Voting Now Open for 2014 Pug Awards!

River City Phase 1

If you’ve ever wished there was a platform to voice your opinions on the design of city developments, familiarize yourself with The Pug Awards! Inaugurated in 2005, this event was founded by Anna Simone of Cecconi Simone and Gary Berman, the President of real estate financier Tricon Capital Group, in order to generate public involvement in the architecture life of Toronto.

The Pug Awards started off as a small initiative that aimed to raise public awareness and engage citizens in architectural developments. In providing regular citizens with a voting platform that highlights the best and worst in the industry, The Pug Awards have been able to help hold developers, architects and designers accountable for their designs. Since then, the Pugs have transformed into a major annual event that many Torontonians look forward to.

Voting is now open for all buildings completed in 2013 that are 50,000 square feet or larger. In fairness to each nominee, they are encouraged to provide their own photos and descriptions for the voting website where voters can view interactive images of buildings through different angles and vote whether they: LOVE IT, LIKE IT, or HATE IT.

Market Wharf

“While the Pug Awards have helped to elevate the importance of architecture in our rapidly growing city, with some modest success, it has become increasingly clear that what Toronto currently suffers from is not uninspired architecture but sadly misguided planning and a total disregard for and rejection of the public realm,” said Pug co-founder Gary Berman.

Though we’re not all architecture professionals, our input is extremely valuable and these awards emphasize that public engagement is crucial to establishing a world-class city. Of course, there are certain aspects that need to be taken into consideration in order to make adequate judgements, so before you start ‘hating,’ make sure you look at the recommendations for what to look for, after all, “[buildings] Like people, even ugly buildings can charm when they are dressed up with the space that surrounds them.”

To vote, click here!