The City of Edmonton has unveiled 25 submissions for a design competition to build an infill project on a city-owned site near Kingsway Mall.
The competition received submissions from across Canada and from London, England, from companies that want to design multi-unit homes on a site along 112th Avenue and 106th Street on property the city owns.
The competition asked designers and architects to focus on the “missing middle,” which refers to housing that falls between single detached homes and highrise apartment buildings. Examples include row housing, walk-up apartment buildings, triplexes and fourplexes.
Such projects are referred to as “missing” because they are harder to find in urban Canadian cities.
The winner will be announced on May 29, and will be rewarded with the opportunity to buy the property build their design, as long as it passes rezoning approval.
Five of the six national jurors of a City of Edmonton infill design competition were on-hand at Epcor Tower to speak about the project. (Travis McEwan/CBC)
The site in the Spruce Avenue neighbourhood was chosen for its proximity to an LRT station and because it is in a mature neighbourhood. The property is one the city is looking to offload.
A national jury of six architects, planners and critics are in Edmonton to speak about the designs and attend a panel discussion at city hall on Thursday evening.
Gene Dub, founder of Dub Architects, is one of two Edmonton-based jurors. He’s been impressed with the submissions.
“I think most of the designs were very practical,” Dub said. “I think these are going to be examples that will really help us in looking at alternatives in the future. And I think for that reason, this competition is very valid.”
Alex Bozikovic, a Toronto based architecture critic and columnist, is one of the judges.
The winning design should create buildings that bring many people into the neighbourhood and include public and private spaces that are attractive, he said.