Excellence in edifices

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This article was published 28/09/2022 (1188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Qaumajuq, which displays and stores thousands of Inuit artworks collected by the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the government of Nunavut, led a host of architectural honours for Winnipeg architects Monday night.

The Prairie Design Awards gave the Award of Excellence to the new Memorial Boulevard landmark, which was designed by city firm Cibinel Architecture Ltd., and Maltzan Architecture Inc. of Los Angeles.

Seven other projects in the city earned Award of Merit honours. They are:

• The Forest Pavilion in Crescent Drive Park and Manitoboggan in St. Vital Park, Winnipeg’s first universally accessible toboggan slide, both designed by Winnipeg’s Public City Architecture Inc.

• Rainbow Butterfly, a Nestaweya River Trail warming hut inspired by red dresses that have become a symbol of missing and murdered Indigenous women, children and LGBTTQ+ people, designed by Brook McIlroy Inc. of Toronto

• Snider Orthotic Design, an office and clinic at 50 Stafford St., that was redeveloped from a chancery office for the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, designed by 1×1 architecture Inc., of Winnipeg

• RRC Polytech Manitou a bi Bii daziigae, a new building at RRC’s Exchange District campus at 319 Elgin Ave., designed by Winnipeg’s Number TEN Architectural Group and Diamond Schmitt Architects of Toronto

• Windsor Park Library renovation at 1195 Archibald St., designed by Winnipeg firms David Penner Architect and h5 architecture

• 62M, a circular condominium building at 62 Macdonald Ave., by 5468796 Architecture Inc., of Winnipeg

Another Award of Merit went to 5468796 Architecture with Kasian Architecture, Interior Design and Planning of Calgary for the Parkade of the Future project in Calgary, which is designed to be converted into office or residential space in the future.

The Prairie Design Awards are handed out every two years by the Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan associations of architects.

Previous Award of Excellence winners in Winnipeg include Fountain Springs Housing, an affordable-housing apartment building at 184 Sherbrook St., the Avenue at Portage, a renovation of two historic buildings at 265 Portage Ave., and ARTlab at 180 Dafoe Rd. W., which is the home of the University of Manitoba’s School of Art.

alan.small@winnipegfreepress.com