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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

RELEASE: Urban Design Awards

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From the City of Vancouver:

The inaugural Urban Design Awards recognize and celebrate excellence in architecture and urban design in Vancouver.

Vancouver urban design strives to enrich the overall experience of the city through the careful consideration of the design of public spaces, as well as the buildings that interact with these spaces.

Design awards will be awarded to projects that demonstrate visionary thinking and support design excellence in Vancouver. Ten Urban Design Awards will be presented at a ceremony held every other year to celebrate entries and winners, starting in September 2014.

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Enter your project for an award

Send a completed entry form with the required supporting materials — read on to find out if your project is eligible and for more information.

Award Categories

The City of Vancouver Urban Design Awards include the following categories.

  • Buildings
  • Urban Elements
  • Innovation
  • Outstanding Sustainable Design
  • Landscape, Public Space, Infrastructure
  • Special Jury Award

Eligibility

To be eligible for the 2014 City of Vancouver Urban Design Awards, projects must be:

•  Located within the municipal boundaries of the City of Vancouver
•  Completed (received an occupancy permit) after January 1, 2012

Entries may be submitted by project owner, or a member of the team that is associated with the project. A maximum of two physical awards will be given to each award winning team.

Selection

The City will establish the Urban Design Awards jury. The jury will consist of five voting members comprised of professionals from the architecture, landscape architecture, art and planning communities. Jury members will be announced when selected.

The jury will review all submissions in July and August, and rate each project based on its performance in the evaluation criteria described in the ‘Award categories’ tab.

The jury will determine whether awards will be recommended in every award category. Award winners will be selected in a closed meeting.

Submissions

Deadline: Submissions are due by 4:00pm on Monday, July 14, 2014.
Required materials: Entries for Urban Design Awards are to provide the following items together in a single submission package:

  • Eight booklets, 11″ x 17″, maximum 20 sheets, that represent and illustrate the project. The booklet must include a brief abstract of the submitted project explaining its design qualities and how it significantly adds to architectural excellence or to the qualities of public realm in Vancouver. The abstract should relate project attributes to the relevant awards category evaluation criteria.
  • Maximum two display boards, 24″ x 36″
  • A CD-ROM containing a single digital slideshow, in PowerPoint format, of a maximum of 20 slides to illustrate the design qualities of the project described in the abstract
  • A submission fee of $150 payable to the City of Vancouver (cheque only) for each award category a particular project is applying for
  • Completed entry form

Download the entry form (PDF – 131 KB)

All material submitted to the City of Vancouver will become the property of the City of Vancouver and will not be returned. Submission of materials will imply consent for the City of Vancouver to disseminate such materials at its sole discretion.

Submissions can be made in person or mailed to:

Attention: Urban Design Awards
City of Vancouver, Planning Department
2nd Floor, 515 W 10th Ave (Vancity Building)
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4A8

Key Dates

Date Deadline
May 26, 2014 Launch and submissions open
July 14, 2014, 4:00pm Submissions close
September 15, 2014 Award ceremony

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