The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has announced the winners of its 2020 Design Excellence Awards. Winners range from innovative public pools and stunning Ontario homes to sustainably designed education spaces and well-crafted government projects.

The biennial OAA Awards program offers Ontario architects an opportunity to present their work to the public and to a professional audience, demonstrating the excellence of both their practice and the profession as a whole. This year, the program began requiring Energy Use Intensity (EUI) metrics for all submissions, reflecting that sustainable design is no longer a specialty, but rather a critical component of all building projects as the architecture profession strives for climate stability.

“I’m so excited to finally be able to share the OAA’s 2020 award-winners,” says OAA president Kathleen Kurtin. “This year has required a great deal of resiliency from us all. For the architecture profession, we needed to quickly and safely close offices and construction sites, and then find new ways to work remotely.

“The Design Excellence projects showcase another example of resiliency—one that comes with creating beautiful spaces in which people can live, work, and play, while respecting the environment and acknowledging the need for long-term performance to address our climate change crisis.”

^{Senate of Canada Building}

A jury of design and architecture experts selected the 10 winners from 79 eligible submissions.

2020 OAA Design Excellence Award Winners are:

• Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool (Edmonton, Alta.) gh3 inc.
• The Brearley School (New York City, N.Y.) KPMB Architects
• Essex Centre of Research (Windsor, Ont.) Hariri Pontarini Architects
• River City Phase 3 (Toronto, Ont.) Saucier + Perotte Architectes in joint venture with ZAS Architects
• The Rob and Cheryl McEwen Graduate Study & Research Building, Schulich School of Business (Toronto, Ont.) Baird Sampson Neuert Architects Inc.
• Ronald O. Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.) KPMB Architects
• Semi Semi (Toronto, Ont.) COMN Architects Inc.
• Senate of Canada Building (Ottawa, Ont.) Diamond and Schmitt Architects Incorporated and KWC Architects Inc. in Joint Venture
• Trent University Student Centre (Peterborough, Ont.) Teeple Architects Inc.
• Woodhouse (Singhampton, Ont.) Superkül Inc.

Throughout the week of September 14, these projects will be featured individually on the OAA’s YouTube channel with short vignettes to share more about the work involved.

A free, online Celebration of Excellence of all the winners will take place October 1 at 4:30 pm.