Location: St. Peter's Bay, Prince Edward Island
Architecture Practices: Baird Sampson Neuert Architects (now a part of the WF Group Inc.), in association with SableARC Studio
Chosen by a jury of respected design experts, the 20 projects comprising the OAA’s 2024 Design Excellence Finalists represent a diverse range of building types, including sustainably designed community centres, schools and learning facilities, residences, and an indoor horticultural attraction, as well as performing arts venues in Sudbury and New York City. These Finalists serve as the shortlist for the OAA’s 10 Design Excellence Winners, which will be announced next month and honoured at the OAA Conference in Niagara Falls in May. The biennial OAA Design Excellence Awards program offers Ontario practices the opportunity to display the transformative influence of architecture, promoting broader public recognition and appreciation for the field. The following media statement has been supplied by the submitting project team:
Overlooking the village of Saint Peter’s Bay (pop. 231), the Centre intertwines local Indigenous, settler, and world-class research communities within an immersive 24-hour live-learn landscape. Supporting sustainability-focused research, experiential learning, and engagement, its active learning, academic, lab, and social spaces inflect to form a wind-sheltered, south-facing courtyard that is central to the project’s social and research mission.
A ’think global/act local’ place-making and resiliency strategy leverages local skills and materials to achieve exceptional economy and performance. Its all-electric design includes ground source heating/cooling, which, along with its solar array, achieves sustainability targets of the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC) Zero Carbon Building standard.
Photo credit: Brady McCloskey
Photo credit: Baird Sampson Neuert Architects
Photo credit: Brady McClosky
Climate Action
The architecture profession must play a role in stabilizing the climate change crisis, lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in favour of clean power. This is one of the reasons why the OAA has chosen “climate action” as a theme in its strategic plan.
As it did in 2020 and 2022, the OAA once again required Energy Usage Intensity (EUI) metrics to be included as part of the submissions process for the 2022 Design Excellence Awards program. EUI is the measurement of a building's annual energy consumption relative to its size. The lower the number, the less impact the building has on our climate. You can learn more about the OAA’s EUI Calculator online tools, free for both members and the public, by clicking here. Attached is the 2030 Ontario Target Data chart, which shows the EUI goals for the 2030 Challenge based on the building type.