The Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) presented the Value of Design Awards (VODA) at its second annual Design Symposium in Vancouver, B.C. on September 13, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency. IDC members across Canada gathered to celebrate innovation in design thinking and the projects of their peers within the design and architecture community.

“This event is a reminder of our relentless pursuit of good design and how we strive to better understand the human connection to place and our environment,” says IDC past president, Sally Mills.

The VODA winners all push the boundaries of interior design – implementing an empathetic, inventive and iterative process, focused on the human experience into their projects; creating sustainable and functional designs for the present and future.

This year’s winners are:

Award of Excellence

• • Innovation in Hospitality Design: ‘Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’ by CHIL Interior Design, the hospitality studio of B+H Architects (Karen Wong)
• • Innovation in Retail Design: ‘Surterra’ by figure3 (Mardi Najafi)
• • Innovation in Workplace Design: ‘Medical Technology Company Headquarters’ by HOK (Caitlin Turner)
• • Innovation in Workplace Design: ‘Engine Digital’ by Square One Interior Design (Jennifer Hamilton)
• • Innovation in Institutional/Educational/Civic Design: ‘Niagara College Student Commons’ by Gow Hastings Architects (Valerie Gow)
• Innovation in Workplace Design: ‘Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP (TDS)’ by figure3 (Suzanne Bettencourt)

Award of Merit

• • Innovation in Workplace Design: ‘KPM Industries Limited’ by Smith Grimley Harris Design Partners (Monika Sarkisian, John Tanfield, and Atena Nejad)
• • Innovation in Institutional/ Educations/ Civic Design: ‘Ryerson University, the Catalyst’ by KMAI (Donna Dolan)
• • Innovation in Hospitality Design: ‘Clay Restaurant at the Gardiner Museum’ by Denizens of Design Inc. (Dyonne Fashina)

This year IDC presented Glen Brewer, president, Midgley Tecnica, with the inaugural IDC Legacy Award for Distinguished Service. The recipient of this award exemplifies outstanding service and dedication to IDC and more broadly to the interior design community in Canada. The award honours the individuals, companies or institutions that are recognized as being trailblazers to the design community nationally.

Additionally, three IDC members were inducted into the IDC College of Fellows during the Awards Gala – Helen Christensen, Fran Underwood, and Clinton Hummel.