The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) has officially opened voting for the People’s Choice Award. Members of the public can browse this year’s 15 ‘Design Excellence’ winners online and choose their favourite new building. The winning building and architectural practice will be announced during the 2011 OAA Celebration of Excellence Ceremony in Toronto on Friday, May 20, as part of the annual OAA Conference, May 18 – 21, 2011.
This year, the entry criteria for the OAA Awards was extended to include buildings located outside the province of Ontario, designed by Ontario architects. Opening the awards to national and international projects encouraged an even greater diversity amongst the submissions; the Jury unanimously agreed on the consistently high level of quality in the 2011 submissions.
The Jury was comprised of members of the Ontario design community who selected the 15 winning Design Excellence submissions based on the projects’ ability to fulfil five criteria:
- Creativity: The innovative nature of the design solution.
- Context: The contribution a project makes to its unique location, to neighbouring uses and to community building.
- Sustainability: The contribution the project makes to a sustainable environment showing a reduction in: impact on the site; dependence on fossil fuels; use of raw materials; and is designed with a high quality of interior environment with regards to daylighting, air quality and material use.
- Good Design/Good Business: The degree to which the project creatively supports & interprets the business and architectural goals of the client through programming and design.
- Legacy: The contribution of the project in establishing a new benchmark for architectural excellence.
How to Vote:
People’s Choice Award voting is available online at http://awards.oaa.on.ca from Friday, April 1, to Friday, April 15, 2011, 4:30pm EST.
Images of the 15 Design Excellence buildings are displayed on the web site, and with one click, the vote is submitted. Note: Only one entry per IP address will be accepted.