To use a pejorative, the City of Edmonton was a "competition virgin." Soliciting design for infrastructure through competition is a first-time endeavour for Edmonton and this competition was looking for the best firms, large and small, across North America. The intention of the competition was bring design to the parks of Edmonton and offer the public infrastructure to meet the needs of the outdoor spaces.

The four winning firms– Dub Architects Ltd. of Edmonton, Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative of Calgary, Rayleen Hill Architectureof Nova Scotia and two-time winner gh3 of Toronto– were chosen out of 64 companies who had submitted 135 designs. Before construction can begin, the firms will need to enter an agreement with the city and the designs will be finalized after input from the general public. These five projects will split a budget of $13,200,000 and are expected to open in 2012 and 2013.

Here are the winning designs chosen in no particular order:


Mill Woods Sports Park: ‘Net Zero’ Pavilion
by Dub Architects Ltd., Edmonton



John Fry Sports Park: John Fry Sports Pavilion
by Marc Boutin Architectural Collaborative, Calgary



Victoria Park: Victoria Park Pavilion
by Rayleen Hill Architecture, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia



Castle Downs District Park: Castle Downs District Park
by gh3, Toronto



Borden Park: Borden Park
by gh3, Toronto

To see more details, drawings and runner-up entries, please visit the City of Edmonton's Park Pavilion Design Winners website. Images provided by City of Edmonton and are copyrighted by their respective owners.