Pug Awards X - Lessons from Chicago

Earlier this week, Newinhomes.com had the privilege of attending the 10th Annual Pug Awards. This year’s event marked the 10th and last People’s Choice Awards, and the eighth Pug Talk.

Before we get into how interesting the Pug Talk between Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat and Lynn Osmond, President & CEO of the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) was, we know you just want to know who the residential winners are!

Honorable mention: Clear Spirit by architectsAlliance, Cityscape, and Dundee Realty

Clear Spirit - Via Pug Awards

Runner Up: Market Wharf by architectsAlliance and Context Development

Market Wharf - Via Pug Awards

Winner: River City - Phase 1 by Saucier + Perrotte Architectes, ZAS Architects, and Urban Capital

River City - Via Pug Awards

Best of the Best (of the last 10 years): 500 Wellington by CORE Architects and Freed Development

500 Wellington - Via Pug Awards

While the commercial category performed well, 25 out of 32 nominees in the residential category received negative scores.

Pug Talk: Tips from Chicago

The Pug Talks series was created to “promote a spirit of collaboration and open dialogue among stakeholders - residents, city councillors, city bureaucracies, developers and consultants.”

This year, Toronto’s Keesmaat and Chicago’s Osmond discussed some of the differences and similarities between the two cities, but the conversation mostly focused on how Chicago built their architectural legacy and how Toronto can get on the right track.

To sum up Osmond’s very impressive presentation, Chicago burned down at the right time and then had a string of strong mayors to push the city forward in architectural excellence. The city burned down in 1871, around the time that the technology to build what was considered a skyscraper first became available. The clean slate and influential people in power attracted the world’s greatest designers and architects. One of the main reasons that Chicago is able to build so tall and so well is that they focus on public engagement. CAF is best known for their architecture tours; they educate tourists and the population about the importance of quality design and the benefits of building tall. Chicago has been doing this for nearly 50 years now! They have successfully cultivated a culture that is pro high-rise development.

Keesmaat was quick to acknowledge that the major difference between Toronto and Chicago is that Chicago has never been afraid to embrace big ideas. Toronto also doesn’t have a strong mayoral system, and that’s not even a Ford joke, Toronto’s system is more administrative. Keesmaat says that in Toronto, “it’s more difficult for people in charge to take the ball and run.”

As far as educating tourists and the population about architectural excellence, Keesmaat pointed out that Doors Open and the Pug Awards are steps towards developing a dialogue about building design and the city’s history, but it is still too fragmented. Toronto definitely needs an organization like CAF to develop a cohesive conversation about Toronto’s past and potential.

At the end of the Pug Talk, a woman asked Keesmaat about Toronto’s need to have a shared vision of the future. Keesmaat has said many times at many events that all the residents, politicians, and members of the building industry need to strive for the same goal, but the woman in the audience did not know how to spread the word about this vision, or even what the vision was. Obviously, there was not enough time to outline the City’s entire vision of the future, but Keesmaat instructed the woman to Google “City of Toronto Vision.” So we did it, and what do you know, it’s the top result. Here you go Toronto.