Organization:
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada
Job Description:
Expression of Interest (EOI)
Context
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) seeks Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified members for consideration and participation in the Banff National Park 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition jury.
The scope of the project involves conceptual design for the revitalization and redevelopment of 10 contiguous lots at the centre of the town of Banff within Banff National Park. This includes Banff Avenue Square, the current Parks Canada Visitor Centre - a FHBRO recognized building, other existing buildings and parking. The RAIC has been engaged by Parks Canada to provide competition management services for the Banff 200-Block Redevelopment Conceptual Design Project, including nominating a jury.
The broad concept is for these lots to be redeveloped with facilities, spaces and programs that support visitor reception, enjoyment and connection with the rest of the park, and which foster understanding of the challenges faced by protected areas like Banff.
The RAIC has been expressly approached because it represents the broad interest of the profession at large in a pan-Canadian, non-affiliated manner. The majority of the Jury members would be professionals of architecture, urban design and landscape architecture, the main disciplines of the competition. The balance of the Jury is intended to represent areas of interest specific to this competition.
General Project information
The focus of the competition consists of the redevelopment of 10 continuous lots, Lots 4 -13, within the footprint of Banff Avenue’s 200 Block in the Town of Banff, Alberta, situated within Banff National Park. The redevelopment site area is 4,845 m2. Local planning context limits the building massing to 3 stories. At high level, the building program encompasses the repurposing of an existing FHBRO recognized building (approximately 800 m2), and new construction of a mixed-use redevelopment of approximately 7,000 m2 consisting of a new Parks Canada visitor’s centre, housing, public space and underground parking, as well as a thematic open space landscape design of approximately 2,500 m2.
After an initial prequalification stage, the open competition period is anticipated to commence by September 2025 and to be concluded by March 2026.
Objective and Mandate
The present EOI is geared towards identifying suitable and qualified Architects, design professionals and other subject matter experts, members of the RAIC, wishing to be considered for participation in the Banff 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition jury.
Review of project material, attendance at in-person and virtual meetings and written proposals and reports will be required at specific milestones and on an ad-hoc basis.
Who and how you should apply
If you are interested, please forward your credentials and a letter of interest explaining the reasons you consider yourself qualified. Membership with the RAIC is a preferred criterion. Previous participation in a design or awards selection board, as a jury member in an architectural competition, membership and experience in a design review panel, will all be considered asset criteria.
To respond to this EOI, please submit your application by email to Mike Brennan, Chief Executive Officer (mbrennan@raic.org) and Danielle Catley, Project Manager (dcatley@raic.org) no later than March 25, 2025, 8:00p.m. Eastern Time.
How will your application be considered
The RAIC intends to designate 7 individuals as jury members and 3 as deputy jury members. Nomination, based on best fit, will focus on providing the best balance of skill sets, representation, and diversity. Compensation will be provided according to rates and guidelines set by the project sponsor.
Conflict of Interest
No Jury member will be permitted to have any conflict of interest with individuals, firms or teams participating as competitors in the design competition. Jurors will be required to sign a contract agreement to confirm this. As a result, any potential respondents to this EOI should confirm that this agreement will not present an issue with proponents intending to submit to the Pre-Qualification for the competition.
Composition and Selection Criteria
The Banff 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition Jury will be composed of professionals with diverse design expertise that are suitable to collectively undertake the work and provide a diversity of opinions substantiated by relevant experience in a broader context of work.
The majority of the jury and deputy jury members shall be licensed professionals. Representation from the Alberta Association of Architects is an asset and will be balanced with regional representation across Canada.
Collectively, the jury would also include other professionals, non-licenced or non-practicing professionals (i.e., academia, artists, researchers, advocates, etc.), Indigenous participants and representatives from Parks Canada.
Jury members will be individually selected based on the quality of their credentials and the relevance of their experience related to the specifics of this project, and collectively in terms of providing the best balanced and diverse range of perspectives. All jurors must be committed to the jury and interest of the project for the duration of the competition and tied to current deadline to be concluded in March 2026. The jury must include, at a minimum, members with the following types of expertise and qualifications; however, the RAIC may propose additional members with different expertise that may be required to successfully complete the scope of work:
Licensed Architect:
Fellowship in the RAIC, previous relevant experience in architectural design competitions (as a juror or as a competitor), review panels, selection committees for provincial or national-level awards program related to the built environment, recipient of prizes/awards or personal recognition for architectural or multidisciplinary public building projects.
The RAIC is committed to equity and justice as well as inclusion across race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability and age and encourages anyone interested to apply.
We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
The RAIC office is in the Ottawa area. We acknowledge that the land on which we work in is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People. The Algonquin peoples have lived on this land for centuries. We are grateful to have the opportunity to be present in this territory.
Context
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) seeks Expression of Interest (EOI) from qualified members for consideration and participation in the Banff National Park 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition jury.
