The award-winning HollisWealth Story Pod at Riverwalk Commons as been selected as one of the Ontario Association of Architects' first SHIFT Challenge projects to highlight the contribution that architects and architectural thinking bring to addressing key societal issues.
The OAA's newly created SHIFT Challenge aims to demonstrate how architectural thinking can promote social equity, reduce isolation or embody social justice.
The story pod, a community-supported lending library in Newmarket's historic downtown civic square, was launched in 2015 in partnership with HollisWealth Inc., archictects Atelier Kastelic Buffey (AKB), Scholastic and Newmarket Public Library.
“The SHIFT Challenge reflects the importance of the built environment in people’s lives,” said Kathleen Kurtin, OAA president, in a news release.
The story pod's unique design and concept has attracted international attention, and has been replicated in other countries, including Gumi City, South Korea and Gabon, Africa.
Already honoured with an OAA Design Excellence Award in 2017, the story pod was selected with six other projects in the challenge that is meant to spur thinking and conversation about the intersection between architecture and societal issues.
For the inaugural year of the SHIFT Challenge, OAA selected a theme that affects every Ontarian: infrastructure, the OAA news release stated.
Submissions focused on how architects could use their skills — design thinking, problem solving and knowledge of the built form — to propose new ways to understand, create or support physical or social infrastructure that links our communities, according to the OAA.
The projects were judged on criteria that included innovation, social responsibility, inspiration, inclusivity and holistic approach.
The submissions ranged from intimate local projects that could be replicated in communities across the province, to massive transformations altering how various components of the built environment interact with each other.
“One of the pleasant surprises in exploring all of these submissions together is that what you see emerge is a holistic approach to infrastructure,” Kurtin said.
Held every second year, SHIFT will alternate with the OAA’s Design Excellence Awards, which focus on recognizing outstanding work in the industry.
The selected projects are:
- Story Pod: Grassroots Transformation of Civic Space, Kelly Buffey, Robert Kastelic and Aaron Finbow (Atelier Kastelic Buffey Inc.), Scott Munro, Bill Mctavish and Ted Kurello (Hollis Wealth), Mark Agnoletto (Town of Newmarket)
- GO Bike, Naama Blonder and Misha Bereznyak (Smart Density)
- Immigrant Landscapes: Architecture in the Age of Migration, Sophie Mackey
- Multi-Tach: Addressing Housing Infrastructure, Jaegap Chung, Sue Jean Chung, Derek McCallum, Sudipto Sengupta, Hesam Rostami, Hamid Imami, Robin McKenna, Matthew Mckenna and David Kotewicz (Studio JCI Inc.), Nam Hoang (Makeshift Collective)
- Rail to Trail: Imagining a Future London, Ryan Ollson, Magdaleen Bahour, Richard Hammond, Shannon Hawke, Tyler Hearn, Jerry Kim and Siobhan Latimer (Cornerstone Architecture Incorporated)
- Re-Engaging the Defunct and Historic Welland Canals, David Donnelly, Martin Bressani (McGill University)
- Urban Energy Shift, Zachary Colbert (Zachary Colbert Architects and Carleton University Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism), Antonio Gioventu (Condominium Homeowners Association of B.C), Shelby Hagerman, James Nguyen, Jasmine Sykes and Connor Tamborro (Carleton University)
For more information on the SHIFT Challenge, visit shiftchallenge.ca.
