From a concrete and weathered-steel temple in Toronto that features the longest cantilever in North America to a landscape that offers floodwater relief and green space to a city in Spain, the 18 winners of the 2016 AZ Awards exemplify innovation and forward-thinking. Tonight at Toronto’s Evergreen Brick Works, many of the winners were present — some visiting from as far away as India and Shanghai — to take the stage and receive their trophies, which were designed by Vancouver designer Omer Arbel, who was also a member of this year’s jury. The standing-room-only crowd of design and architecture insiders fêted all 66 of this year’s finalists during the celebration.
Together, the outstanding 826 submissions — from designers, architects and manufacturers, as well as students — are a worldwide representation of the best and brightest from the architecture and design community. Our international jury was also made up of some of the industry’s heavy-hitters: architect Chris Wilkinson of WilkinsonEyre (London, U.K.), interior designer Anna Simone of Cecconi Simone (Toronto, Canada), landscape architect Thomas L. Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (Charlottesville, U.S.), architect John Tong of +tongtong (Toronto, Canada), and Omer Arbel of Bocci (Vancouver, Canada).
In March, this distinguished panel gathered in Toronto to narrow down the 826 entries from 52 countries to a shortlist of 66 finalists. From there, they selected the 18 extraordinary winners who are featured below.
ARCHITECTURE WINNERS
Best Architecture Over 1,000 Square Metres
Pancorbo + De Villar + Chacón + Martin Robles: Vegas Altas Congress Centre and Auditorium, Villanueva de la Serena, Spain
Best Architecture Under 1,000 Square Metres
Shim-Sutcliffe Architects: Wong Dai Sin Temple, Toronto, Canada
Best Residential Architecture
Tropical Space: Termitary House, Da Nang, Vietnam
Best Temporary Architecture
Lateral Office and CS Design: Impulse, Montreal, Canada
Best Landscape Architecture
Aldayjover Architecture and Landscape: Aranzadi Park, Pamplona, Spain
INTERIOR WINNERS
Best Residential Interior
Studio MK27: SP-Penthouse, São Paulo, Brazil
Best Commercial Interior
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office: Comme Moi, Shanghai, China
DESIGN WINNERS
Best Architectural Product
Anyway Doors: Pivoting Room Divider, by Koen Dries and Rudi Dries, with Marieke Cools
Best Furniture Design
Moss & Lam: W1 Tables
Best Furniture System
Rimadesio: Cover Freestanding, by Giuseppe Bavuso
Best Lighting Fixture
Davide Groppi: Fosbury
Best Lighting Installation
Partisans: Gweilo Light
Best Interior Product
Agape: Ell sink, by Benedini Associati, Diego Cisi and Andrés Jost
CONCEPT WINNERS
Best Unbuilt Concept
Sanjay Puri Architects: Reservoir
Best Concept Prototype
MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects: Enough House
STUDENT A+ AWARD
Jurgis Gecys (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria): Curonian Spit
SOCIAL GOOD AWARD
Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects: Walumba Elders Centre, Warmun, Australia
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AWARD
ZGF Architects: Stanford University Central Energy Facility, Palo Alto, U.S.
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