2010 Governor General’s Medals in Architecture

1. St-Germain Aqueducts & Sewers headquarters, St-Hubert, Quebec

We're not normally huge fans of awards- especially design awards, where the context of project delivery such as client, budget, etc. are next to impossible to factor into the adjudication of success. Nonetheless, awards are a powerful marketing tool, widely used by the creative industries to promote their product. The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is no exception.
And we have to admit that this year's recipients of the Governor General's Medals in Architecture deliver great eye candy!

A dozen projects were honoured & from them we're sharing a few of the images, downloaded from the RAIC website, that really speak to us.

Please visit the website here for full coverage, including many more photos, the descriptive brief for each work, and the Jury's comments.

2.Photographer's Studio over a Boathouse, Stoney Lake, Ontario

A breath of fresh air in Cottage Country

3. Photographer's Studio over a Boathouse, Stoney Lake, Ontario

4. Photographer's Studio over a Boathouse, Stoney Lake, Ontario

5. Promenade Samuel- De Champlain, Quebec City, Quebec

Sophisticated public place-making

6. Promenade Samuel- De Champlain, Quebec City, Quebec

7. French River Visitor Centre, Ontario

A touch of Brutalism for a brutal environment

8. French River Visitor Centre, Ontario

9. Ravine Guest House, Toronto, Ontario

Lucky guests!

10. Ravine Guest House, Toronto, Ontario

11. Private Residence, Laurentians, Quebec

12. Private Residence, Laurentians, Quebec

An elegant stack of building blocks with a little taste of Mies

13. Private Residence, Laurentians, Quebec

The Ravine House shown in photos #9 & 10 is also discussed in this post from the Treehugger blog.