Architecture MasterPrize & Canadian Architect awards recognize library designs

Both Waterdown Library and Civic Centre, and the Idea Exchange Old Post Office have received 2018 Architecture MasterPrize (AMP) Awards, Institutional category, and Restoration and Renovation category respectively, which will be celebrated at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in early 2019.

A 2018 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence has also been given to the Idea Exchange Old Post Office, Canada’s first “bookless” library that has a program primarily comprised of studio spaces for public creation, supplemented by a café-restaurant as a secondary, contiguous use. The design scheme uses material transparency in an attempt to promote views of the historic structure, bring light into the various levels of studio space, and project the life and vitality of the progressive public program to the city beyond. Jury member David Penner commented “What’s most admirable in my mind is the balance between the conservation of the existing building and the addition”, and Monica Adair said: “The modern architecture has as much character as the heritage structure that it elegantly envelopes. The two not only co-exist, they enhance each others’ assets.”

Doors Open Ontario features Idea Exchange Old Post Office

The Idea Exchange Old Post Office has been dramatically transformed into a modern digital library, ready to support the residents of Cambridge for generations to come. Explore the creative studios, discovery centre, makerspace, heritage reading room café and spectacular Grand River views with a guided tour during Doors Open Ontario Sat Sept 15, 11 am - 5 pm; and Talk at 11:30 am on “Carnegie libraries: A legacy of form and function” by Erin Smith. Visit Doors Open Ontario or Idea Exchange for more information.

Williams Parkway Operations Centre wins International Architecture Award

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have awarded Williams Parkway Operations Centre in Brampton with a 2018 International Architecture Award.

On Friday, September 28, 2018, The Chicago Athenaeum, together with The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, will open a special exhibition and reception of all awarded buildings at their annual symposium, “The City and the World” at The Contemporary Space in Athens, Greece. 

Canadian Interiors’ Best of Canada Design Competition awards Waterdown Library and Civic Centre

RDHA is pleased to accept a 2018 Best of Canada Design Award for the Waterdown Library and Civic Centre. Now in it’s 21st year, Canadian Interiors’ Best of Canada Design Competition is the country’s only design competition to focus on interior design projects and products without regard to size, budget or location. Submissions are welcome from interior designers, architects, interior architects, decorators, and crafts persons.

About the project:

Within its 23,500 square feet, the Waterdown Library and Civic Centre, located in the Waterdown suburb of Hamilton, embraces a public library, archive, recreation rooms and municipal, community and police services outlets. Perched atop the Niagara Escarpment, the facility exploits its topography by being organized as a split­level building spread over six levels, each of which is accessible by barrier-free walkways with a l :25 slope (a change of one foot in height per 25 feet of length). The main reading room sits at the summit and offers striking views of the escarpment and beyond to Lake Ontario. Sustainable initiatives include a handsomely detailed, glazed curtain wall to maximize daylight; fritted glass and wood fins on the curtain wall as solar-screening devices; recycled material including Douglas fir wall panels and fins salvaged from Hamilton Central Library renovations; locally available and low­V.O.C. materials (materials that don't emit volatile organic com­pounds such as benzene, which can irritate mucus membranes); a flowering orchard to shade parking areas; green roofs; and bio­swales in parking lots and green spaces.

RDHA and OMA New York working on FitzGerald Building Revitalization

RDHA and OMA New York have recently started working together on the FitzGerald Building Revitalization project on the University of Toronto’s St. George Campus. The historic FitzGerald Building, built in 1927 and designated under the Heritage Act, is in a prominent location at 150 College Street just west of University Avenue and Queens Park, between the Terrance Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

This exciting and challenging project involves the complete renovation of the outdated laboratory / research facility into an inviting, high-performance office environment to be used primarily for the Office of the President and the University’s Central Administration. The building is to serve as an exemplar example of adaptive re-use and will include new mechanical and electrical systems as well as new controls technologies that emphasize sustainability and energy management advancements.