5th Annual Pug Awards Ask to Vote on Toronto's Architecture

Voting for the fifth annual Pug Awards, the people’s choice awards for architecture in Toronto, begins today.

Toronto is one of the fastest-growing cities in North America. Buildings help define the streetscape in a city and the quality of new buildings in Toronto ranges from world-class architectural projects to eye-sores in the urban fabric.

The Pug Awards began as a modest initiative and has evolved into a major event that recognizes Toronto’s development community. The Awards were created as a way for Torontonians to celebrate architecture and design excellence. By voting for recently completed residential, commercial and institutional developments, the public is able to voice their opinions on the state of Toronto’s newest developments. The Awards help elevate architectural and planning standards in the city.

Through their vote, people hold developers, architects and designers accountable for newly constructed buildings in this city. Last year the public had the opportunity to vote on whether they “loved” or “hated” recently completed developments. This year, voters have the option of a third category of voting to “like it”. Some of the nomination highlights the people can vote on include the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Life Square and the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health.

“The Pug Awards are making an important contribution to Toronto by helping us to better understand our city” says Gary Berman, co-founder of the Pug Awards and managing director at Tricon Capital Group. The Awards provoke conversation about what our built form should look like and how we want our city to grow. There is no question that Toronto is one of the most livable and urban cities in the world but unfortunately our built form often fails to measure up to the promise of our society. By raising awareness of architecture and urban planning and acting as the city’s development “watchdog”, we hope that this gap will ultimately be narrowed with better quality developments.”

“It continues to invigorate me to know that the people of Toronto truly care about making our city internationally acclaimed when it comes to architecture but yet remain authentic to its character” says Anna Simone, co-founder of the Pug Awards and a principal at interior design firm Cecconi Simone. “I would like to believe that the Pug Awards have contributed to people’s increased interest.”

This year, the yard has gotten bigger! 2009 saw the expansion of the Pug Awards to the entire City of Toronto (as opposed to the former City of Toronto). The nominations include 32 buildings; 24 in the residential category and 8 in the commercial and institutional categories. To qualify, buildings must have been completed in 2008, be located in the City of Toronto, and have an area greater than 50,000 square feet or they must be considered noteworthy by the Pug Awards Advisory Board. This year, to ensure each nominee was given an equal opportunity to present their building to the public, developers and/or architects were asked to supply their own building photography and description for inclusion on the online voting website. In the event that developers and/or architects were unable to provide the images, the photos were taken by a photographer appointed by the Pug Awards Executive Committee. Interactive photographs of the buildings with different angles/views are displayed on the new Pug Awards website with a LOVE IT, LIKE IT OR HATE IT voting interface. A Google Earth Map interface allows voters to zoom in to each location and view its position within the city. On-line voting will take place from May 1st – May 31st, 2009 and results for the competition will be announced June 3rd, 2009 at a reception at the Gardiner Museum.

This year, the public is invited to vote on the following buildings:

RESIDENTIAL

9T6 Condominiums

Mosaic

C-Condominiums

Nuvo 2 at Essex

College Park II

One Sherway – Phase 1

Dia Condominiums

One St. Thomas

Garment Factory Lofts

Panache Condominiums

Hampton Plaza

Quantum 2 – North Tower

High Park Lofts

Regency Yorkville

Kilgour Estate

Skyscape

Kingswood on Bloor

The Clairmont

Loggia I & II

The Gallery

Mansions of Humberwood II

Verve

Meridian Residences

West One

COMMERICAL/INSTITUTIONAL

Art Gallery of Ontario

Centre for Addiction & Mental Health

Children’s Aid Society

Four Seasons Corporate Headquarters

Mount Sinai Joseph & Wolf Lebovic Centre

Toronto Life Square

85 Hanna Avenue

Max Gluskin House (U of T Economics)

PUG ED

2009 marks the third year of the Pug Ed program. Local senior elementary students are encouraged to think critically about how architecture, planning and design affect all of us. This program facilitates dialogue among students about architecture and design in their everyday lives. It fosters an appreciation of the importance of well-conceived, responsible design practices in an urban
environment.

Jesse Ketchum Public School (Bay & Davenport) and Queen Alexandra Senior Public School (Broadview & Dundas) participated in last year’s Pug Ed program and this year Pug Ed is excited to welcome Nelson Mandela Park Public School (Queen & Parliament) to the program. Approximately 30 grade 8 students are participating in the program which launched on March 4th, 2009.

The founders of the Pug Awards believe that a cultural appreciation for smart and responsible design can be achieved by exposing Toronto’s youngest citizens to the issues, resources, and professions that define the form and function of the city. The Pug Awards present a series of six after class sessions where students engage with some of Toronto’s most influential professionals
and organizations involved with the on-going development of our city. The roster of guest speakers includes:

• Core Architects
• Interior design firm Cecconi Simone
• Developer Great Gulf Homes
• Janet Rosenberg & Associates Landscape Architecture
• Councillor Adam Vaughan for Ward 20 – Trinity/Spadina
• Carpenter’s Local Union 27

Students also enter a design competition requiring the preparation of a complete redevelopment proposal for a specific urban scenario. On May 13th at the Design Exchange in Toronto students will make a verbal, written and visual
presentation of their proposals to be judged by industry notables. Winners of the competition will receive significant educational bursaries and will be honored at the Pug Awards closing ceremony on June 3rd, 2009 at the Gardiner Museum.

Images: Pug Awards