NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF GUELPH
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On Oct. 12, Council announced the six winners and seven honourable mentions of the 2020/2021 Guelph Urban Design Awards.
“On behalf of the City of Guelph, I’m thrilled to congratulate the winners of this years’ Guelph Urban Design Awards,” said Mayor Cam Guthrie. “Good urban design has the power to uplift, connect, challenge and inspire us. At its heart, urban design isn’t just about bricks and mortar; it’s about people. Tonight’s winners exemplify the best of urban design in our city through projects that make a lasting difference not only to our sense of place, but also to the people who live, work and visit here.”
Category: Adaptive Reuse/Heritage
Award of Excellence: Metalworks Heritage Building, 43 Arthur Street
Award of Excellence: Basilica of Our Lady/Guelph Civic Museum and landscape, 28 Norfolk Street/52 Norfolk Street
Honourable Mention: Petrie Building, 15 Wyndham Street North
Category: Open Space, Public Space or Green Infrastructure
Award of Excellence: Exhibition Park playground, 81 London Road West
Honourable Mention: Child Care and Learning Centre Outdoor Education Playground, 20 Arboretum Road
Category: Place-making
Award of Excellence: University of Guelph Gateway entrance feature, Stone Road and Gordon Street
Honourable Mention: Fiddleheads, 97 Dublin Street North
Honourable Mention: Creature Currents, 2 Gordon Street
Honourable Mention: Sudden Garden, 2 Gordon Street
Category: Private Development
Award of Excellence: The Junction, 7 Edinburgh Road South
Honourable Mention: Metalworks Phase I, 53 Arthur Street South
Category: Urban Design Plan and Vision
Award of Excellence: Metalworks Urban Design Master Plan, 5 Arthur Street South
Honourable Mention: Guelph Commercial Built Form Standards
Award designed by celebrated Canadian artist Ted Fullerton
Acclaimed Canadian contemporary artist Ted Fullerton designed the physical award presented to winners of the Guelph Urban Design Awards. Fullerton has an established connection to Guelph with his Bird series of sculptures in Guelph’s Civic Precinct, connecting Market Square and City Hall to Guelph Central Station.“The artwork I created for the Guelph Urban Design Awards aims to symbolically infer how the design of successful places characterizes and defines a purposeful and meaningful perspective of the conception of ‘home’,” explains Fullerton.
About the Jury
The Jury reviewing submissions for the 2020/2021 Guelph Urban Design Awards included four recognized urban design and architecture experts:
- Ute Maya-Giambattista (Principal of Urban Design, Fotenn Planning + Design in Toronto)
- Brendan Stewart (Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Guelph)
- Ralph Giannone (Principal, Giannone Petricone Associates Inc. Architects)
- Craig Applegath (Principal and Founding Partner, DIALOG)
In addition to recognizing the award winners for their urban design achievements, the jury commended the city’s efforts to elevate and celebrate excellence in urban design through the development of guidelines, established design review processes and renewal of the Guelph Urban Design Awards program.
About the Guelph Urban Design Awards
The Urban Design Awards celebrate Guelph’s proud legacy of thoughtful planning by highlighting buildings and projects of excellence in six categories:
- Adaptive Re-use/Heritage Conservation (e.g. major additions to older buildings, heritage facade restoration)
- Public Buildings (e.g. education, civic or health care buildings)
- Private Buildings and Developments (residential, commercial/industrial, mixed use)
- Open Space/Public Space/Green Infrastructure (e.g. streetscapes, low-impact development projects, or plazas)
- Place-making (e.g. tactical urbanism, community-led projects, or street furniture)
- Urban Design Plans/Visions (e.g. masterplans, or neighbourhood plans)
The Guelph Urban Design Awards were last held in 2006 and, going forward, will be presented once every term of Council.
