recognize Canada’s first known architect of Japanese descent, Kiyoshi Izumi, who crafted a psychiatric hospital profoundly attuned to the needs of patients—going so far as to take LSD himself to better understand the experiences of the mentally ill.
The RAIC ’s Advocate for Architecture Award celebrates a largely unsung hero: Dr. Yosef Wosk, a philanthropist with a longstanding commitment to improving Canadian buildings and landscapes. Wosk’s committed patronage underscores the notion—shared by many Canadian architects—that architecture can have a profound impact on the everyday lives of people and communities.
This year’s RAIC Architectural Media and Journalism award goes to Diamond Schmitt Architects’ book Set Pieces: Architecture for the Performing Arts in Fifteen Fragments. The documentation of this body of work demonstrates the international presence and impact of Canadian architectural expertise.
This issue also highlights the work of two global figures whose work resonates deeply with Canadian values. RAIC International Prize winner Turenscape, led by Kongjian Yu, is a Chinese landscape practice that has pioneered the idea of “sponge cities” that naturally regulate and absorb stormwater. His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, who won the RAIC ’s Gold Medal in 2013, sponsored a series of major architectural projects in Canada because he recognized the power of Canada’s pluralistic society.
Canadian architects experience first-hand that diverse viewpoints, multifaceted user groups, and complex sites can make projects challenging—but that these conditions can also give rise to the best projects. And through the painstaking process of dealing honestly with complexity, Canadian architects aim to shape a better world, one building at a time.
EDITOR
ELSA LAM, FRAIC, HON. OAA
ART DIRECTOR
ROY GAIOT
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
ANNMARIE ADAMS, FRAIC
ODILE HÉNAULT
LISA LANDRUM, MAA, AIA, FRAIC
DOUGLAS MACLEOD, NCARB FRAIC
ADELE WEDER, FRAIC
ONLINE EDITOR
LUCY MAZZUCCO
SUSTAINABILITY ADVISOR
ANNE LISSETT, ARCHITECT AIBC, LEED BD+C
VICE PRESIDENT & SENIOR PUBLISHER
STEVE WILSON 416-441-2085 x3
SWILSON@CANADIANARCHITECT.COM
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
FARIA AHMED 416 441-2085 x5
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CIRCULATION
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Since 2013, Smith + Andersen has hosted Eco Jam, a charity benefit rock concert that spotlights the talent within our industry. Architects, engineers, designers and construction leaders from across the Toronto area jam out to their favorite hits, played in front of a sold-out audience of their peers!
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Founder of Jiakun Architecture Liu Jiakun is the 2025 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Liu offers architecture that celebrates the lives of ordinary citizens and uses architecture to foster community and inspire compassion. Throughout his works, he demonstrates a deep respect for culture, history and nature, and familiarity through modern interpretations of classic Chinese architecture.
“Architecture should reveal something it should abstract, distill and make visible the inherent qualities of local people. It has the power to shape human behavior and create atmospheres, offering a sense of serenity and poetry, evoking compassion and mercy, and cultivating a sense of shared community,” Liu maintains.
Born in 1956 in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, Liu graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Architecture in 1982 and was amongst the first generation of alumni tasked with rebuilding China during what was a transformative time for the nation. His career spans over forty years, with more than thirty projects ranging from academic and cultural institutions to civic spaces, commercial buildings and urban planning initiatives throughout China.
Liu creates public areas in populated cities where the luxury of space is largely absent, forging a positive relationship between density and open space. By multiplying typologies within one project, he innovates the role of civic spaces to support the breadth of requisites for a diverse society. West Village (Chengdu, China, 2015) is a five-storey project that spans an entire block, visually and contextually contrasting with the matrix of characteristically mid- and high-rise buildings. An open yet enclosed perimeter of sloping pathways for cyclists and pedestrians envelops its own vibrant city of cultural, athletic, recreational, office and business activities within, while allowing the public to view through to the surrounding natural and built environments. Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Department of Sculpture (Chongqing, China, 2004) displays an alternate solution to maximizing space, with upper levels protruding outward to extend the square footage of a narrow footprint.
“Cities tend to segregate functions, but Liu Jiakun takes the opposite approach and sustains a delicate balance to integrate all dimensions of the urban life,” comments Alejandro Aravena, Chair of the Jury and 2016 Pritzker Prize Laureate. “In a world that tends to create endless dull peripheries, he has found a way to build places that are a building, infrastructure, landscape and public space at the same time. His work may offer impactful clues on how to confront the challenges of urbanization, in an era of rapidly growing cities.”
Throughout his works, Liu demonstrates a reverence for culture, history and nature. Flat eaves of the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick (Suzhou, China, 2016) and window walls of Lancui Pavilion of Egret Gulf Wetland (Chengdu, China 2013) reimagine the form of pavilions dating back many millennia. Tiered balconies of Novartis Block - C6 (Shanghai, China, 2014) are reminiscent of towers representing many dynasties. Luyeyuan Stone Sculpture Art Museum (Chengdu, China, 2002), housing Buddhist sculptures and relics, is modelled after a traditional Chinese garden, balancing water and ancient stones to reflect the natural landscape. In keeping with his belief that the human relationship with nature is reciprocal, Liu’s buildings both emerge and dissolve within their surroundings, such as The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town (Luzhou, China, 2021) nestled in the lush cliffside landscape of Tianbao Mountain. Local and wild flora is featured in all of his works, as bricks are paved upended to enable grasses to flourish through the core holes, indigenous bamboo groves are planted in new sites, and floors and ceilings are designed with openings to allow the continuance of existing trees.
TOP The Renovation of Tianbao Cave District of Erlang Town (2021) nestles into its natural landscape. ABOVE The Museum of Clocks (2021) is part of China’s largest private museum campus.
His honest architecture presents the sincerity of textural materials and processes, displaying imperfections that endure, rather than degrade, through time. He disfavours manufactured product, preferring traditional craft and often using raw local materials that sustain the economy and environment, built for and by the community. The Department of Sculpture building exposes swirling details of authentic Chongqing sand plastering handiwork that are left visible rather than honed. He revives materials and spirits upcycling rubble from the ruins of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and strengthening it with local wheat fibre and cement to produce fortified bricks with greater physical and economic efficiency than
Set on the grounds of a historic brickworks, the Suzhou Museum of Imperial Kiln Brick (2016) evokes the imperial court whose “golden bricks” were manufactured at the site.
the original. The “Rebirth Bricks” can be found extensively throughout the Novartis building, Shuijingfang Museum (Chengdu, China, 2013) and West Village, his largest work. The devastation also yielded his smallest work to date, Hu Huishan Memorial (Chengdu, China, 2009), in the form of a permanent cement relief tent, exhibited not only for a 15-yearold girl in the aftermath of destruction, but for the collective memory of an entire nation in mourning.
Significant works also include Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum Cluster (Chengdu, China, 2007); Design Department on new campus, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (Chongqing, China 2006), Lodging Center of China International Practice Exhibition of Architecture (Nanjing, China, 2012), Chengdu High-Tech Zone Tianfu Software Park Communication Center (Chengdu, China, 2010), and Songyang Culture Neighborhood (Lishui, China, 2020).
“Through an outstanding body of work of deep coherence and constant quality, Liu Jiakun imagines and constructs new worlds, free from any aesthetic or stylistic constraint. Instead of a style, he has developed a strategy that never relies on a recurring method but rather on evaluating the specific characteristics and requirements of each project differently. That is to say, Liu Jiakun takes present realities and handles them to the point of offering sometimes a whole new scenario of daily life. Beyond knowledge and techniques, common sense and wisdom are the most powerful tools he adds to the designer’s toolbox,” said the 2025 Jury Citation.
Liu will be honoured at a celebration in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this spring, and globally with a virtual ceremony video this fall. www.pritzkerprize.com
The RAIC has awarded its 2025 Gold Medal, the institute’s highest honour, to Marianne McKenna and Shirley Blumberg, founding partners of KPMB Architects. McKenna and Blumberg have made significant contributions to Canadian architecture in a myriad of ways. Individually and collectively, they have had a profound impact on the built environment, the pursuit of design excellence, the practice of responsible architecture, and the investment in future generations of architects in Canada at the firm and in the field.
Collectively, for nearly 40 years, Marianne and Shirley have advanced KPMB Architects and Canadian architecture through their commit-
ment to sustainability, social justice, and community-focused design. Their projects have garnered international recognition, contributing to the global reputation of Canadian architecture.
“Shirley Blumberg and Marianne McKenna are visionary architects whose work showcases design sensitivity, technical excellence, and foresight in sustainability, reflecting a deep understanding of spaces,” writes the jury. “Their architectural contributions are both beautiful and meaningful, impacting Canadian and international landscapes. Through platforms like BEAT, they promote equity, diversity, and inclusion and have paved the way for women and other practitioners from diverse backgrounds.”
“Blumberg and McKenna are consistently generous in sharing what they’ve learned with students through their academic work, and through professional mentoring of emerging architects and other colleagues in smaller specialty, or otherwise diverse, firms. Innovating business structures, their leadership and dedication continue to shape the profession, challenging the status quo and broadening perspectives, establishing a legacy in education, practice, and social reform.” raic.org
The winners of the 2024 Niagara Biennial, hosted by Ontario’s Niagara Region, have been announced. The biennial awards program celebrates design excellence in Niagara and showcases a range of exemplary design solutions within the diverse built environments of Niagara.
Grand Prizes were awarded to The Exchange in Niagara Falls, by DTAH, and Jordan Village Public Realm Revitalization by Arcadis IBI Group. Coronation Park Improvement by Shoreplan Engineering was
recognized for Outstanding Achievement (Landscape Architecture), and ReNew the View by Willow Arts Community Visual Artists Marvin Dale, Tammy Fenner, Tricia Franklin, Kim Height, and Doug Paget was recognized for Outstanding Achievement (Outdoor Art). Awards of Excellence were given to the Glendale Diverging Diamond Interchange, led by Niagara Region, Casablanca Waterfront Park by SDG Landscape Architects, First Nations Peace Monument by Friends of Laura Secord and Douglas J. Cardinal Architect, and Public Art at The Exchange by Nicholas Crombach, Dillon Douglas, Jacob Headley, Emily Andrews, and Lyndsay-Ann Chilcott.
www.niagaracanada.com
The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has announced the six selections for its SHIFT 2025 Challenge, a biennial ideas competition that recognizes the potential of architectural thinking to address societal issues.
This year’s theme, “Reshaping Communities,” asked the profession to explore how they could develop sustainable solutions. From urban revitalization and reconceptualization to adaptations responding to climate change and other emergencies, the competition sought out conceptual, yet possible, architectural ideas for communities that enabled all people to find stability, a sense of belonging, and hope.
“At the heart of the SHIFT 2025 Challenge is a call to action to approach critical issues with innovation, adaptability, and a commitment to community well-being,” said Ted Wilson, OAA president. “We are excited to unveil this year’s exceptional selections, which demonstrate how architectural thinking can inspire and shape a future where
25_003438_Canadian_Architect_MAY_CN Mod: March 26, 2025 11:34 AM Print: 04/03/25 3:19:51 PM page 1 v7
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communities not only adapt, but also thrive in the face of uncertainty.”