The scope of the project involves conceptual design for the revitalization and redevelopment of 10 contiguous lots at the centre of the town of Banff within Banff National Park. This includes Banff Avenue Square, the current Parks Canada Visitor Centre - a FHBRO recognized building, other existing buildings and parking. The RAIC has been engaged by Parks Canada to provide competition management services for the Banff 200-Block Redevelopment Conceptual Design Project, including nominating a jury.
The broad concept is for these lots to be redeveloped with facilities, spaces and programs that support visitor reception, enjoyment and connection with the rest of the park, and which foster understanding of the challenges faced by protected areas like Banff.
The RAIC has been expressly approached because it represents the broad interest of the profession at large in a pan-Canadian, non-affiliated manner. The majority of the Jury members would be professionals of architecture, urban design and landscape architecture, the main disciplines of the competition. The balance of the Jury is intended to represent areas of interest specific to this competition.
General Project information
The focus of the competition consists of the redevelopment of 10 continuous lots, Lots 4 -13, within the footprint of Banff Avenue’s 200 Block in the Town of Banff, Alberta, situated within Banff National Park. The redevelopment site area is 4,845 m2. Local planning context limits the building massing to 3 stories. At high level, the building program encompasses the repurposing of an existing FHBRO recognized building (approximately 800 m2), and new construction of a mixed-use redevelopment of approximately 7,000 m2 consisting of a new Parks Canada visitor’s centre, housing, public space and underground parking, as well as a thematic open space landscape design of approximately 2,500 m2.
After an initial prequalification stage, the open competition period is anticipated to commence by September 2025 and to be concluded by March 2026.
Objective and Mandate
The present EOI is geared towards identifying suitable and qualified Architects, design professionals and other subject matter experts, members of the RAIC, wishing to be considered for participation in the Banff 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition jury.
Review of project material, attendance at in-person and virtual meetings and written proposals and reports will be required at specific milestones and on an ad-hoc basis.
Who and how you should apply
If you are interested, please forward your credentials and a letter of interest explaining the reasons you consider yourself qualified. Membership with the RAIC is a preferred criterion. Previous participation in a design or awards selection board, as a jury member in an architectural competition, membership and experience in a design review panel, will all be considered asset criteria.
To respond to this EOI, please submit your application by email to Mike Brennan, Chief Executive Officer (mbrennan@raic.org) and Danielle Catley, Project Manager (dcatley@raic.org) no later than March 25, 2025, 8:00p.m. Eastern Time.
How will your application be considered
The RAIC intends to designate 7 individuals as jury members and 3 as deputy jury members. Nomination, based on best fit, will focus on providing the best balance of skill sets, representation, and diversity. Compensation will be provided according to rates and guidelines set by the project sponsor.
Conflict of Interest
No Jury member will be permitted to have any conflict of interest with individuals, firms or teams participating as competitors in the design competition. Jurors will be required to sign a contract agreement to confirm this. As a result, any potential respondents to this EOI should confirm that this agreement will not present an issue with proponents intending to submit to the Pre-Qualification for the competition.
Composition and Selection Criteria
The Banff 200-Block Architectural Conceptual Design Competition Jury will be composed of professionals with diverse design expertise that are suitable to collectively undertake the work and provide a diversity of opinions substantiated by relevant experience in a broader context of work.
The majority of the jury and deputy jury members shall be licensed professionals. Representation from the Alberta Association of Architects is an asset and will be balanced with regional representation across Canada.
Collectively, the jury would also include other professionals, non-licenced or non-practicing professionals (i.e., academia, artists, researchers, advocates, etc.), Indigenous participants and representatives from Parks Canada.
Jury members will be individually selected based on the quality of their credentials and the relevance of their experience related to the specifics of this project, and collectively in terms of providing the best balanced and diverse range of perspectives. All jurors must be committed to the jury and interest of the project for the duration of the competition and tied to current deadline to be concluded in March 2026. The jury must include, at a minimum, members with the following types of expertise and qualifications; however, the RAIC may propose additional members with different expertise that may be required to successfully complete the scope of work:
Licensed Architect:
- Over 18 years of architectural and design experience.
- Over 18 years of architectural and design experience.
- Over 18 years of architectural and design experience.
- Over 18 years of experience related to sustainable design.
- Over 18 years of design experience.
- Membership in the CSLA is an asset.
- Membership with the RAIC is preferred.
- Licensed with the Alberta Association of Architects (AAA) is an asset.
Fellowship in the RAIC, previous relevant experience in architectural design competitions (as a juror or as a competitor), review panels, selection committees for provincial or national-level awards program related to the built environment, recipient of prizes/awards or personal recognition for architectural or multidisciplinary public building projects.
The RAIC is committed to equity and justice as well as inclusion across race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability and age and encourages anyone interested to apply.
We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
The RAIC office is in the Ottawa area. We acknowledge that the land on which we work in is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe People. The Algonquin peoples have lived on this land for centuries. We are grateful to have the opportunity to be present in this territory.
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