The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) has revealed the shortlist for the 2022 RAIC International Prize for socially transformative architecture. A nine-member jury chose the following finalists: a natural swimming pool in Edmonton, a soccer stadium in Montreal and warming huts in Winnipeg.

2022 marks the fourth edition of the biennial prize, which was founded in 2013 and is open to architects from anywhere in the world.

“These three projects, shortlisted for the RAIC International Prize, epitomize the values of this special award – that the projects be socially transformative, as well as promoting human values. This short list is a testament to the quality of Canadian architecture and architectural practice today,” said jury chair Susan Ruptash.

The shortlisted nominees are:

Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool, Edmonton, Alberta gh3*
Date of Occupancy: July 2019

Borden Park Natural Swimming Pool is the first chemical-free outdoor swimming pool to be built in Canada. The pool features a balanced ecosystem where plants, micro- organisms and nutrients come together through a natural filtering process to create “living water”. This nature-based technology inspired a materials-oriented architectural concept for the facility and a rigorous and aesthetically integrated design that visually evokes the concept of filtration. The elemental form and reductive materials welcome the user and enrich the narrative of bathing in the landscape while promoting exercise and wellbeing in a joyous place for public social gathering and community building.

On the site of the former Miron quarry, Montreal’s new soccer stadium emerges from the park’s artificial topography as a mineral stratum that recalls the geological nature of the site. The mineral ‘layer’ is articulated by a continuous roof that cantilevers over the entry plaza, folds down over the interior soccer field and extends to the ground to accommodate spectator seating for the outdoor field. Simultaneously responding to the site and the program requirements, the dramatic roof structure, made of an innovative hybrid wood structure composed of both cross laminated timber and glulam elements, helps to showcase the Stadium as a distinctive and unified presence in the community.

The Warming Huts are a recurring architectural project built on the frozen rivers of Winnipeg every winter. Playful but significant works of architecture, they have been created over more than a decade with thousands of collaborators, both local and international. Conceived, coordinated and frequently built by Sputnik Architecture, the Warming Huts project is episodic and transformative, linking parts of a city divided by waterways, creating spaces of encounter and exchange, and reconnecting citizens with healthy lifestyles and the history of place. It is a celebration of winter that engages Winnipeg’s design community and draws the eyes of the world to a little city punching above its weight in the creative fields.

The prize winner will be announced and celebrated virtually in June 2022.