Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's 2016 Governor General's Medals in Architecture

Photography by Adrien Williams

The winner of an open anonymous architectural competition, the Amphithéâtre de Trois-Rivières is a new major cultural facility located at the fork of the St. Maurice and St. Lawrence rivers.

The architectural concept is symbolized by a thin, symmetrical 80-by-90-metre horizontal roof. The covered outdoor seating area features a perforated red metal soffit ceiling that suggests its theatrical function, showcased at night by the lighting from eight metal columns. Like a portico on a promontory, the amphitheatre has become a new riverfront landmark for the city of Trois-Rivières.

Photography by Marc Gibert

BC Passive House Factory is an all-wood-construction demonstration project. The client, BC Passive House (BCPH), mandated that the design and construction of their new facility must exemplify their investment in wood construction, prefabrication, energy efficiency, and sustainable design practice. The new 1,500-square-metre facility is used for the manufacturing of prefabricated Passive House panels and was conceived as a simple, light-filled, wooden box.

The facility is the first of its kind in North America and will assist the company in its promotion of the Passive House Standard and sustainable, energy-efficient, wood-based construction.

Bridgepoint Health is the first hospital in Toronto to receive a LEED Silver rating, but its sustainability extends beyond LEED to create an architecture of wellness that celebrates a sustainable healthcare system. The design optimizes the therapeutic benefits of nature for healing by emphasizing visual and physical access to the outdoors. Magnificent views of the lush Don River Valley and Riverdale Park, the changing downtown skyline, and the vibrant Riverdale neighbourhood – are all emphasized to connect patients to the community. Hospital rooms were designed to give every patient – whether sitting or lying down – an unobstructed view, both horizontally and vertically.

Photography by Tom Arban

The Glacier Skywalk is a private initiative in a public park.  The project weaves a continuous thread that empowers guests to encounter the untouched environment. The Skywalk Vista subtly, yet heroically, cantilevers 35 metres from the mountainside, allowing visitors to experience the grandeur of the gorge 280 metres below.  An efficient material palate for the off-grid structure consists of Corten steel, glass, wood and stone that collectively contribute to a seamless relationship between natural and manmade. The project fulfills a mandate by Parks Canada to encourage visitors to observe first-hand the effects of climate change.

Photography by Robert Lemermeyer

The Halifax Central Library is the most significant public building completed in Halifax in over a generation. It’s the new cultural hub for the region and it has delivered on the promise to be a place for everyone.

The building is composed of three vertically stacked glass volumes that are topped by a monumental glass cantilever that embraces views of the surrounding ocean and landmarks of the Halifax peninsula.

The Halifax Central Library combines the best of a traditional library with new and innovative programs and facilities and it provides free public space in the heart of the city.

Photography by Adam Mørk

Viljo Revell’s Toronto City Hall (1965) is a well-loved Modernist icon. In 2007, the City of Toronto launched an international redesign competition for its 12-acre civic space, Nathan Phillips Square, which had become run-down and dysfunctional over time. Targeting LEED Gold, the winning design involved strategically rethinking the heritage-designated square to transform it into an exemplary 21st-century public space. Through the redesign or relocation of existing elements and a new series of buildings and gardens framing the open space, the revitalization enhances the functionality, versatility and appeal of Toronto’s signature civic space while augmenting its connectedness to its surroundings. 

Photography by Steven Evans

At the heart of Toronto’s 69-acre Regent Park Revitalization sits the new Aquatic Centre as the key civic amenity at the eastern edge of the new central park. It is developed as a Pavilion in the Park, open at the base, and bisected lengthwise by a "dorsal fin" of sky-lighting. The aquatic hall has sliding glass doors for access to the park-side terrace and natural ventilation opportunities. As the first facility in Canada to adopt the singular use of universal change rooms, it addresses cultural and gender identity issues, while enhancing openness, safety, and visibility through the entire complex.

Photography by Shai Gil

The new Ronald McDonald House of British Columbia (RMHBC) provides a “home away from home” for out-of-town families with children receiving medical treatment in Vancouver.  MGA worked in a highly collaborative design process with the RMH team to produce design solutions that would feel like a home and not a hotel. The new house serves 73 families and includes common spaces, kitchen and dining areas, fitness facilities, library resources, office areas, educational space and outdoor play areas. Designed with an innovative tilt-up cross-laminated timber (CLT) wood structure, the project has achieved a LEED Gold rating. 

Photography by Ed White

The new head office of Caisse Desjardins de Lévis is located at the heart of the birthplace of the Desjardins credit union movement. Along the east-west axis, a zinc-clad urban façade provides verticality and movement. The main façade on Boulevard Alphonse-Desjardins brings us back to the human scale, with access to Old Lévis. The façade facing the park opens out onto the site’s majestic trees, and features suspended wooden cubes that house areas for members. The two indoor and outdoor traffic flow areas define the experiential and functional trajectories navigating, confining and revealing the building’s various spaces and functions.

Photography by Stéphane Groleau

The ARTlab program consists of large spaces for the School of Art to complement the small studio spaces within the adjacent Taché Hall, a repurposed 1911 student residence. The volume of the ARTlab interlocks with Taché Hall, which reinforces the two buildings as an integrated arts facility and maximizes north daylight in the studio spaces. Facilitating a critical urban connection to the business school to the south, the north wing of the ARTlab is raised one storey above grade. The covered area below forms the entrance to the ARTlab and a generous covered outdoor space for school and gallery events.

Images: Patkau Architects

The Wong Dai Sin Temple is a modern sacred space that houses a dynamic Taoist community committed to their inner spiritual development through the ancient physical practice of tai chi.

This new temple building demonstrates asymmetry and counterbalance while maintaining its equilibrium much like a measured tai chi pose. This space is tied to other Wong Dai Sin temples in the world through its manipulation and amplification of natural light, instrumental use of colour and carefully composed and tactile material palette. The daily worship of one of the world's ancient religions is embedded in the fabric of this building.

Photography by James Dow

The Wood Innovation Design Centre (WIDC) celebrates wood as one of the most beautiful, sustainable materials for building. The WIDC serves as a gathering place for researchers, academics, design professionals and others interested in generating ideas for innovative uses of wood.  The eight-storey building (six storeys with mezzanine plus penthouse), stands 29.5 metres tall — for the moment, the world’s tallest modern all-timber structure.  With this project, MGA sought to demonstrate repeatable technologies for building high-rise structures with timber, in hopes of inspiring institutions, private sector developers, other architects and engineers to embrace this way of building.

Image: by MGA

Photography by Ed White