National Urban Design Awards — 2020 Recipient | Royal Architectural Institute of Canada

National Urban Design Awards — 2020 Recipient

The Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park
Brampton,
ON
Award Category: 
Urban Architecture

Lead Firm: RDH Architects (RDHA)
Completion: July 2019

The Springdale Library and Komagata Maru Park aspire to create an inclusive gathering place, a progressive architectural expression in the suburbs, and a point of pride for the city. The project's concept is to establish a new type of suburban landscape through the organically shaped perimeter of the building, the creation of an undulating topography of fluid ceilings and mountainous green roof, and the sectional variation of the ground plane. The new Springdale branch provides Brampton with an emboldened organic presence and a sustainable public resource for the community.

Jury Comment(s): 

"This project is recognized as an innovative approach to urban design in an otherwise undistinguished suburban area. Elegantly—and deceptively simple—the design recognizes both pedestrians and passing motorists and responds to its surrounding context."

"A highlight of this project was the integration and deliberate blurring of ‘landscape architecture’ and ‘architecture’. The combined design visibly demonstrates the value of urban design and its potential to improve even the most banal suburban environments"

"This project is perhaps most remarkable for how it juxtaposes strong architectural and landscape formality to achieve a communal sense of place, urbanity, where there previously was none. The parti of subverting—rather than hopelessly fighting—the suburban nature of the project’s setting appears both pragmatic and purposeful, imbuing the project with a refreshing dose of playfulness and whimsicalness uncommon in such suburban developments."

Jury members

Click for full version: 
PERSPECTIVE VIEW ILLUSTRATING THE LIBRARY INTEGRATED INTO THE SUBURBAN CONTEXT ALONG BRAMALEA.

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX

VIEW ILLUSTRATING THE COMPLEX CURVATURE OF THE SOARING CENTRAL ATRIUM SPACE & VIEW ILLUSTRATING THE REFLECTING POOL AND SOUTH WEST FACADE ADJACENT TO THE CONTEMPLATIVE GARDENS.

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX AND SANJAY CHAUHAN.

EXTERIOR VIEW ILLUSTRATING THE FORMAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE UNDULATING GREEN ROOF, PARKSCAPE, AND INTERIOR CEILING GEOMETRIES

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX

DUSK PERSPECTIVE ILLUSTRATING THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE BUILDING AT THE MAIN INTERSECTION ADJACENT TO BRAMALEA.

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX

EXTERIOR VIEW FROM ABOVE ILLUSTRATING THE FLUID COMPOSITION OF ORGANIC GEOMETRIES IN BOTH THE ARCHITECTURE AND THE PARKSCAPE.

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX

EXTERIOR VIEW ILLUSTRATING THE CONTEMPLATIVE GARDENS WITH TERRACED REFLECTING POOLS, THE UNDULATING FAÇADE, AND THE SMOOTH COMPOUND CURVATURE OF THE EXTENSIVE GREEN ROOF

PHOTO: NIC LEHOUX