The six projects were chosen by a jury of experts for their creativity, feasibility, and emphasis on sustainability. They also reflected diverse strategies required to create adaptable, inclusive, and climate-conscious communities.
The selected entries include Subdivillage, team led by Naama Blonder and Misha Bereznyak; The City Limits: Rethinking a 100-year-old Toronto Suburb, team led by Tim Scott; Swansea Park: A Development Concept for the Former Swansea Mews; team led by David Peterson; Parkdale Commons: A Living Food Bank, team led by Luc Johnston and Nancy Chao; The Living Core: Designing for Resiliency at Home, team led by David DiGiuseppe; and Speculative Assemblies: From Pine Needles to Pressed Coffee, team led by Jerry Hacker.
The six projects will be celebrated during a special event on May 15 as part of the OAA Conference in Ottawa, Ontario. The selections will also be featured in a special publication and online.
The federal government has released the final renderings, floor plan layouts, and key building details as part of the Housing Design Catalogue, an initiative under Canada’s Housing Plan. The catalogue features about 50 standardized housing designs for rowhouses, fourplexes, sixplexes, and accessory dwelling units across the country.
In July 2024, the federal government launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) process for the development of low-rise designs as part of the
ABOVE The newly released CMHC design catalogue features some 50 standardized housing designs for rowhouses, fourplexes, sixplexes, and accessory dwelling units across the country.
Housing Design Catalogue. The successful proponents of the RFP process were MGA | Michael Green Architecture for the British Columbia region and LGA Architectural Partners Ltd., who worked with five other teams of regional experts including Dub Architects, 5468796 Architecture, KANVA , Abbott Brown Architects, and Taylor Architecture Group. The designs focus on creating gentle density and infill development in existing neighbourhoods in all regions of Canada. The final architectural design packages will be released this spring.
In order to help ensure the Housing Design Catalogue supports the goals of Canada’s housing system, various principles were considered during the development phase including adaptability and accessibility, energy efficiency, financial feasibility, use of regional construction methods and materials, and compliance with local regulations and building codes.
“These standardized designs will help smaller homebuilders cut through the complexity, speeding up the time between concept and construction and lowering costs of building,” said Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.
The federal government continues to work with provinces, territories, and municipalities to streamline and fast-track approvals for the standardized designs included in the Housing Design Catalogue. The designs cover all regions of the country: British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, and the territories.
www.housingcatalogue.cmhc-schl.gc.ca
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has announced five Honorary Fellows being inducted into the RAIC College. This year’s Honorary Fellows are Kimberly N. Dowdell, Emily GrandstaffRice, Michelangelo Sabatino, Martin Segger, and His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV.
The RAIC has also announced 43 new Fellows being inducted into the RAIC College. They are: Safdar Abidi, Michael Banman, Vaidila Banelis, Ben Barrington, Andrew Batay-Csorba, Louis Bélanger, Stasia Bogdan, Deanna Brown, Carole Caron, Nicola Casciato, Steven Casey, Donald Chong, Raymond Chow, Jean-Pierre Chupin, Sue Jean Chung, David Dow, Cecily B. Eckhardt, Christopher Filipowicz, David Fortin, Katherine (Kate) Gerson, Cameron Gillies, Darryl Hood, Martin Houle, Alar Kongats, Stephen Kopp, Marion LaRue,
Mona Lemoine, Martin Liefhebber, Daniel Ling, Rodney Maas, Mark Michasiw, Glen D. Milne, Christopher Moise, Grant Moore, Anya Moryoussef, the late Gerry Pilon, Paul Raff, Nicolas Ranger, Barbora Vokac Taylor, Andrew Paul Todd, Michael J. Treacy, John Wall, and Brenda Webster.
Fellows and Honorary Fellows will be officially inducted to the RAIC College on June 3, 2025 at a convocation ceremony during the RAIC Conference in Montreal. raic.org
Two Canadian architecture docs available to stream
An Ontario Place documentary called Your Tomorrow is now available to stream for free on TVO docs. The film, which had its theatrical premiere in December 2024 at Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto, was filmed over almost 100 days in the public space on Toronto’s waterfront, and captures the final year of Ontario Place before its planned transformation into a private spa and waterpark. Earlier in 2024, it played at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won a runner-up Audience Choice award.
Written, produced, and directed by Ali Weinstein and produced by Geoff Morrison, the documentary follows a group of characters who use and care for the park over the course of a year. The film documents a transitional moment in the landscape of the city, and asks viewers to consider what modern cities should look like and what a diverse urban society requires to thrive.
Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between the Lines , a documentary about the famed Vancouver architect, is also now available to stream online, via British Columbia’s Knowledge Network.
The film, which premiered at the Architecture+Design Film festival in Toronto, showcases Erickson’s structures, and includes revelations of “the man behind the story,” as well as exploring the personal relationships that shaped Erickson’s life and work. The film was made with access to the Erickson Family Archives as well as with the full cooperation of the family, and features never-seen-before archival footage and imagery. It was made by producers/directors Ryan Mah and Danny Berrish of Black Rhino Creative, with producer Leah Mallen. www.TVO.org / knowledge.ca
Stantec acquires Page
Canada-based Stantec has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Page, a 1,400-person U.S.-based architecture and engineering firm with 20 offices across the U.S. and Mexico. The acquisition will deepen Stantec’s expertise and resources in key growth areas such as advanced manufacturing, data centres, and healthcare, while adding new capabilities in cleanroom design and fabrication facilities. It also strengthens Stantec’s U.S. offering in the academic, civic, cultural, aviation, science and technology, and commercial sectors.
With the addition of Page, Stantec’s U.S. Building practice will grow by approximately 35 percent and the company’s overall U.S. employee headcount will expand to around 13,500 people. The acquisition will make Stantec the second-largest architecture firm in the United States. www.stantec.com
For the latest news, visit www.canadianarchitect.com/news and sign up for our weekly e-newsletter at www.canadianarchitect.com/subscribe
Suitable for heavy duty areas
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May be used on waterproofed terrasses
KONGJIAN YU’S SPONGE CITY CONCEPT— FOCUSED ON SUPPORTING NATURAL CYCLES OF WATER FLOW AND ABSORPTION—HAS BEEN ADOPTED AS A NATIONAL POLICY IN CHINA, AND SETS A WORLDWIDE PRECEDENT.
TEXT Mona Lemoine, Joanne Perdue, Jason Robbins
In recognition of the pressing planetary urgency of climate change, the RAIC’s Resolution for Urgent and Sustained Action on Climate and Ecological Health, and the RAIC 1.5°C Climate Action Plan, the 2025 theme for the RAIC International Prize is Climate Action. The 2025 Prize seeks to recognize an architect, a practice, or an architecturally focused group that exemplifies design excellence in climate action and regenerative development and design.
This year’s International Prize recipient is Beijing-based Turenscape, led by Dr. Kongjian Yu. Turenscape has profoundly shaped the urban landscape of more than 250 cities globally through over 1,000 projects. Guided by their philosophical foundation of “Nature, Man, and Spirits
as One,” Turenscape seeks to promote harmony between land (Tu) and humanity (Ren) and to create sustainable environments for the future.
Turenscape’s foundation and body of work resonated with the selection committee, who noted that Turenscape “celebrates beauty and ecology, drawing lessons from natural systems to develop holistic responses that regenerate degraded urban ecosystems, increase resilience to flooding and sea level rise, cultivate natural habitats in urban areas, and create inspiring spaces that foster human reconnection to our natural world.”
Turenscape’s portfolio of work aims to redefine the fields of urbanism and landscape architecture through projects that foster a deep and lasting connection between communities and urban ecologies, allowing both to
flourish over time. Their work addresses the interconnected contemporary challenges of climate change, ecological degradation, and urban expansion.
As cities around the world struggle to respond to the escalating challenges of climate change including urban flooding and sea level rise, Turenscape has gained international recognition for the Sponge City concept. Sponge City designs draw inspiration from natural water flows and traditional methods for managing water during the monsoon season
ABOVE The restoration of the 23-kilometre-long Meishe River corridor has alleviated flooding and water pollution caused by sewage in the tourist city of Haikou, in south China.
in rural China. This nature-based approach focuses on ecological restoration to support the natural cycles of water flow and absorption. By doing so, these designs improve urban resilience, alleviate flood risks, reduce urban heat island effects, and offer low-carbon solutions that enhance biodiversity, air quality, and urban aesthetics. Additionally, they offer inspiring places for community to reconnect with urban ecologies and contribute to broader urban climate adaptation efforts.
In 2013, Turenscape’s Sponge City vision was adopted as a national policy in China, prioritizing large-scale nature-based infrastructures. Key features of this approach include wetlands, greenways, parks, canopy tree and woodland protection, rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavements, and bioswales. This work sets a powerful precedent for designing with water as a living system, rather than treating it as a threat. What stands out is its scalability and adaptability: it goes beyond a theoretical concept and is now shaping urban planning policies.
The interconnected climate and biodiversity crises necessitate architectural strategies that enact forms of “radical repair” beyond the building and hard infrastructures. As built environment professionals, we must design urban environments that promote the healing of the land and support the ongoing flourishing of life. Where life does not flourish, we ultimately cannot thrive. Sponge Cities set a precedent for practices worldwide, showcasing how water can be skillfully celebrated as a creative resource, the foundation of living systems, and an invaluable natural asset.
Turenscape’s Sponge City work offers a model for transforming our understanding of living in harmony with nature in a changing climate. Their work celebrates beauty and ecology, drawing lessons from natural systems to develop holistic responses that regenerate degraded urban ecosystems, increase resilience to flooding and sea level rise, cultivate natural habitats in urban areas, and create inspiring spaces that foster human reconnection with our natural world.
Dr. Kongjian Yu advocates rethinking our relationship with water and land, promoting blue-green urban ecotones that adapt to the increasing severity of disruptions to Earth’s water cycle caused by human-induced climate change. Sponge City design offers a rapidly scalable, naturebased, and carbon-positive alternative to traditional, carbon-intensive, gray infrastructure solutions for climate change adaptation. Yu’s work integrates ecology, culture, and beauty, serving as an inspirational model for architects, urban planners, and landscape architects globally.
The 2025 selection committee, chaired by Jason Robbins (PP/FRAIC, MAA) and co-chairs of the RAIC Committee on Regenerative Environments Mona Lemoine (FRAIC, Architect AIBC) and Joanne Perdue (FRAIC, Architect AAA, LEED Fellow), also included international design and industry professionals Afaf Azzouz (PEng BEMP), Dr. Harriet Hariss (Ph.D., RIBA, Assoc. AIA, PFHEA), Whare Timu, and Beatrice Galilee (Founder and Executive Director, The World Around). The diverse group was selected to reflect the intenational scope and ambition of the prize, ensuring a robust and insightful selection process.
