What does it take to create an award-winning project? Hear directly from the 2025 AIA Canada Student Design Award recipients as they present their work and reflect on the design decisions behind it. From concept to execution, presenters will walk through their process—covering site analysis, program development, material strategies, sustainability, and community impact. This session is designed to help architecture students better understand how strong ideas are developed, communicated, and recognized—offering practical insight for future submissions.
Webinar | Design That Wins: Inside the 2025 AIA Canada Student Design Awards
Date | March 25, 12:00–1:00 PM ET
AIA Provider | 100100113
Course No. | 2026AIACS01
Credits | 1.0 AIA LU
What You’ll Learn |
- How award-winning student projects are developed—from early concept to final design
- The key design decisions behind strong work, including site, program, and material strategies
- How sustainability and community impact are integrated into successful projects
- What makes a project stand out—and how to strengthen your own submissions
Moderator |
Christopher Johnson
Intern Architect, Svedas Architects Inc.
Chris Johnson is an Intern Architect at Svedas Architects Inc., with experience across multiple project phases in Southern Ontario. His work focuses on collaborative design processes, sustainability, and creating engaging community-centered spaces, informed by both professional practice and academic research.
Presenters |
Thy Nguyen
Project: Sponge by the Forks
University of Manitoba
*Featured Image
Luke De Bartolo
Project: Waakaa’igan – A New Native Canadian Centre of Toronto
Toronto Metropolitan University
Todd Collis
Project: Amherst Commons: A Rural Community Hub
Toronto Metropolitan University
Yoon Hur
Project: MATERIAL WORKS: Optimizing Material Circularity through Reversing Architecture
University of Waterloo
Adam Cohen
Project: The Nest
University of Waterloo
Janson Chan
Project: Rail-Based Regionalism
Dalhousie University
About the AIA Canada Society Awards Program
The AIA Canada Society chapter, looks to the future and envisions what the built environment of tomorrow will be like. Discovering and promoting new generations of architects, those who will build on the foundation of the masters and forge new paths of innovation and development, is a priority of the AIA Canada Society.
Our focus is to advance the appreciation of academic architectural ideas and promote and provide publicity to architecture students.
