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WIDC wins Governor General medal

The Wood Innovation and Design Centre has earned a Governor General medal in architecture. The green building was one of 12 buildings that earned the honour at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Tuesday.
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The Wood Innovation and Design Centre was named as one of the 2016 Governor General’s Medals in Architecture. Citizen photo by Brent Braaten April 16 2015

The Wood Innovation and Design Centre has earned a Governor General medal in architecture.

The green building was one of 12 buildings that earned the honour at Rideau Hall in Ottawa Tuesday.

The architecture award, which was established in 2014, "recognize outstanding achievement in recently built projects by Canadian architects," the release said.

They are selected by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and the Canada Council for the Arts.

In 2015 WIDC earned several accolades at the Wood Design Awards, including for wood innovation. The 29.5 metre structure is known as one of the tallest contemporary wood buildings in North America.

The 2016 winners were:

- Amphithtre Cogeco (Trois-Rivires, Que): Paul Laurendeau | Franois R. Beauchesne | Architectes en consortium

- BC Passive House Factory (Pemberton, B.C.): Hemsworth Architecture

- Bridgepoint Active Healthcare (Toronto, Ont.): Stantec Architecture / KPMB Architects / HDR Architecture / Diamond Schmitt Architects

- Glacier Skywalk (Jasper, Alta.): Sturgess Architecture

- Halifax Central Library (Halifax, N.S.): Fowler Bauld & Mitchell Ltd. / schmidt hammer lassen architects

- Nathan Phillips Square Revitalization (Toronto, Ont.): PLANT Architect Inc., in joint venture with Perkins + Will Canada (formerly Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners Inc.)

- Regent Park Aquatic Centre (Toronto, Ont.): MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects

- Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon (Vancouver, B.C.): MGA | Michael Green Architecture - project begun at mcfarlane | green | biggar architecture + design

- Head Office of Caisse Desjardins de Lvis (Lvis, Que.): Consortium ABCP architecture and Anne Carrier architecture

- University of Manitoba ARTlab (Winnipeg, Man.): Patkau Architects Inc. / LM Architectural Group

- Wong Dai Sin Temple (Markham, Ont.): Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Inc.

- Wood Innovation and Design Centre (Prince George, B.C.): MGA | Michael Green Architecture

Correction: A previous version of this article said the awards launched in 2014. In fact the Governor General medals go back to 1950 and the Medal in Landscape Architecture was established in 2014.