TĀMAKI MAKAURAU (AUCKLAND), AOTEAROA (NEW ZEALAND)
Designed by Jasmax, Te Uru Taumatua is one of the most culturally and environmentally progressive buildings in Aotearoa, demonstrating a powerful fusion of Indigenous leadership, sustainability, and architectural excellence. Grounded in mana motuhake (sovereignty), it prioritizes Indigenous agency through co-governance. Its climate-positive strategies, net-zero systems, and circular material economy reinforce ecological reciprocity, while fostering social equity through local employment and upskilling.
CHINA
DnA Design and Architecture’s work, led by Xu Tiantian, celebrates the concept of architecture as acupuncture, where minimal interventions create maximum impact. DnA’s designs promote adaptive reuse and long-term sustainability by tapping into the community’s own cultural and physical resources. DnA contributes to placemaking that embodies temporality, simplicity, and playfulness, evoking a much-needed sense of ‘solastalgia’.
NORWAY
Joar Nango’s work redefines architecture through Indigenous innovation, ethical practice, and climate-conscious design. Nango advances reconciliation by reclaiming Sámi architectural identity and fosters social justice through community-driven spaces. His fusion of tradition and experimentation sets new benchmarks for climate-responsive, sustainable, and decolonized design.
LAGOS, NIGERIA / AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
NLÉ, led by Kunlé Adegyemi, addresses the urgent challenges faced by megacities in the global south, particularly in relation to rapid urbanization, climate change, and an unpredictable future. The selection committee wanted to recognize NLÉ for achieving maximum impact through minimal means, while promoting community engagement and empowerment, local materials, learning from local practice, simplicity in design, and adaptability.
MOROCCO
Salima Naji’s work demonstrates how architecture can act as a campaign for building conservation with an environmental focus. It showcases the potential for an architecture of raw and bio-sourced materials and place-informed design, while rethinking the interface of ecology and culture.
OVER THE PAST 17 YEARS, WINNIPEG-BASED 5468796 ARCHITECTURE HAS STRATEGICALLY LEVERAGED LIMITED RESOURCES TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE CITY—AND TO ITS DESIGN CULTURE.
5468796 Architecture was established in 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Treaty 1 Territory, by Johanna Hurme and Sasa Radulovic. Hurme first came to Canada from Finland as a high school exchange student and temporarily returned to her birthplace for studies at Helsinki University of Technology, before completing Bachelor of Environmental Design and Master of Architecture degrees at University of Manitoba. There, she met Radulovic a Bosnian Canadian who had begun his architectural education in Sarajevo and Belgrade before entering the University of Manitoba M.Arch program and Winnipeg native Colin Neufeld, who joined 5468796 in 2008 and become the firm’s third partner. Hurme and Radulovic both worked at Cohlmeyer Architecture prior to founding their own practice, which they named after its registration number.
From its inception, two tenets have informed the studio: that the art of city-building has been lost, and that there has been a diminished focus on creating buildings that define cities The practice’s response has been to build cities, one project at a time, and, through design activism, cultivate a culture of architecture against ambivalence.
Throughout its first decade, 5468796 focused on the “missing middle” of multi-family housing. “ We didn’t actively pursue this type of work, but rather, it was a result of our choice to stay in the city at a time when many of our colleagues left for greener architectural pastures,” the firm states. Winnipeg has helped shape what the practice calls the “ innate frugality ” of its interventions a process of “shaving off the excess to create projects without extraneous or decorative elements.”
Finding room for innovation, uniqueness, and delight within limitation has remained a central objective, even as the studio has expanded into different typologies of building and practice. On some projects, it has had to write its own brief. That was famously the case with Pumphouse, a mixed-use and adaptive reuse project on Winnipeg’s riverfront. The historic James Avenue Pumping Station was slated for demolition after 14 failed attempts to revive it by various design firms in the city. 5468796 developed an unsolicited conceptual design paired with a financial pro forma, and presented the business case to an existing client. This combination eventually led to the building’s successful preservation, and new life.
In a recent Canadian Architect article about Pumphouse, Trevor Boddy describes Winnipeg as “one of the coldest architectural laboratories in the world, and a comparatively underfunded one.” He adds that “the difficult discipline of working there has honed 5468796’s brilliance.” The practice’s work has been peer-recognized by organizations including the RAIC, Canada Council for the Arts, Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize, Architectural League, and the World Architecture Festival.
Everything is an Opportunity
Especially in privately developed, multi-family housing, architecture is expected to bend to the pressures of net-to-gross floor area ratios, backed by outdated zoning and code conditions. 5468796 understands these constraints, dissects them, and develops a tailored understanding of challenge and opportunity in response to each project’s financials, site, and program.
OPPOSITE The 5468796 team on the bridges connecting 90 Alexander in Winnipeg to the heritage warehouse it wraps around, 100 Alexander. ABOVE 62M makes use of an unusual site by lifting 40 residential units on 35-foot stilts. The pie-shaped layouts provide the widest possible perimeter for glass with the smallest amount of exterior envelope to construct.
It is only then, the studio believes once the project has been designed in a spreadsheet that architecture can resist the pressures of convention.
Acute technical knowledge and robust experience have taught 5468796 to “speak developer,” while producing architecture of consequence. This involves gaining clients’ trust by supporting new ideas with a clear understanding of their impact on the bottom line and ROI. Open-air corridors in multi-family housing, for example, might not be the obvious choice for Winnipeg’s climate. However, 5468796 has deployed this strategy because it reduces building area, which in turn reduces the amount of material required, the project’s embodied energy, and the volume of conditioned space, while enabling through-units and a unique type of shared communal space.
Colloquially known as the UFO building, 62M organizes apartments into raised circular floors that are simply framed with dimensional lumber atop pre-cast concrete piers. 62M takes the study of building floorplate efficiency, and the relationship between the hallway length and primary windows to the extreme of pragmatism, allowing this to fully guide the building design.
The James Avenue Pumping Station rehabilitation was unlocked through the strategy of using the capacity of the existing gantry crane structures to support a new floor above the heritage-protected pumping equipment. This enabled the creation of new revenue-generating commercial spaces that share views of the historic infrastructure.
5468796’s holistic view of practice encompasses all aspects of the architect’s role as it intersects with politics, economics, civic governance, social activism, and other forms of cultural and scholarly research. With the Prairies’ limited resources, innovation comes from a deep understanding of the available trades, materials and building traditions, and then sourcing (sometimes unusual) low-impact materials and construction methods. Inventing custom building systems with off-theshelf materials is in the practice’s DNA .
At 90 Alexander in Winnipeg, a new-build and adaptive reuse 206-unit housing project, the practice created an innovative modular cladding system using local sheet metal flashing trades. A field of individual repeated members permits concealed mechanical exhaust grilles, offers strictly functional exterior drainage, snow shedding and UV shielding, all while creating an overall moiré effect with deep articulation exposed at windows and corners at a fraction of the budget expected for custom detailing.
5468796 believes that buildings must be adaptable and resilient to be considered sustainable. On Calgary’s Parkade of the Future, the studio challenged itself to answer the question: as means of transportation evolve, how can parkades follow suit? This 510-stall garage’s design facilitates conversion to office, light industrial, or residential use. Its ellipse
ABOVE LEFT Pumphouse, a project at the edge of Winnipeg’s Exchange District, preserved a historic structure by suspending commercial spaces within it and adding residential blocks to two sides. ABOVE RIGHT The mass timber Bond Tower aims to forward the use of advanced wood construction techniques in Winnipeg. OPPOSITE Developed with Kasian, Parkade of the Future is a 510-stall garage designed to allow for conversion to office, light industrial, or residential use.
encloses a street-wide interior courtyard; an imperceptibly shallow 1% slope creates an ‘ infinite’, ‘flat’ floor plate; ceiling heights clear 14 feet; and the universal load-bearing capacity creates opportunities for gradual or wholesale changes, at low cost. Clipped onto the floor plates, the exterior guard shroud of recycled and recyclable raw aluminum is fully removable and reconfigurable. The building in fact gained an office tenant near completion, thereby validating its intended adaptability.
As a collaborator on the Bond Tower, a mixed-use building in downtown Winnipeg, 5468796 strives to advance the adoption of heavy timber construction techniques in Canada by pioneering Building Code Classifications for seven- and eight-storey buildings and assembly ratings of 1.25 to 1.5 hours to align Building Code expectations with the constraints of mid-rise construction. Hybrid office space on its first two floors will house 5468796’s office and support spaces for two affordable housing agencies.
From the practice’s early years, it has been a force for positive change. Winnipeg’s Welcome Place, completed in 2010, offers shelter and transitional services to Manitoba’s new refugees. On a quiet residential street in an inner-city neighbourhood, the building is designed to address residents’ fragile psychological and emotional state and ease the transition to a new, supported life in Canada. The residential units are sheltered behind heavy walls with deeply set, porthole-like windows that provide occupants with discrete outdoor views, while minimizing views in.
In 2024 , 546 8796 received funding from Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada’s Research and Knowledge Initiative for Shared Ground, an applied research initiative dedicated to developing more affordable housing on social purpose infrastructure in Winnipeg.
Aiming to create a methodology that other Canadian communities can replicate, Shared Ground enables the practice to offer services pro bono to those who need it most, while providing social purpose organizations with the knowledge and tools they need to determine if their land and building assets can support an affordable housing development.
5468796’s partners have teaching engagements with the University of Manitoba, Daniels School of Architecture, Lansdcape, and Design in Toronto, University of Montreal, University of Calgary, College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and Art, Architecture and Planning at Cornell University in New York.
Migrating Landscapes , co-curated by the studio with Jae-Sung Chon, was, Canada’s official representation at the 2012 Venice Biennale in Architecture. It explored the settling-unsettling dynamic of im/migration, featuring video narratives and scale models of dwellings by young Canadian designers.
Publishing, grant-funded research and development, and exhibitions remain important spheres of 5468796’s activity. The four-volume publication platform.MIDDLE: Architecture for Housing the 99% (Arquine, 2023) grew out of a symposium that 5467896 co-hosted in 2019 at IIT ’s College of Architecture. Drawing on the studio’s built works, urban designs and community projects, the volumes assemble a toolkit of strategies for high-quality, attainable, accessible and affordable multi-family housing.
A Seat at the Table
“ We need to be present where decisions are being made, and relentlessly advocate for design and architecture as something that defines culture,
rather than being seen as an addition to it,” 5468796 writes. Johanna Hurme is President-Elect at the RAIC and past Chair of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. As part of the Manitoba Association of Architects’ Council, she initiated and led a task force aiming to reform the RFP process throughout the province. Sasa Radulovic participates in the University of Manitoba’s Partners Program, an initiative to cultivate dialogue between the university and professional practice. Through self-initiated projects, the studio has increased design exposure and built city identity. Table for 1200 expanded on the practice’s Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture project Table for 12, turning into a design and dining event for 1,200 people that has become an annual fundraising event for design advocacy over the past 12 years.
