By Kim Pemberton
Vancouver Sun , April 23, 2014
Three B.C. projects have won recognition in a national competition that honours the best in Canadian architecture.
The buildings — the Tula House on Quadra Island designed by Patkau Architects; North Vancouver’s City Hall by Micheal Green, now of Michael Green Architecture; and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Centre for Drug Research and Development at the University of B.C. by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and Hughes Condon Marler Architects — are being recognized with Governor General’s Medals in Architecture.
The projects and nine others across the country were named winners of the award by the Canada Council for the Arts on Wednesday. Awards will be presented at a ceremony at Rideau Hall on May 13.
The oceanside Tula House was described by the awards jury as “a spectacular house for a spectacular site” that is “in dynamic harmony with nature.”
The North Vancouver City Hall project revitalized the existing municipal hall and added a tubelike structure between the hall and the adjacent library to connect them.
The jury wrote that the project was “an elegant, restrained and sophisticated expansion to a small district municipal hall. … The vocabulary is warm and refined, befitting a city hall’s place in the community.” The design was based on the concept of two trees whose foliage becomes fused into an extensive network of branches.
The UBC building was described by the jury as being a “strong building with a strong concept, beautifully executed.”