Canadian Awards of Excellence for Steel Designs

Written by; Chad Simco / TCCN Staff Writer
Added on: Wed May 25 2011

Seventeen projects were in the running for the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction's (CISC) awards of excellence this year. In the category of architecture, the top award of excellence was won by the design team from Moriyama and Teshima Architects, which was built on two phases, on the site of the Queenston Plaza border crossing. It was described by the architects as an "aggressive" design.

The Ritz-Carlton project in Toronto won the award of excellence in the engineering category, in which vibration dampening was a main criterion. Its structural engineers, from Halcrow Yolles commented that only steel was "versatile enough for the challenging geometrical configurations" for the design which includes a 700-square meter third floor ballroom which is not supported by columns.

In the green building category, the architects Diamond and Schmidt won the award of excellence for its Center for Green Cities, Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto.

Calgary's first skyscraper, The Bow, won the award of excellence for projects constructed outside the state of Ontario. This is a 56 storey building with a crescent-shaped inversely curved form. It is the first triangular diagonal (diagrid) system to have a curved design in the North American continent. The team of award winning architects included Foster and Partners, who have considerable experience of award-winning architectural designs in Europe.

Awards of merit were also awarded for the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, which has as a main feature a wishbone shaped steel staircase with traditional wooden treads in the Architectural category and the Chukuni River Bridge which replaces a former structure in northeastern Ontario which won the award in the engineering category.

Copyright: 2011 TCCN.ca

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