“Better Office” Initiatives
“A healthy practice enables greater leverage for the firm to do good for our community,” 5468796 writes. The firm’s 12-pronged “ better office” strategy, in place for more than a decade, starts with a Fair Workplace Policy, along with 1.5x overtime pay, benefits, and annual RRSP matching. It also includes 100% transparent finances, an employee-run donations strategy, and social, con-ed and recreation budget, as well as an Incentive Plan that allows all employees to actively contribute and share in the financial success of the company, equally. The firm is committed to providing a minimum 10% increase in average pay annually, and has hosted a biennial collective social and architectural trip, with past destinations including New York, Chicago, Banff, Mexico City, Santiago, and upcoming this year, a trip to Ireland. Finally, the firm’s Sabbatical Program provides every employee who has spent 10 years in the office a three-month paid sabbatical leave, allowing for a creative “brain break.”
5468796’s projects challenge architecture and architects to reconceive themselves as strategy and strategists. A strategist’s role includes concern for making good spaces for people, both inside and outside of the program; being environmentally sustainable; finding the right partners and partnerships; operating in political and financial realms; and meeting the challenge of affordability all while keeping the project on time and on budget. 5468796 Architecture operates on the belief that architecture is not a zero-sum game, but rather that a thriving office culture and financial success go hand-in-hand with high architectural ambition.
JURY COMMENT :: 5468796 has consistently demonstrated an inventive and unique approach to architecture, rethinking principles while navigating financial constraints and aesthetic ambivalence. The firm’s creativity extends beyond the physical resolution and explores areas of new housing typologies, alternative practice models, and unconventional means of community engagement. They have significantly changed the face of architectural practice, showing dedication to accessibility for different clients and project budgets. Their flexibility, ingenuity, and perseverance have made otherwise impossible projects a reality. As energetic advocates for the profession, they explore political, philosophical, and social dimensions while maintaining craft and expression. 5648796 fosters a strong architectural community while remaining humble with international recognition. Their creativity and resilience sets a precedent for emerging firms.
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In 2017, the City of Toronto commissioned MJMA to design the Western North York Community Centre, a Net Zero Energy Aquatic Facility. As a demonstration project, the design aimed to validate the latest Toronto Green Standard near-zero emission goals for city-owned facilities, setting the standard for future recreation centres.
Across building typologies, aquatic and arena facilities are amongst the highest energy consumers. A high proportion of this energy is used to sustain interior environments that require specially treated air, water, and ice delivering consistent, comfortable environments under tightly regulated standards, regardless of outdoor temperatures. Delivering buildings which will outperform existing high performance standards requires a reconsideration of best practices, in order to make way for even better outcomes.
To become one of Canada’s first Net Zero Energy Aquatic Facilities, the project was required to offset 100% of the building’s energy use
by site-sourced renewable energy. This was a significant challenge because of the limited size and linear configuration of the site.
Industry best practices for Net Zero Energy quickly proved to be inadequate for the Western North York Community Centre. Even after minimizing energy loads through effective heat recovery systems and the deployment of passive design strategies, the long, narrow site limited the ability to install enough solar photovoltaics to balance the energy ledger a common approach for Net Zero Energy projects.
Initial studies made clear that providing on-site, low-emission heat and energy would be the only way to bring about significant emission reductions. The search for clean energy landed two possibilities beyond the closed loop geo-exchange study that the City required: biomass heat and power generation, and open loop geo-exchange heating. Although the biomass study had promising results, the challenges of finding a consistent supply and the need to restructure city operations for the regular maintenance of the system made it unviable.
Investigations into geological potential proved far more successful. The site’s proximity to the Humber River hinted at a buried bedrock valley that supports a large aquifer running through the site. This aquifer, with its substantial size, suitable composition, and stable belowground temperature, provided ideal conditions for tempering water and air, greatly reducing the energy required for operations.
This system is modelled to reduce energy demand by over 46.7%, outperforming closed loop and air source heat pump system models in both energy reduction and long-term investment value. The imple-
mentation of this system will be the first in the City of Toronto’s portfolio and represents an entirely new approach for the City to consider when developing new projects.
While energy modelling provides a projection of possibilities, longterm performance depends heavily on the client’s operation and maintenance teams. Introducing changes to facility operations was essential.
To support this shift, MJMA initiated and led collaborative discussions with staff and consultants, building tours, peer interviews, and industry presentations, enabling the City to better understand the value of implementing new systems including automatic pool covers, a lowenergy pool water filtration system, and natural ventilation options for non-aquatic spaces. This extensive engagement, which was beyond the design team’s scope, was a critical step to convincing the City to rethink standard procedures and adopt improved practices with an eye to the potential use of these systems for future recreational facilities.
At the time of the design, there was little reliable data about reasonable upfront carbon (also known as embodied carbon) limits for a large community centre. MJMA’s in-house life cycle analysis helped focus on specific products and producers, allowing a greater degree of control for the upfront carbon included in MJMA’s specifications. Collaborations with local steel and concrete suppliers helped establish lower carbon
limits than the industry average, resulting in a custom specification tailored to the Ontario construction market.
Efforts focused on the aquatic hall, where significant opportunities for improvement were determined. By working with structural engineers Blackwell, pool building experts Acapulco, and local concrete suppliers Innocon, the team identified areas where efficiencies in materials could be achieved and construction standards to reduce waste could be implemented. This led to the project adopting a revised lower-carbon concrete mix for pool tanks. These innovations mean that there is now an alternative to the long-standing industry specification for concrete pools.
For specialized buildings like community recreation facilities, gathering detailed, typology-specific data is essential to create realistic, yet aspirational, benchmarks for reducing embodied carbon. In Spring 2023, the studio initiated an internal embodied carbon benchmarking study, focusing on the recreation facility typology.
The study aimed to supplement findings from the 2021 TAF (The Atmospheric Fund) primer, which analyzed 544 life cycle assessments of Ontario buildings. The primer proposed regulatory reduction targets and policy recommendations based on its review. MJMA’s research yielded benchmarks specific to recreation facilities, offering a more ambitious goal for this typology than those suggested in the TAF primer.
In addition to its upfront carbon benchmark study, MJMA has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of their entire interior assemblies library
EXISTING HEALTHY TREES ARE PROTECTED TO PROVIDE SHADE AND WIND PROTECTION FOR THE NEW OUTDOOR SPACES THAT SERVE THE COMMUNITY CENTRE’S GROUND FLOOR.
EARLY TRAFFIC STUDIES AND NEGOTIATIONS WITH CITY PLANNING AND THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD RESULTED IN A SHARED USE AGREEMENT FOR THE NEIGHBOURING SCHOOL PARKING LOT, FREEING UP LAND FOR A MULTI-USE SPORTS COURT AND MORE SOFTSCAPE TO MAXIMIZE STORM WATER INFILTRATION.
EXTENSIVE FEASIBILITY STUDIES AND SITE INVESTIGATIONS
UNCOVERED THE HEATING AND COOLING POTENTIAL OF AN EXISTING AQUIFER. ALONG WITH OPTIMIZED, LOW ENERGY DESIGN, THE SITE CAN GENERATE ONSITE RENEWABLE ENERGY TO ACHIEVE ZERO GREENHOUSE GASES AND 100% NET ZERO ENERGY.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT DESIGN SETS A BENCHMARK FOR CITY STANDARDS WITH SUSPENDED SOLIDS REMOVAL AND ON-SITE RETENTION EXCEEDING CURRENT REGULATIONS. IRRIGATION OF ALL PLANTING AREAS IS FED BY RAINWATER COLLECTION TANKS.
and an initial study for mechanical systems in aquatic halls. MJMA’s Embodied Carbon Research Team manages and updates material libraries, addressing construction challenges and building social networks to share findings that support broader adoption across the studio’s projects and the construction industry.
This research has allowed the studio to develop a process to conduct Life Cycle Analyses that can be scaled throughout project teams, ensuring that the discussion around carbon becomes more holistic and a critical part of the design process.
Demand for ever-better energy performance has led MJMA to collaborations with Toronto Metropolitan University and mechanical engineers AME . Together, they have worked to model Passivhaus Pool standards (which were developed for more temperate climates) against current best practice. The data will provide evidence for how industry standards might be adapted or improved.
MJMA’s research has highlighted systemic changes needed in the building industry to effectively reduce CO2 emissions, particularly in upfront carbon. Part of the challenge is the scarcity of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for many materials, which are not yet standard in manufacturing. Since Life Cycle Assessments depend heavily on EPD data for accurate and consistent estimates, it is essential for architects to communicate demand and findings to manufacturers. Clear market and policy signals are necessary to encourage investment in product testing and certifications.
Collaboration and knowledge-sharing across all construction-related groups is vital. To foster this, MJMA’s research findings have been disseminated through workshops, lectures, and publications across North America and Europe. Participation in over a dozen conferences and regular presentations to students further ensure that insights are shared with designers, collaborators, students, and academics. This openness reduces
A LINEAR SKYLIGHT ORGANIZES CIRCULATION THROUGH THE BUILDING, BRINGING NATURAL LIGHT TO EACH OF THE BUILDING’S MAIN GATHERING SPACES. SKYLIGHTS CAN OPEN AND ARE STAFF-CONTROLLED TO ALLOW PASSIVE VENTILATION WHENEVER OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE PERMITS.
THE NEW BUILDING DEFINES A PEDESTRIAN PROMENADE THAT CONNECTS FORMER DEAD-END SIDEWALKS TO UNITE TWO NEIGHBOURHOODS AT THE COMMUNITY CENTRE, BRINGING NEW SOCIAL AND ACTIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO LOCAL RESIDENTS.
duplicated efforts and, hopefully, fosters inspiration and collaboration. In the context of the global climate crisis, architects need to champion sustainable, resilient design in a manner that acknowledges each project’s unique environmental, economic, and social context. This includes investing in research initiatives that give the industry a better understanding of the whole life carbon impact of projects, and where innovation can make change for the better. MJMA’s aim is to continually work towards higher standards so that they can continue to act as trusted advisors to clients to respond to the evolving challenges posed by climate change.
JURY COMMENT :: This innovative research establishes crucial benchmarks for Canada’s first Net Zero Energy aquatic facility, addressing a significant gap in building performance data. The project expertly balances technical innovation, including embodied carbon standards, with practical solutions for moisture, materials, and operational challenges. Presented in an elegant, accessible way, this project and work demonstrate an admirable commitment to knowledge sharing and will serve as a valuable model for future community recreation facilities across Canada.
The jury for this award included Jessie Andjelic, Chris Cornelius, Camille Mitchell (FRAIC), Maya Przybylski, and Terrence Smith-Lamothe (MRAIC).
ABOVE As one of ten test cases for their research, LGA Architectural Partners submitted a building permit application and alternative solution to the City of Toronto for a three-storey small apartment building proposed to be constructed with a single exit stair and an elevator opening into
designed six prototypes for single exit stair building designs at three, four and six storeys in height, using typical residential
AN IN-DEPTH RESEARCH PROJECT PAVES THE WAY FOR BUILDING CODE UPDATES THAT WOULD REMOVE A KEY BARRIER TO MISSING MIDDLE HOUSING.
The Single Exit Stair Building Code research project explores innovative alternatives to the Canadian building code requirement for two exit stairs in multiplexes and small apartment buildings. Through pilot projects, prototypes, and extensive review of local and international building codes, research led by LGA Architectural Partners demonstrates that single-stair alternative solutions (SSASs) increase the feasibility, affordability, accessibility, sustainability, and design flexibility of missing middle housing, while achieving the safety objectives of the building code.
