Photo Credit (Above): Michael Moran

Location: Toronto, Ontario

Architecture Practice: Bucholz McEvoy Architects Ltd. + ZAS Architects Inc.

Chosen by a jury of respected design experts, the 20 projects comprising the OAA’s 2026 Design Excellence Finalists represent a diverse range of building types, including sustainably designed community centres, innovative housing solutions, revitalized academic and cultural facilities, and transformative public spaces. These finalists serve as the shortlist for the OAA’s 10 Design Excellence Winners, which will be announced next month and honoured at the OAA Conference in the Waterloo Region in May. The biennial OAA Design Excellence Awards program offers Ontario practices the opportunity to display the transformative influence of architecture, promoting broader public recognition and appreciation for the field. The following media statement has been supplied by the submitting project team:

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) Headquarters, set on the bank of Black Creek Ravine, is a demonstrator project for sustainable development in the ravines of Toronto over which TRCA holds stewardship. Strongly interconnected with its natural setting, reinforcing a sense of place and time, the TRCA HQ is a collaborative workplace supporting an inter-disciplinary and public-engaging work methodology, underpinned by the principles of TRCA’s mission of conserving, restoring, and managing natural resources.

Crafted of mass timber, with generous daylight and natural ventilation, it is fine-tuned to its microclimatic context, innovatively harnessing renewable energies and creating a healthy human-centred internal environment.

Photo Credit: Michael Moran

Photo Credit: Michael Moran

Photo Credit: Bucholz McEvoy Architects and ZASA Architects

This blOAAg post is part of a series exploring the OAA’s 20 Design Excellence Finalists for 2026, as selected by our jury.