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The Mayor’s Urban Design Awards, which celebrate excellence in architecture, landscape and public space design, date back to 2005 and are a legacy of then-Mayor Dave Broconnier. The popularity of the awards is evident by the fact this year’s gala was sold out. There are 11 different award categories ranging from City Edge Development to Housing Innovation, and from Urban Architecture to Community Initiatives.

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Truman Homes and Lola Architecture won the City Edge Development award this for their Plaza development in West District, a master-planned walkable community in West Springs. Plaza consists of two nine-storey buildings each with a two-storey commercial podium and seven storeys of residential development above. The two buildings are connected by a bridge at the second storey level with a plaza underneath that is centre ice for West District’s main street, Broadcast Avenue. It is already home to several popular Calgary merchants — Blanco Cantina, Una Pizza + Wine, F45 Training and Deville Coffee.

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“It is always great to be recognized by our peers,” says Oliver Trutina, vice-president at Truman. “Mixed-use developments are difficult, so it was critical we get Plaza right as it is the cornerstone for West District’s main street and a flagship multi-family residential building for what we hope will be a benchmark walkable community in the suburbs.”

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Peak + Plains, by developer RNDSQR and designed by Vera Architecture and BBLOC Interior Design, won the Housing Innovation award. It is a great example of “missing middle” (i.e., small residential developments larger than duplex but smaller than four-storey condo buildings). Located along 16th Street S.W. in Altadore, the 20 new townhomes create a buffer between the commercial shopping centre on one side and the single-family homes on the other side. The unique architecture, with sloped roofs on the front side and flat roofs along the back lane necessitated by stacking living space over the garage, creates a mountain/plains roof-top silhouette. RNDSQR is known for its unique contemporary designs and Peak + Plains certainly enhances its reputation as one of Canada’s leading inner-city infill developers.

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Alkarim Devani, co-founder of RNDSQR, says his team was honoured to be recognized by his peers for Peaks + Plains, adding “this award is truly special as this project, like many in the established neighbourhoods, questioned whether or not missing middle belongs near single family homes and obviously were worried about the impact. Today, I believe many of those residents no longer have those perspectives or concerns. Our projects have always been about people and finding ways in a respectful manner to the existing context of how to bring housing choice and access to these amazing neighbourhoods.”

Honourable mentions for the Housing Innovation award were GGA Architecture for Neoma, developed by Homespace, and Varsity Fire Hall, designed by Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative.

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Neoma, originally known as the Sierra Building, is a 10-storey office building that has been converted to homes for 200 Calgarians in need — 82 affordable rental homes (37 per cent below market rents), 10 units of shelter spaces and transitional housing with a commercial space on the main floor. It will also be home to Inn From the Cold’s operations and other programming for Calgarians in need. Architecturally, the building’s facade has been transformed into a clean bright uplifting beacon on downtown’s 7th Avenue transit corridor. It includes a huge 15,000-square foot mural in the alley and artwork from 65 Calgary artists adorns the interior spaces.

For Bernadette Majdell, CEO HomeSpace, “it only made sense to get families in need of affordable housing into some of downtown’s empty office spaces. Having the amenities of downtown at your fingertips and the CTrain at your front door opens the city up to these families. Projects like this show good things can happen when the whole city comes together to back a great idea.”

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The Varsity Fire Hall is innovative in that it also includes a 48-home Calgary Housing building with a commercial space ideally suited to become a childcare space. Imagine a childcare space next to a fire station — what a brilliant idea! The kids will think they have died and gone to heaven. And while not everyone wants to live next to a fire/EMS station, this integrated mixed-use approach to providing affordable homes is also brilliant.

For more information on these award winning projects and the complete list of award winners, visit calgary.ca/awards/urban-design/winners-mentions.html