Northern Ontario School of Architecture – "The Competition Winners Announced"

“The winners of a competition for a new school of architecture at Laurentian University were recently announced. The competition asked the question of what a new school of architecture can be within the unique context of Northern Ontario, and asked entrants to question the role of schools of architecture, defining physical, abstract and theoretical characteristics. It purposefully ignored setting strict design guidelines in order to allow entrants complete freedom to generate their own unique ideas, stipulating only that the school will provide education in either English or French, and that must deeply engage with and learn from the First Nation communities throughout the province.

A jury comprised of Anne Cormier, Douglas Cardinal, Craig Dykers and Dominic Giroux awarded a first prize of $5,000 to the Italian team of Daniele Rocchio and Ferdinando Mazza from the Focolta di Architettura Valle Giulia Sapienza. Second-place winners Dylan Sauer and Joe Smith from the Yale School of Architecture received $3,000 in prize money. And taking third place was Ryerson University’s Michael Blois, Sean MacLean and Jason Fung, who shared a prize of $2,000. Four proposals received Honourable Mentions: Nicole LeBlanc from Dalhousie University, Kate Busby and Michael Thicke also from Dalhousie University, Marcos Houssay, Leonardo Gabriel and Maria Patronis from the Universidad de Belgrano in Argentina, and finally, Evgeniya Yatsyuk and Olg Yatsyuk from the Moscow Architectural Institute in Russia.

Prizes were awarded based on each submission’s contribution to the research, creation and critique of new ideas for a school of architecture – specifically one that serves a culturally diverse community while providing an innovative and globally competitive education. Furthermore, projects were judged based on their: creativity, inventiveness, potential to stimulate public discussion, and its integration into the downtown of the city. There was no specific site for the project, other than a general location within the downtown of the City of Greater Sudbury.”

For more information…

(Source: Canadian Architect. Photo: “Focolta di Architettura Valle Giulia Sapienza” by Daniele Rocchio & Ferdinando Mazza, First Prize Winners)