Seven Canadian architecture projects, both completed and in progress, will vie for top honours at the 2016 World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Berlin this November. The shortlist for the annual awards, published last week, features 343 projects from around the world, competing in 32 categories.
An international jury of more than 50 professionals, including Sanjay Puri, David Chipperfield and Ole Scheeren, will select the winners in each of these 32 categories. These projects then go on to compete for the top honours of best completed building, best interior, best landscape, and best future project. In 2015, Bjarke Ingels Group’s Vancouver House – a twisting residential tower by the north end of Granville Bridge – won the top prize for future building.
Will a Canadian project take home a top honour this year? Meet the seven nominees below.
1 Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
KPMB Architects with HCMA Architecture + Design
Category: Higher education and research, completed buildings
This LEED Gold-accredited campus building is an homage to its Pacific Northwest coast surroundings, employing rough-sawn red cedar and Douglas fir throughout its interiors.
2 12 Degrees, Toronto
Core Architects
Category: Housing, completed buildings
Built on a compact (36 metres across, by 31 metres deep) lot near the Art Gallery of Ontario, 12 Degrees stacks eight of its 11 storeys at skewed angles, reducing the building’s shadow effect.
3 Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre, Surrey, B.C
HCMA Architecture + Design
Category: Sport, completed buildings
This world-class aquatics facility features the longest timber catenary roof ever constructed, a beautiful distraction for swimmers and spectators.
4 Paroi Vivante: Biodôme Natural Science Museum, Montréal
KANVA with Neuf Architect(e)s
Category: Culture, future projects
The revitalization of the Biodôme’s interior will see the addition of a continuous curved, floor-to-ceiling wall that wraps around and contains each of the museum’s four “ecosystems.”
5 Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), Montréal
Cannondesign with Neuf Architect(e)s
Category: Health, future projects
Once completed, CHUM will be one of North America’s largest academic medical centres. Patient rooms will overlook serene gardens, monumental art works will serve as way-finding tools and sleek finishes will be juxtaposed with such historic artifacts as a salvaged church steeple.
6 Arthur Residence, Regina
5468796 Architecture
Category: House, future projects
This two-storey home on a modest infill site was designed as a sanctuary and secret garden for its owners. Four courtyards – an entry court, a sunken patio, a main garden and a carport – provide outdoor living space and define the interior spaces: the foyer, the combined living and dining room, and a kitchen wing.
7 Aga Khan Park, Toronto
Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture with Moriyama & Teshima (landscape architects of record)
Category: Landscape
This modern “chahar bagh,” a traditional Persian four-part garden, surrounds the Aga Khan Museum with five mirror-like infinity pools and an orchard of serviceberry trees and cedar hedges.