By advocating to remove barriers to missing middle housing, the research advances the goals of the National Housing Strategy, the CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund, and newly adopted zoning laws that encourage construction of such buildings in urban areas across Canada.
Over the last four years, the project has evolved greatly in scope. Building upon the foundational research and findings of then-McGill student Conrad Speckert’s graduate thesis (secondegress.ca), the work has shifted from ideation to real-world implementation.
make it easier for small-scale buildings, such as multiplexes, to integrate accessibility features like elevators, in circumstances where stacked townhouses would otherwise be constructed.
Another significant portion of the research project involved developing a series of single stair pilot projects to test the approvals process across the country. LGA collaborated with nine other architects and building code consultants across Canada to develop site-specific single stair alternative solutions. Each team scaled, replicated, and adapted the concept for dif ferent types of multi-unit residential buildings, ranging from three to six storeys in height, and submitted designs to local authorities for review. Each proposal included additional fire and life safety measures to meet the same level of performance and acceptable risk as the minimum pre scriptive requirements for buildings of the same height and classification.
Arguably, the project’s largest impact has come from industryfocused education and knowledge sharing. Through dissemination of SSAS research at numerous presentations, conferences, and panel discussions nationwide, LGA has contributed to a better understanding of Canada’s objective-based building code, and encouraged the careful use of innovative design strategies to increase housing supply.
The impact of this research and knowledge sharing has already been felt. Transformative policy changes and building code amendments have been initiated across Canada. In April 2022, Hine Engineering submitted a request to the Canadian Board for Har monized Construction Codes (CBHCC) missions for up to three and six storeys. This work was funded by a CMHC-SSHRC Balanced Supply of Housing grant. The proposal has been analyzed by CBHCC, and the topic has been prioritized for the 2025-2030 code cycle of the National Building Code of Canada.
Meanwhile, in British Columbia, a building code update was approved in August 2024, allowing small-scale multi-unit housing of up to six storeys to be constructed with a single exit stair. Other provinces such as Alberta and Ontario, as well as officials at the City of Edmonton and City of Toronto, have prepared feasibility studies and expressed an interest in potential code reform.
ABOVE Each of LGA’s six prototype designs includes a comparison with prescriptive egress requirements as a measure of floor area efficiency, construction cost, and rental income.
To ground the research, LGA designed six prototypes for single exit stair building design at three, four and six storeys in height, using typical residential lot sizes across Canada. Each small apartment building design includes a comparison with prescriptive egress requirements as a measure of floor area efficiency, construction cost, and rental income. The prototypes illustrate the architectural aspects of single exit stair building design as it relates to relevant requirements within Part 3 and Part 9 of the National Building Code. The purpose of the prototypes is also to demonstrate the relatively small scale of such buildings, and to help inform cost/benefit and fire safety analyses.
Some key takeaways from the development of the prototypes include noting that the implementation of SSAS s in small apartment buildings enables more bedrooms, more access to daylight and fresh air, and more accessible suites within the same height and area. Providing upgraded life safety systems like an automatic sprinkler system, smoke-sealed doors and advanced fire alarms makes a three-storey building with a single exit stair comparatively safer than a same-size building with two exit stairs designed to the prescriptive code. Moreover, SSAS s
The next five years is anticipated to see significant use of single stair alternative solutions, until prescriptive regulatory dependencies are updated across Canada. The lessons learned from the pilot projects, prototypes and related research also indirectly support the code development pro cess. This trajectory is similar to the recent adoption process for mass timber across Canada, beginning with performance-based alternative solutions that informed corresponding building code changes.
JURY COMMENT :: This meticulous study of single exit stair building code reform presents a transformative approach to addressing Canada’s housing challenges. Through richly documented research and elegant vis ual presentation, the project demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of current barriers to housing supply. Working at the system level, this initiative promises far-reaching impacts on missing middle housing mor phology across Canada. The thorough analysis and detailed solutions pos ition this work to meaningfully influence future building codes.
To learn more about this project, visit www.singlestair.ca.
The jury for this award included Jessie Andjelic, Chris Cornelius, Camille Mitchell (FRAIC), Maya Przybylski, and Terrence Smith-Lamothe (MRAIC).
PROJECT TEAM AND COLLABORATORS LGA ARCHITECTURAL PARTNERS, HAECCITY STUDIO ARCHITECTURE, AIR STUDIO, KELVIN HAMILTON ARCHITECTURE, 5468796 ARCHITECTURE, INVIZIJ ARCHITECTS, SVN ARCHITECTS + PLANNERS, MCCALLUMSATHER, OFFICE OU, LATERAL OFFICE, HA/F CLIMATE DESIGN, GHL CONSULTANTS, CELERITY ENGINEERING, LMDG BUILDING CODE CON SULTANTS, VORTEX FIRE CONSULTING, DAVID HINE ENGINEERING, NSP CONSULTANT, VERMEU LENS, URBAN FORMATION,
VANCOUVER URBANARIUM
WOSK’S PHILANTHROPY
Dr. Yosef Wosk a scholar, educator, author, businessperson, art collector, explorer, rabbi, peace activist, and philanthropist has made numerous contributions to British Columbian, Canadian, and international culture. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including Officer of the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia, Freedom of the City of Vancouver, honorary doctorates from Simon Fraser University and Emily Carr University, and internationally, the Culture Beyond Borders Medal from the United Nations.
A defining characteristic of Wosk’s work has been his deep and longstanding commitment to the improvement and conservation of the built environment of Canadian communities and landscapes. Working quietly and behind the scenes, he has seized opportunities for engagement and support in multiple areas of architectural, landscape, and urban design culture. His lifelong interest in architecture and landscape architecture reflects a concern for his fellow citizens, and a fundamental belief in the power of our buildings and landscapes to not simply accommodate society but to also transform it.
Some of the most visible of Wosk’s contributions as an advocate for architecture are his interventions in new and existing buildings and landscapes. A recent example is the Yosef Wosk Library & Resource Centre at the VanDusen Botanical Garden (Perkins+Will Architects with Cornelia Oberlander Landscape Architect, 2011), the largest publicly accessible botanical and horticultural library in western Canada and just one of the hundreds of libraries that Wosk has initiated, organized, and/or funded all over the world.
Wosk contributed a major grant to Bing Thom Architects in 2008 to encourage them to proceed with their master plan for the Shanghai 2010 World Exposition, and he supported the transformation of the Bing Thom-designed Simon Fraser University Surrey Campus. In appreciation for Yosef being the first to make a major donation to the project, The Yosef Wosk Learning Commons was dedicated in the new university library.
Many of Wosk’s interventions enable the completion of the designers’ original vision. Wosk worked to reinstate the reflecting pool at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (Arthur Erickson Architects with Cornelia Oberlander Landscape Architect, 1975) and contributed to the building’s six-year-long seismic upgrade (Nick Milkovich Architects, 2024). A fundamental element of the original vision of the design team led by Arthur Erickson and Cornelia Oberlander, the reflecting pool was never completed because of concerns related to the stability of the site, and although the pool was filled, temporarily, for Erickson’s 80th birthday in 2004, it was not until 2010 that it was finally reinstated, thanks to Wosk.
Equally transformative was Wosk’s support of the magnificent roof garden addition to the Vancouver Public Library (original building by Safdie Architects with Downs Archambault & Partners, 1995; addition by Safdie Architects, DA Architects, and Cornelia Oberlander Landscape Architect, 2018). Yosef was the catalyst, patron, and a member of the steering committee of the 15-year project to complete the redevelopment of the top two floors and the roof garden of the library. The completed project includes a room and adjacent garden named the Yosef Wosk Poets’ Corner and Poets Laureate Garden.
A Founding Pillar and first Lifetime Friend of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Wosk was the most generous individual donor to the
ABOVE LEFT The pool at the UBC Museum of Anthropology was not completed because of site stability issues, although it was filled temporarily for Arthur Erickson’s 80th birthday in 2004. Wosk’s donations enabled the pool’s permanent reinstatement in 2010. ABOVE RIGHT Wosk was the first major donor to the Simon Fraser University Surrey Campus. OPPOSITE The resource centre at the VanDusen Botanical Garden is one of hundreds of libraries worldwide supported by Wosk.
Save the Buildings Fund, and a significant donor to Old School, a unique continuing education certificate program that brought homeowners, contractors, labourers, architects and engineers back to school to learn heritage conservation.
Working closely with Indspire and the Arthur Erickson Foundation, Wosk created the Erickson-Wosk Indigenous Scholarship in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which improves the pathway to university studies for Indigenous students and commemorates Arthur Erickson’s sensitivity to Indigenous knowledge and building traditions. Mike DeGagné, President and CEO of Indspire, recognized the award as “…a significant step in supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis architecture and landscape architecture students to achieve their potential through education and training. They can in turn enrich their communities and create positive change in Canada.”
Several years ago, Wosk also offered the University of British Columbia’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) financial assistance with several initiatives, one of which was the installation of a grove of ginkgo trees in the UBC Botanical Garden. The school has accepted Wosk’s proposal for the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Ginkgo Grove for Cornelia, the ginkgo was a model of endurance and adaptability and will match his donation. Wosk’s longstanding and ongoing relationship with SALA has generated numerous other transformative collaborations over the years, including the Design Discovery Indigenous Recruitment Strategy, a multiyear effort designed to attract Indigenous high school students to studies in architecture and landscape architecture, and generous support for SALA’s Arthur Erickson Lecture Series.
For decades, Wosk has supported architectural research, scholarship, and design excellence in quiet, behind-the-scenes ways. Hundreds of events and publications in design and other disciplines journal articles, monographs, academic presentations are the direct result of Wosk’s encouragement and financial support. Many of Wosk’s own publications reveal his architectural insight and sensitivity. Other initiatives that have been supported, and in some cases enabled, by Wosk’s generosity include research and publications by architectural historians and critics Robert Lemon, Trevor Boddy, Hal Kalman, Robin Ward, Robert Reid, Don Luxton, and many others.
Launched in 2019 in collaboration with the Vancouver Heritage Foundation, the Yosef Wosk Publication Grant Program supports
research and publication in a variety of media on Vancouver’s heritage places, their conservation, and related topics. A recently announced initiative, developed in collaboration with the AIBC , SALA and Simon Fraser’s City program, is the Bing Thom Award for Architectural Excellence. Created at Wosk’s urging and managed by the Architectural Foundation of BC , the Bing Thom Award will be completely supported with Wosk’s 10-year commitment to cover all expenses.
In 2023, Wosk contacted the Arthur Erickson Foundation with an interesting offer. Aware of the financial burden associated with the outstanding mortgage on Erickson’s iconic House and Garden, Wosk committed to make a generous contribution toward the mortgage, with the request that a viable plan to discharge the entire debt be developed and implemented immediately. Galvanized by Wosk’s intervention, the Foundation responded and by the end of the year had secured the funds to not only eliminate the mortgage debt, but also to seed Phase 2 of a longer-term fundraising plan to restore the House and Garden.
