The OAA is proud to announce the selections of its SHIFT2023 Challenge, which focused on the theme of "Health and Architecture."

The SHIFT Challenge is a biennial, aspirational ideas competition that is open to all those with OAA status and their collaborative teams. From community-based solutions that prioritize mental health to rethinking transit-oriented neighbourhoods, five honourees were selected by a jury of architects and health experts for showcasing the power of design thinking and the ability of the architecture profession to offer new approaches to supporting human health:

• Emily Lensin’s “Amygdala” (a proposed elevated network of pathways and gathering spaces through the existing canopies of Toronto’s Woodbine Beach);
• Howard Rideout’s “Finding Balance in the Landscape of Muskoka” (a plan to create a 200-acre wilderness preserve and public place of contemplation, repose, and reflection);
• Erica Gomirato’s “Healthy Cities: Sustainably Adapting the Dominion Foundry Complex” (a proposed mixed-use development for Toronto’s remaining heritage Dominion Foundry buildings);
• Gordon Stratford and Alison Lumby’s “Hospital Precinct Commons” (a proposed transformation of a major downtown-Toronto block’s exterior spaces into a multi-functional parkland that blurs boundaries between institutional care and community-based support); and
• Naama Blonder and team’s “Scaling Down: Shifting to Transit-Oriented Communities at Human Scale and Human Speed” (which puts people’s needs ahead of cars with scaled-down streets and open spaces).