The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) handed out its 2015 Design Excellence Awards to emerging and established Ontario architects who designed Canadian and international projects.

Twenty new projects ranging from redeveloped cultural and civic buildings to sustainable single-family homes represented the best in architectural design and innovation during the past year.

Located in places like Toronto, Georgian Bay, Sudbury, Kingston, Bolsover, Crawford Lake, Sarnia, Town of Blue Mountains, Oakville, Port Hope and Surrey, B.C., along with St. Petersburg, Russia, the projects were selected from 175 submissions.

A jury of peers from the design community evaluated criteria including creativity, context, sustainability, good design/good business and legacy.

Leslie M. Klein, principal and co-founder of Quadrangle Architects, was presented with the Order of da Vinci, for his significant contribution to the architecture profession.

Meanwhile, Bruce Kuwabara, founding partner at KPMB Architects, earned the Lifetime Design Achievement Award for his career-long association with architectural design excellence and Istvan Lendvay was given the G. Randy Roberts Service Award for OAA members who provide extraordinary member services.

Other recipients included:

Sustainable Design Excellence Award: Vale Living with Lakes Centre, Sudbury, Ont., J.L. Richards & Associates Limited, Consulting Engineers & Architects in association with Perkins + Will Canada Inc.

Landmark Designation: Belleville City Hall, Belleville, Ont., William R. White Architect Limited

Best Emerging Practice
PARTISANS Architects

Photo by Jonathan Friedman, Grotto Sauna, Georgian Bay, PARTISANS Architects