Yosef Wosk’s record of Advocacy for Architecture is long, diverse, and compelling. It is an ongoing history of selfless philanthropy, strategic patronage, and inspired insight in relation to the opportunities created and enabled by his encouragement and generosity. A humanist with an uncanny ability to intervene at the right time and in the right place, he is committed to the well-being of society, and has used his knowledge and material resources to improve our landscapes and gardens, cities, and buildings at every level of the complex processes that shape our environment. Yosef Wosk has served our profession and this country with passion, commitment, and distinction, and will continue to do so with undiminished enthusiasm and grace for years to come.
JURY COMMENTS :: Dr. Yosef Wosk has significantly contributed to architecture in Western Canada through decades of advocacy, philanthropy, scholarly initiatives, and direct commissioning of built works. He is a champion of the public arts whose sustained efforts in education, research, and design excellence have strengthened architecture’s position in Canada. Dr. Wosk’s commitment to architectural advancement, both practical and academic, exemplifies the qualities this award seeks to recognize. His inspiring contributions leave a lasting impact on the built environment.
The jury for this award included Jessie Andjelic, Chris Cornelius, Camille Mitchell (FRAIC), Maya Przybylski, and Terrence Smith-Lamothe (MRAIC).
Spaces for gathering always imply or set up a performance. A ceremony, theater or music, a display, a dance, an encounter, a conversation. Great spaces amplify the power and effects of these expressions. What makes some spaces so well loved as to become icons while others fail to move us? How might architecture engage the body and trigger the senses? How does architecture create these enduring, embodied memories?
We connect through our senses to the world around us and to each other. Detail, often seen as the dry, technical side of architecture, serves the sensory experience. Architecture is never one design; it’s a layering of many small decisions, details, and concepts that together engage the entire body and trigger the senses. These smaller designs these nuts and bolts and the way they build up into the experience of space, are the subject of this book.
— Excerpt from Set Pieces, “A Way In: Introduction” by Matthew Lella
TEXT Lisa Landrum
Performance spaces are among the most rewarding to design and enjoy. They are invigorating catalysts of democracy and culture; creative hubs of spectacle and catharsis; and critical forums of reflection, empathy and imagination. They induce personal reveries and social revolutions. Possibilities thrive!
Set Pieces celebrates architecture’s capacity to intensify the intimacy, immensity, and diversity of theatrical and musical experience. Designs of whole halls are presented with an immersive prelude of auditoria images, and an expository appendix of plans and sections. Yet, as its title suggests, Set Pieces concentrates on performative parts. Its 15 fragments refer to 15 elements designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects for 11 performing arts projects in nine different cities in Canada,
the United States, England, the Netherlands, and Russia. As “pieces,” these elements are both material components within larger works and intricate compositions in themselves. These pieces include sonic ceilings, luminous surrounds, spiralling stairs, and interconnected rooms, all finely crafted to resonate with good vibes and synaesthetic effects. Sensuality abounds.
Set Pieces also delves into the play of technical, material and metaphoric associations. Readers are led backstage into the processes and workshops where these pieces were conceived and fabricated.
A chapter on Ottawa’s National Art Centre shares the rationale of the Timber Cascade that envelopes the original concrete building with an airy new skin. Like the 1969 landmark, the 2017 addition of glass, mass timber, and triangulated coffers draws its lofty and geometrical inspiration from tetrahedral kites.
A chapter on the Tornado Staircase for Buddy Holly Hall in Lubbock, Texas, spirals into complex geometries of not only the corkscrewing steel stair, but a multiple-vortex twister that devastated Lubbock in 1970. Alluding also to Buddy Holly’s transcendent energy and ultimate demise in a weather-induced aviation accident, this coiling piece of vertical circulation connects audiences to four levels of seating and socializing, while meaningfully embodying musical fervour and cosmic fate.
Other chapters describe the acoustically attuned millwork of Sine Wave in New York’s David Geffen Hall; the aural optimization of a Sound Cloud, which also conceals a fresh air plenum, in London’s Memorial Hall; and intertwined stories of flying canoes and logging industries in la chasse gallerie of Montreal’s La Maison Symphonique. Toronto chapters emphasize more civic settings. City Room at the Four Seasons Centre becomes a mediating space between opera and street; and Room for Everyone at the Daniels Spectrum aims to reflect in its facade the diversity of the Regent Park communities it celebrates and serves. Packing a plethora of delights, this book also assembles a plurality of voices. Principal architects are joined by a chorus of savvy virtuosos: set designer Mimi Lien; director, playwright and performer Robert Lepage; classical music critic Justin Davidson; acoustic scholar Kate Wagner; and experimental composer Robert Gerard Pietrusko. Their intervening essays and interviews bring profound depth and detail to the architecture of performance.
In all, Set Pieces presents architecture as a harmonic coalescence of sonic, spectral, spatial and social elements, together striving to inspire, fulfill and delight society as a whole. Encore!
JURY COMMENT :: Set Pieces is a beautifully crafted exploration of performance space architecture that bridges technical expertise with human experience. Through clear language and compelling imagery, it engages both architects and the public. Particularly relevant post-pandemic, it offers valuable insights into the cultural role of performance spaces while sharing practical design solutions. The thoughtful integration of sensory elements, geometry, and materiality creates an illuminating resource.
The jury for this award included Jessie Andjelic, Chris Cornelius, Camille Mitchell (FRAIC), Maya Przybylski, and Terrence Smith-Lamothe (MRAIC).
CONTRIBUTORS DIAMOND SCHMITT: DON SCHMITT, MATTHEW LELLA, GARY MCCLUSKIE; JUSTIN DAVIDSON, MUSIC & ARCHITECTURE CRITIC FOR NEW YORK MAGAZINE AND CURBED; KATE WAGNER, ARCHITECTURE CRITIC FOR THE NATION & JOURNALIST; ROBERT LEPAGE, PLAYWRIGHT, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR; MIMI LIEN, SET DESIGNER; ROBERT GERARD PIETRUSKO, DESIGNER & COMPOSER, ASSOCIATED PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | CONCEPT PADDY HARRINGTON AND JENNIFER SIGLER | EXECUTIVE EDITORS BRIAN SHOLIS AND JENNIFER SIGLER | MANAGING EDITOR JAVIER ZELLER GRAPHIC DESIGN CRISTIAN ORDÓÑEZ FOR FRONTIER, TORONTO | COPYEDITING BRIAN SHOLIS | PROOFREADING KEONAONA PETERSON | PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR BIRKHÄUSER RIA STEIN | PRODUCTION ANJA HAERING, AMELIE SOLBRIG
A FACTORY TOWN IN CENTRAL NEWFOUNDLAND WAS POSSIBLY THE FIRST GARDEN CITY CREATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM.
TOP The 1913 Grand Falls Post Office still remains in the town. ABOVE The pulp and paper mill was a state-of-the-art factory with modern machinery, wide-spanning steel trusses, and abundant daylight.
LOCATION Grand Falls, Newfoundland
DESIGNER Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co.
TEXT Dustin Valen
Grand Falls is remarkable for being among the first possibly the first garden cities created outside the United Kingdom at the beginning of the twentieth century. Designed and built by members of the AngloNewfoundland Development Co. between 1906 and 1909, the town has a layout inspired by Ebenezer Howard’s pioneering theory of 1898, with separate residential, commercial, and industrial zones, and suburban housing lots organized along a series of sweeping curvilinear streets meant to integrate scenic views and landscape into the urban experience. Spearheaded by brothers Alfred and Harold Harmsworth, owners of a U.K.-based publishing empire, Grand Falls is a spectacular example of how industrial development and emergent planning theories guided the creation of paternalistic Canadian resource towns in the early decades of the twentieth century, when industrial entrepreneurs seized upon planning as a way to forge a stable and passive workforce by protecting workers’ health and enforcing social standards.
The city’s progressive appearance and factory wages made it the envy of people across Newfoundland. The AND C o.’s state-of-the-art pulp and paper mill was among the first land-based industries to develop in Newfoundland following the completion of an inland railway in 1898. The company also built shops, clubs, churches, schools, and a hospital for
its workers, along with an abundance of greenery in the form of athletic fields, parks, and gardens. Company housing in Grand Falls was modelled on that in Letchworth Garden City (the world’s first garden city, built 1903-05), where the Harmsworth’s Daily Mail sponsored a Cheap Cottage Exhibition that challenged British architects to create low-cost workers’ housing using industrially produced materials and based on the latest sanitary science. Similarly, workers’ housing in Grand Falls was arranged along wide streets with front and rear gardens and featured modern amenities, like indoor plumbing and electricity. The company also directed all aspects of social life in Grand Falls, sponsoring picnics and sports teams and banishing alcohol.
In addition to many surviving examples of the townsite’s original housing stock, several heritage structures remain in place, including Grand Falls House (a Tudor Revival residence built for Alfred Harmsworth in 1909), the Grand Falls Post Office (completed in 1913), and portions of the original AND Co. Pulp and Paper Mill (completed in 1909 and permanently closed in 2009).
BERNARD FLAMAN :: Grand Falls represents one of the earliest professionally designed company towns in Canada. It is not a work camp, but aspires to be a real community and is based on Garden City planning principles promoted by Ebenezer Howard. Company towns resulted from an economy of resource extraction and could be found across Canada. Other examples are Kitimat, British Columbia (1951), Uranium City, Saskatchewan (1956), Flin Flon, Manitoba (1927), Batawa, Ontario (1939) and Arvida, Quebec (1927). Recognizing Grand Falls
broadens the time frame for the Prix to an earlier part of the twentieth century and also recognizes an important urban design project.
DUSTIN VALEN :: Grand Falls is a stunning example of how transnationalism shaped Canadian cities and the experience of industrial labourers at the beginning of the twentieth century. Equally stunning is how little is known about this company town today, despite the many other celebrated examples of Garden City planning across this country. The project’s imagined role in striking a harmonious relationship between industry and labour while bettering the circumstances of workers is a timely reminder of how twentieth-century planning reforms allowed for degrees of social control through means virtually synonymous at the time with industrial and social modernity.
INDERBIR SINGH RIAR :: The visionary British planner and reformer Ebenezer Howard’s influential Garden City proposal for self-contained settlements, first outlined in 1898, arrived in less than a decade to Grand Falls, Newfoundland. Grand Falls, like earlier paternalist-capitalist efforts such as Lever Brothers’ Port Sunlight outside Liverpool and the Cadbury family’s Bourneville near Birmingham, took salubrious housing as means to improve workers’ lives and morals. The consequent company town, predicated on functional zoning and picturesque residential districts, sought the modernization of every aspect of life, from industrial production and social responsibility to cultural life and familial duty. The result deserves recognition not only as a model for much later efforts such as Alcan’s Kitimat in British Columbia, but as an expression of how yearnings for the simultaneous reform of industry and society fuelled the resource economy across the Americas.
KIYOSHI IZUMI’S DESIGN DREW ON FIRST-HAND RESEARCH INTO THE WAY PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS PERCEIVE SPACE.
