Pug awards celebrate best in Toronto architecture and planning

Cigdem Iltan – Globe and Mail

Swank condos took up most of the spots on the list of residential architecture nominees at the Pug Awards this year, but it was Toronto’s first housing co-operative in 20 years that emerged on top.

Housing co-op 60 Richmond East earned the prize of best new residential building at the awards ceremony Wednesday night at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Pug Awards celebrate the best in Toronto’s architecture and planning as voted by Torontonians.

The awards were established in 2004 to raise public awareness about architecture and design.

Teeple Architects Inc. designed the 11-storey, 85-unit building at Richmond and Church streets for the Toronto Community Housing Corporation on land donated from the City of Toronto. Fifty-nine of its units are designated as Regent Park replacement housing. The building features a sixth-floor garden that is irrigated by storm water runoff. Organic waste from the in-house resident-owned-and-operated restaurant and training kitchen will be used for compost once the restaurant opens.

The Royal Conservatory Telus Centre for Performance Learning took the award for best commercial and institutional building. Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, lead by Marianne McKenna, designed the building as part of the final phase in the conservatory’s master plan to build a new home. Its features include a 1,135-seat concert hall and new media broadcast centre.

Victorian flatiron form-inspired Pure Spirit at the Distillery and the Arc on Bayview Avenue earned honourable mentions in the residential category. Pure Spirit is the historic Distillery District’s first condominium tower, one of a trio in the area designed by firm architectsAlliance. The marine-inspired Arc building designed by Daniels Corp. has 450 suites and is next door to Bayview station.

The RBC Centre and Bloorview Kids Rehab received honourable mentions in the commercial and institutional category. The RBC Centre’s computer-controlled solar shading, sun-sensor controlled lighting and raised flooring infrastructure earned it the title of Canada’s first LEED gold certified office tower building. Bloorview Kids Rehab architect Vertechs Design Inc. used floor-to-ceiling windows and a nearby ravine to create a non-institutional environment at the hospital.

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