The Design Exchange (DX) announced yesterday, in Toronto, the 2009 winners of the Design Exchange Awards. This national design competition is open to professional designers across Canada working in a range of disciplines. The awards were presented at a gala dinner at the DX on November 24th, 2009. The winners are displayed in an Exhibition at the DX running from November 25, 2009 – February 21, 2010.

The Design Exchange Awards promote Canadian design excellence and recognizes the critical role of design in all types of organizations – national & international. The Awards celebrate the success stories achieved through close partnerships between clients and designers. Projects are recognized for balancing function, aesthetics, and economic success.

Award catagories include architecture, interiors, visual communications, environments, fashion and industrial design. A special award is also presented to the CEO with the best design strategy. We are posting a list of winners in selected categories that are relevant to our readers are listed below.

	Architecture – Commercial GOLD   Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co. Architects Inc.
	Production Architect: Bregman + Hamann Architects Advocacy and Compliance Architect for RBC/RBC Dexia: Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co. Architects Inc. Client: RBC Financial, RBC Dexia
	Architecture – Commercial Silver Project: George Brown College – Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts Designer: Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. with Gow Hastings Architects Inc.
	An under-used site adjacent to the College was reclaimed to give the College new street frontage and 66,000 square feet of additional program space. A 1914 heritage building further south, was restored to house the Colleges’ new student restaurant The Chefs’ House, with classroom spaces above. Reflecting new philosophies within the culinary profession, a large, open-concept kitchen is now located at the front of The Chefs’ House Restaurant. A dramatic chef-centered identity is achieved by displaying the open kitchen and food preparation area in the corner and storefront windows. Passers-by are given a rare opportunity to see the culinary students at work. Heat gathered from exhaust hoods in culinary labs is recovered and circulated to reheat the building, an efficient system that creates comfortable interior conditions. The school can now accommodate enrolment increases of 15% in the Chef School, and 30% in the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Management.
	Architecture – Commercial Bronze Project: Centre for Urban Ecology Designer: Taylor Hazell Architects with architectsAlliance
	Client: Humber College Institute for Technology and Advanced Learning; City of Toronto; Toronto and Region Conservation Authority The Centre is a multi-purpose building used to provide public education to promote technology in support of the preservation of the natural world. It contains visitor services, audio visual links to other green sites, links to college programming, display areas, administrative space for outdoor education staff, accessible lunch areas for visitors, and dedicated work areas for student projects. The two-storey building is wrapped by an earth wall on three sides, the landscape falling away on the west to create a sheltered outdoor classroom for the school children. The building is a glazed box: the main space is a lookout, and the teaching occurs against the backdrop of the landscape itself, with wildlife including deer, fox and many species of birds seen from the classrooms. The Centre for Urban Ecology was one of the first buildings in Toronto to receive a Gold LEED certification.
	Architecture – Commercial Honorable Mention Project: Island Yacht Club Designer: Montgomery Sisam Architects
	Client: Island Yacht Club The Island Yacht Club was built to respond to the Club’s need for a new building, following the destruction of the original in a fire. The building consists of two north-south building blocks. The front block contains the social spaces while an area between the blocks creates a more private outdoor court for those using the pool. An extensive exterior deck was built at the same level as the interior floor to allow for a seamless transition from indoor to outside. The exterior enclosure is primarily glass and the low horizontal plane of the roof ensures the building sits unobtrusively on the flat landscape with minimal visual disruption to the tall cottonwood trees on the site and the water beyond. Since the Island Yacht Club’s 2006 reopening, new membership has increased by approximately 25%. In addition, the club has experienced an increase in visits by boats from other yacht clubs
	Architecture – Commercial Honorable Mention Project: Southbrook Vineyards Designer: Diamond Schmitt Architects
	Client: Southbrook Vineyards The project includes a production winery and a new 8,000 square foot facility in a separate pavilion, housing retail, hospitality, and administrative areas. The new design dedicates three separate event spaces with seated capacities of 12, 80 and 200, while not interfering with retail customers. Event numbers for 2009 are up over 50% from previous years. Capacity, in terms of cases of wine that can be produced, has increased significantly - up 20% to 12,000 cases/year. Southbrook Winery achieves a commendable 50% reduction in energy costs compared with conventional practice through the application of “classic truth” in building engineering. Construction waste was sorted for recycling thereby reducing by 88% the materials that would have been directed to the landfill. The project has met its sustainable design target of LEED Gold; one of only two wineries in North America to receive this designation.
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