LOCATION Yorkton, Saskatchewan
ARCHITECT Izumi Arnott and Sugiyama
TEXT Bernard Flaman
Kiyoshi Izumi’s design for the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre (1964) draws on his analysis of a predecessor: the Saskatchewan Hospital at Weyburn. When that psychiatric treatment facility opened in 1921, it was the largest building in the British Commonwealth. Izumi made extensive analysis of the Saskatchewan Hospital’s long, crowded, hard-surfaced corridors. The Yorkton Psychiatric Centre, with its smaller treatment areas, short corridors, and communal areas filled with natural light, can be viewed as the anti-Weyburn. It also reflects Izumi’s keen interest in better understanding the perception of psychiatric patients, which prompted him to experiment with LSD under the supervision of psychiatric researchers Humphry Osmond and Abram Hoffer. “The object was to understand some of the experiences and problems of the mentally ill, so these problems could be considered in the building design,” he wrote in his 1970 article “LSD and Architectural Design.” Yorkton’s sloped ceilings in the communal areas and extensive use of wood ceilings create a warm atmosphere and recognize the need for acoustic control to prevent echoes from disturbing patients. The design elements of the patients’ rooms were developed through models and incorporate many nuanced features. Most obvious is the bay window,
which is obliquely angled to avoid reflections at night that could disturb a patient. Traditional closets that might generate fearful thoughts about what they contain were avoided in favour of a storage area at the head of the bed, behind the patient’s pillow. Controllable lighting and a natural wood ceiling contribute to an inviting atmosphere.
Born in Vancouver to Japanese immigrant parents, Izumi is the earliest known Canadian architect of Japanese descent. Although his parents and two siblings were interned following the 1942 introduction of Canada’s War Measures Act, he avoided the B.C. internment camps and settled in Regina, with the aid of its small Japanese community.
Izumi graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of Manitoba in 1948, receiving the Pilkington Travel Scholarship and later an RAIC scholarship for graduate studies at MIT in Boston.
Taking advantage of postwar economic expansion, Izumi bolstered the development of modernist and civic architecture in Saskatchewan. He partnered with his former classmate Gordon Arnott and structural engineer James Sugiyama to open Izumi Arnott and Sugiyama. With Izumi’s design sensitivities, Arnott’s business skills, and Sugiyama’s in-house structural expertise, the team flourished and was responsible for many important civic buildings in Saskatchewan during its 15-year existence (1954-1969).
In Regina, the firm was responsible for a cultural hat trick: the expanded Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, the Regina Public Library
OPPOSITE LEFT TO RIGHT The Centre’s smaller treatment units aimed to generate an anti-institutional feel; obliquely angled bay windows are used in the patient rooms to avoid reflections at night; sloped ceilings, wood beams, and natural light contribute to an inviting atmosphere in the communal areas; Izumi’s notes from experimenting with hallucinogenics include sketches illustrating “normal perspective” and “L.S.D. perspective.”
Central Branch, and the Saskatchewan Centre of the Arts (now Conexus Arts Centre). At the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, the firm created the second master plan that guided the postwar expansion of the campus, including Marquis Hall, the W.P. Thompson Biology Building, and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
Izumi Arnott and Sugiyama designed all of the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre’s furniture and employed durable, long-life-cycle materials such as Estevan brick and terrazzo flooring, which became a hallmark of their work of the 1950s and 60s.
BERNARD FLAMAN :: The Yorkton Psychiatric Centre represents Kiyoshi Izumi’s resilience and perseverance, and also his incredible talent as an early modernist architect in Canada. The nuanced grouping of buildings that are the former treatment units were designed not just with the long list of patient needs in mind, but are also sensitive to the climate and landscape. The material palette is simple, beautiful and durable, and offers clues to contemporary designers who are striving for longer material life cycles and greater sustainability.
DUSTIN VALEN :: Designed by one of the first Japanese-Canadian architects in this country, the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre is a triumph over the
racist attitudes and policies enacted by Canada’s federal government. Izumi’s work also testifies to the growing postwar alliance between science and architecture, and points to architects’ key role in humanizing the built environment of Canada’s rapidly expanding welfare state. His sensitive approach to hospital design remains a model for how architects can encourage patient-centered approaches to healthcare by paying special attention to the emotional and physical needs of hospital users.
INDERBIR SINGH RIAR :: Kiyoshi Izumi’s Yorkton Psychiatric Centre is a rare and inspiring example of a postwar Canadian architect not imposing architecture as total solution to healthcare, but negotiating the realms of design, medicine, and science to discover humane forms suited to treatment. Izumi’s experiments with LSD in order to approximate psychiatric patients’ perceptions was, on the one hand, a somewhat naïve attempt at approximating the mystery and difficulty of the mind, and on the other, a bold desire to enter another realm of consciousness in order to perceive a richer and more complex world. Izumi’s unity of thought and action arose from a firm belief he articulated in 1948, as a University of Manitoba student, in a “democratic planning process” that required objectivity and acceptance of all points of view. Izumi fulfilled this early ethical creed in the Yorkton Psychiatric Centre by respecting patients, honouring health workers, and above all creating a building destined to last.
ARCHITECT Wallbridge and Imrie
LOCATION Edmonton, Alberta
TEXT Inderbir Singh Riar
The architects Jean Louise Emberley Wallbridge (1912-1979) and Mary Louise Imrie (1918-1988) realized their Six Acres house and office in Edmonton in 1957. The work remains an important instance of Canadian modernism that aims to engage nature, nurture domestic comfort, and support creative life. All three aspirations intertwine in the remarkably compact floor plan, enlivened by broad views over the North Saskatchewan River. A four-foot post-and-beam grid establishes an open plan, enriched by rubble stone walls. Exposed wood rafters frame clerestory strip windows and descend gently beyond expansive window planes. The light-filled and efficient parti situates Wallbridge and Imrie’s living quarters on the main floor and their office in the walk-out basement. In hands-on spirit, the architects themselves built significant portions of what was originally a weekend retreat and became their full-time place for living and working.
Wallbridge and Imrie’s consequent home-studio on the one hand granted independence in a male-dominated profession and on the other offered space in which to advance their careers on their own terms. They were among the first women to study architecture late in the 1930s, when Canadian schools embraced modernist principles and wartime labour shortages opened select opportunities for women in fields such as city planning. Wallbridge and Imrie found positions with the Edmonton
Buildings Inspection Department. They requested leave in 1947 to visit reconstruction efforts in Britain, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Their subsequent travelogue in the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada gave among the first detailed accounts of English New Towns, accompanied by praise of British architects’ ability to balance scientific and practical mindsets with attention to nature and history. Wallbridge and Imrie’s interest in the leading edge of modernism found them reporting in 1950 from Latin America a fearless overland journey by station wagon from Edmonton to Buenos Aires and back and later from Asia, after witnessing Kenzo Tange’s rebuilding of Hiroshima and Le Corbusier’s Chandigarh capital arising in postcolonial Punjab. Exposure to heroic modernism did not define Six Acres. The housestudio’s limited size attests to Wallbridge and Imrie’s predilection for a quiet architecture in the context of a powerful landscape. Links between interior and exterior spaces arise from the architects’ shared love of the outdoors and passion for canoeing and camping an embrace of ruggedness and independence very much in keeping with Imrie’s rejection of the wealthy station to which she was born. The resulting retreat to nature, a feeling amplified by the large site, also perhaps reflected Imrie and Wallbridge’s unique status as partners in both work and life during a more conservative though not entirely exclusionary era. They in fact attracted admirers and friends in business and professional circles, establishing their office in 1950 with commissions that included office buildings and apartments. Most of their projects, however, were private houses, characterized by tight plans and designed
to maximize occupants’ access to scenic vistas. Success lay in the architects’ conscientiousness to making clients happy in their homes. Such commitment distinguishes Six Acres as an exemplary work of mid-century middle-class modernism. Not unlike the Case Study Houses in Los Angeles or Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes, it upholds modest means and honest materials as its moral credo.
BERNARD FLAMAN :: The list of past Prix du XXe siècle recipients represents many icons of Canadian architecture. At the same time, the panel feels that broader representation of gender, ethnicity and time (representing the whole of the 20th century) is needed. Six Acres, though modest, represents a project from the first architectural firm in Canada to be led by two women, founded in 1950. Their combined home and office, constructed between 1954-57, was part of a trend of modernist houses at the time with flat roofs and large windows, in this case, connecting to a spectacular site overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. It is further distinguished by conveying nuances of their partnership that was both professional and personal.
DUSTIN VALEN :: This modest home belies the fascinating story of its designers and their pioneering role as women architects in a male-dominated profession at mid-century. In addition to founding a successful practice, Wallbridge and Imrie broke barriers by travelling the world
ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT Originally designed as a weekend retreat for the partners in work and life, Six Acres engages closely with its landscape; the modernist design includes an open plan, post-and-beam structure, and rubble stone walls; the compact residence’s lower level office and living areas enjoy expansive views of the North Saskatchewan River.
and writing about their experiences in the pages of the JRAIC. Amid ongoing conversations about the need for greater equality in architecture today, the couple’s home at Six Acres split between a residence and office highlights their remarkable skill at negotiating professional and personal appearances, at a time when gender discrimination remained a titanic barrier to women’s progress in the field.
INDERBIR SINGH RIAR :: Balancing the inner world of domestic comfort and the outer world of professional life, Six Acres represents a salutary instance of mid-century middle-class modernism in Canada. The compact floor plan advances the modernist dream of easy and efficient living enriched by material expression and natural light. The setting with views over the North Saskatchewan River emphasizes a deep-seated Canadian desire to live in communion with nature. Six Acres above all is a testament to a pair of pioneering women architects who established a successful practice in an era marked, on the one hand, by postwar social progress, and on the other, by residual barriers to participating in design discourse and practice.
IN AN ERA OF POLITICAL DIVISIVENESS, THE ASPIRATIONAL LEGACY OF HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN IV—AND THE ONGOING COMMITMENT OF CANADA’S ISMAILI COMMUNITY—INCLUDES STRENGTHENING OUR PLURALISTIC CANADIAN IDENTITY THROUGH ARCHITECTURE.
Bruno Freschi, who designed the Ismaili Centre in Vancouver, had earlier designed a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship. He reflected Canada’s practice of drawing strength from cultural diversity, as well as from universal inspirations such as faith and family, and the celebration of great events and great people. This combined embrace of both the particular and the universal has made Canada one of the most respected pluralist societies in today’s heavily fractured world.
–His Highness the Aga Khan IV
TEXT Ian Chodikoff
PHOTOS Salina Kassam
It has been nearly 12 years since the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada awarded His Highness the Aga Khan IV the RAIC Gold Medal, and 40 years since Bruno Freschi’s Ismaili Centre in Vancouver opened its doors for a then-fledgling Muslim community. The RAIC Gold Medal was duly awarded to acknowledge, in part, a body of significant Canadian commissions spearheaded by the Aga Khan IV, including the Delegation for the Ismaili Imamat (Fumihiko Maki with Moriyama Teshima Architects, 2008) and Global Centre for Pluralism (KPMB Architects, 2017) in Ottawa, and the iconic Aga Khan Museum (Fumihiko Maki with Moriyama Teshima Architects, 2014) and the Ismaili Centre, Toronto (Charles Correa with Moriyama Teshima Architects, 2014). Supporting this legacy are Canada’s Ismailis, a committed group of Muslims dedicated to building dialogue within their respective communities and across the broader Canadian population.
