2013 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence
McGill graduates figured prominently in two of the 11 awards in the annual Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence program. Architectural firms and students from across Canada received top honours for design proposals that embody qualities of innovation and overall design excellence. Now in their 46th year, these awards are the highest recognition for excellence in the design stage in the Canadian architectural sector. By focusing on commissioned yet unbuilt projects along with exceptional student work, the program recognizes design ambitions and supports an overall culture of design excellence. Of the 208 submissions received for this year’s awards program, the jury selected six projects for Awards of Excellence, three projects for Awards of Merit, and two Student Awards of Excellence. This year’s jury was comprised of Karen Marler, partner at Hughes Condon Marler Architects (HCMA), Marianne McKenna, founding partner of KPMB Architects, and Marc Simmons, founding partner of Front Inc.
In the Awards of Excellence category, one of the six awards went to Manon Asselin architecte + Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes in consortium for Fifth Pavilion—Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Manon Asselin (B.Arch. 1992, M.Arch. 2001) is co-founder, with her partner Katsuhiro Yamazaki (B.Arch. 1996), of Atelier TAG. They were Gerald Sheff Visiting Professors in Architecture at the School during the Fall 2012 term. Other key members on the Atelier TAG team who are McGill alumni include Pawel Karwowski (B.Arch. 1996), Mathieu Lemieux-Blanchard (B.Sc.[Arch.] 2004), Conor Sampson (B.Arch. 1996), and Éole Sylvain Hupé (M.Arch. 2011).
In the Student Award of Excellence category, one of two awards went to Francis Ng (M.Arch. 2013) for Memento Mori: Recalling the Absence of the Catholic Church. Jury member Karen Marler noted, “This student’s overall presentation exhibits a level of maturity in identifying the essence of the issue. This project is beautifully executed and concise in its concept.”