Against the backdrop of significant global uncertainty and internal sociopolitical shifts worldwide, the recent passing of His Highness the Aga Khan IV, on February 4th, 2025, provides a significant moment to revisit and appreciate his contributions to Canadian pluralism, community-building, and architecture. His death occurred within a current global political context of acutely fragmented international relations, exemplified by the contentious policies and rhetoric emerging from the current U.S. government, including repeated threats of annexing
Canada. Our uniquely Canadian approach to cultural diversity, supported by contributions from leaders like the Aga Khan IV, remains a critical counterpoint to the United States government’s growing intolerance and aggression.
The legacy of His Highness the Aga Khan IV and that of President Donald Trump could not be any further apart. Trump lacks respect for architecture, cultural institutions, and the strength of diverse populations. In sharp contrast, the Aga Khan IV ’s life work includes directly championing architecture and landscapes, including through heritage restorations and the building of schools, hospitals, universities, cultural institutions, parks, and community centres around the world. The Aga Khan’s followers, represented in Canada by a current population of 80,000 Ismailis within our borders, have continued to support the design and construction of vibrant meeting places and community centres nationwide.
The concept of pluralism in Canadian society became explicitly recognized in the late 1960s and early ’70s through key political and legislative actions under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who announced multiculturalism as an official national policy in October 1971. At that time, defining our country beyond French and English histories to promote respect for cultural diversity and grant all ethnic groups the right
to preserve and develop their own cultures within Canadian society was a unique global position. This progressive political outlook further strengthened Canada’s resolve to address global humanitarian crises. In one such move, in 1972, we welcomed approximately 6,000 Ismaili refugees expelled from Uganda. As the leader of the global Ismaili community which today comprises approximately 15 million people living in more than 25 countries the Aga Khan IV praised Trudeau’s leadership during this crisis, highlighting it as a defining moment of pluralism. A decade later, the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enacted within the broader Canadian Constitution entrenched multiculturalism and equality in Canadian law.
While multiculturalism emphasizes the coexistence of diverse cultures within a society, pluralism requires active engagement and collaboration between diverse communities as a necessary building block for resilient and cohesive societies. It represents a proactive multicultural ideal one continuously advanced by figures such as His Highness the Aga Khan IV and the institutions he helped create, including the Aga Khan Development Network. In a 2014 address to the Canadian Parliament, the Aga Khan IV stated: “Pluralism, in essence, is a deliberate set of choices that a society must make if it is to avoid costly conflict and harness the power of its diversity in solving human problems.”
BELOW The Aga Khan Museum sits within the landscaped park that it shares with The Ismaili Centre, Toronto. “Together, these three projects will symbolise the harmonious integration of the spiritual, the artistic and the natural worlds, in keeping with the holistic ideal which is an intimate part of Islamic tradition,” wrote His Highness the Aga Khan IV. “At the same time, they will also express a profound commitment to inter-cultural engagement, and international cooperation.”
Having briefly contextualized Canada’s history of pluralism, we can better appreciate the outsized contribution of our Ismaili population to contemporary national identity. A recent exhibition entitled Jamatkhanas in Canada: Architecture, Identity and Community explores how Ismaili Muslim places of prayer (jamatkhanas) reflect architectural pluralism in Ismaili communities from coast to coast. With photography by Salina Kassam, the exhibition highlights the diversity in jamatkhana design, blending Islamic architectural principles with themes of community, contemplation and cultural exchange.
Early jamatkhanas in Canada were utilitarian, reflecting the immigrant experience of establishing a permanent presence for the Ismaili community. As the jamatkhanas and their communities began to flourish, they matured beyond prayer spaces and into social, educational and communal hubs well-integrated within their regional urban and geographic contexts. Over time, Islamic architectural motifs like arabesques and geometric patterns were increasingly combined with contemporary materials and formal expressions, such as exposed concrete, post-modern exuberance, or a palette of natural materials. While gardens inspired by Islamic traditions symbolize peace and interconnectedness, echoing the concept of paradise in Islamic thought, the challenges of building a landscape in climates such as Edmonton whose harsh winters are not typically considered paradise became worthwhile challenges to resolve.
Pluralism is a significant and valuable driver for community development. It encourages the creation of spaces for diverse cultural practices and social needs. From an architecture and urban planning perspective, the results can vary widely. On the positive end, one sees suburban strip malls being repurposed into surprisingly complex social and economic spaces, to the establishment of innovative cultural, religious and commercial spaces intended for particular ethnic or religious groups funded by sophisticated international investors. But more often than not, the promise of Canada’s pluralism is buried beneath the asphalt of “ethnoburbs” suburban enclaves characterized by significant con-
centrations of specific ethnic communities, particularly in municipalities bordering cities like Vancouver and Toronto. I have spent many years studying the impact of various ethnic communities on urban development, notably in the Greater Toronto Area. Through my research, the architectural achievements of the Ismaili community often stood out and the commissions spearheaded by the Aga Khan IV, with their high-level global architectural outlook, are some of Canada’s best buildings over the past 25 years.
The Ismaili Centres: Bridging Cultures Through Design
The Aga Khan IV articulated a profound understanding of architecture’s transformative potential, with buildings that reflect the country’s multicultural composition and collective aspirations. Canada is the only country in the world with two Ismaili centres sponsored by the Aga Khan IV, and the contrast between the two is remarkable. Opened in 1985, the Ismaili Centre in Vancouver, designed by Canadian architect Bruno Freschi, embodies a delicate interplay between Islamic heritage and contemporary architecture. It has an introverted presence, creating a hidden realm that, from the outside, is subtly integrated within the local landscape. Opened almost 30 years later, the Ismaili Centre in Toronto, designed by Charles Correa with Moriyama Teshima Architects, creates an atmosphere of openness and dialogue through features like its luminous, multilayered glass dome. Where Freschi’s building is protective and fortress-like, the Correa-designed building is crystalline and assertive, sitting proudly atop a highly visible site and seen by tens of thousands of drivers daily from the Don Valley Parkway.
Building in Our Nation’s Capital: The Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat and the Centre for Global Pluralism
The Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, designed by Fumihiko Maki with Moriyama and Teshima Architects, is an embassy-like commission on Ottawa’s Sussex Drive. Commissioned by the Aga Khan IV as a secular sanctuary for peace, diplomacy and global pluralism, it aims to create a space for productive dialogues between diverse communities and their cultural narratives. The building faces out on Ottawa’s Sussex Drive with a formal expression of clarity and transparency. Its crystalline structure conveys a sense of openness and
OPPOSITE The Aga Khan Museum’s walls are precisely angled to capture and redirect light in myriad ways throughout the year. ABOVE At the Global Centre for Pluralism, KPMB Architects transformed the forecourt on Sussex Drive into a formal garden, and introduced glazing at the back of the building to create a connection with the Ottawa River. The heritage building’s original vaulted ceiling in the front foyer was preserved and restored.
TOP The entrance to the prayer hall at the Ismaili Centre, Toronto, is through an anteroom with a central skylight. The circular space is lined with a Canadian maple screen that integrates the word “Allah” in Kufic calligraphy. ABOVE The Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat in Ottawa centres on a skylight-topped atrium ringed with a mashrabiya-inspired screen. OPPOSITE LEFT His Highness the Aga Khan IV, at centre, attended site visits to the in-progress projects, and is seen here at the Ismaili Centre, Toronto. OPPOSITE RIGHT The Ismaili Centre, Vancouver, was designed by Bruno Freschi with rigorous attention to geometric forms, including the octagon, as symbols referring to clarity, order, and the unity of the universe.
spiritual contemplation, emphasizing the essential unity of the spiritual and material worlds a cornerstone of the Aga Khan IV’s teachings.
Launching the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa reflected the Aga Khan IV’s desire to create an institution dedicated to diversity. Canada’s national capital was seen as the perfect setting. The Centre is located in the former War Museum (initially built in 1906 as the Dominion Archives), and sited adjacent to the National Gallery of Canada. KPMB Architects transformed the building in 2017, through a joint partnership between the federal government and His Highness the Aga Khan IV. The project successfully broadcasts an important message of promoting peace and mutual understanding, while entrenching those ideals within the urbanistically significant Confederation Boulevard Ottawa’s defining ceremonial route that connects many sites of national importance, including the Parliament Buildings and the Supreme Court of Canada. Overlooking the Ottawa River, an essential conduit for logging, trade and migration, the Centre signals that the path to pluralism is one of flow, connection, and respect for our cultural and environmental heritage.
The Aga Khan Museum and Park—and the Future of Pluralism in Canada?
Initially planned for London, the Aga Khan Museum houses an extensive collection of Islamic art, fostering cross-cultural understanding. Its eventual location in Toronto is much to the benefit of Canadians. The museum and the Toronto Ismaili Centre sit within an equally exceptional 6.8-hectare park designed by Vladimir Djurovic with Moriyama Teshima Planners.
The Aga Khan Garden at the University of Alberta, designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects with a pavilion by AXIA Design Associates with Arriz + Co. and Kasian, is another notable landscape inspired by the traditional Islamic garden, representing harmony between humanity and nature. As contemporary gardens of paradise, these landscapes in Toronto and Edmonton aim to offer community connectivity, serene spaces and multi-sensory experiences. These gardens foster spaces for reflection, conversation, and the celebration of pluralistic values.
Beyond Canada, the Aga Khan IV was responsible for countless projects around the globe that addressed social equity, mainly through creating affordable housing and community infrastructure serving diverse populations. Initiatives undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network, including multigenerational housing projects, emphasize inclusion, dignity, and quality of life, further underscoring architecture’s role in societal improvement. It remains to be seen how this ethos might help define or support a new era of producing affordable housing in Canada–an elusive building type in need of diverse actors and leadership from every facet of our pluralistic society.
Following the Aga Khan IV ’s passing, Prince Rahim Al-Hussaini’s ascension as the Aga Khan V signals the continuation of his father’s legacy amidst an ever-changing world. His Highness the Aga Khan V is expected to emphasize environmental stewardship and climate sustainability within the Aga Khan Development Network. At the same
time, his leadership promises a renewed integration of pluralism, architecture, and community building, addressing contemporary global challenges. Canada should only be grateful for the opportunity to support these efforts and the renewed commitment of our Ismaili community.
Clearly, the late Aga Khan IV’s impact on Canadian architecture and pluralism has helped build our national identity as we recognize it today. Commissions like the Ismaili Centres, the Aga Khan Museum, and the Global Centre for Pluralism continue to symbolize an enduring commitment to diversity and cultural dialogue. However, Canadian society remains under threat as we navigate current sociopolitical realities. For this reason, we must continue to build upon the contributions of the Aga Khan IV, whose legacy should give us the courage to continue embracing diversity as a source of strength, inspiration and renewal.
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