The Daniels Faculty would like to extend its congratulations to the winners of the Homegrown Design Challenge, launched this spring by Workshop Architecture and the David Suzuki Foundation.

The two winning submissions were selected from those who responded to an open call to submit ideas for "low-cost, easy-to-implement green design solutions for yards, alleys, commercial properties and schoolyards."

Tawab Hlimi (MLA 2009) was named a winner for his proposal "Carolinian Way," a Carolinian Riparian Woodland planted in an alleyway that connects King Street West with 545 King Street West. Hlimi's winning design included an elevated, accessible platform that would provide a place for people to walk among a distinct species of plants and escape the heat of the city streets. The forested alley would also provide habitat for birds and insects, and help mitigate flooding by absorbing storm water.

Sustainable. TO Architecture + Building also won for its design of backyard, street-side, and park-scale DIY bee hotels. "Single family homes still dominate a majority of the area within the Homegrown National Park," writes the firm in its submission. "If one square foot of each of those homes was dedicated to creating a low-cost, DIY bee (m)otel, the amount of habitat added would be enormous." Similar DIY structures could also be added alongside street trees and in public parks.

Both winning submissions are now on display at Urbanspace Gallery (July 10-August 10). Other prominent architects and landscape architects were also invited to submit proposals for the exhibition, including a number of other alumni and faculty from Daniels.

These proposals include:

· "TIC TAC FLO" by archiTEXT
· "Pedestrian Filter" by Workshop Architecture
· "rePlay" by Elise Shelley Landscape Architect
· "The People's Hive" by LGA Architectural Partners
· "Bio-Flume" by North Design Office
· "Public Laneway Puncture" Victoria Taylor Landscape Architect
· "Local Monsters" by Brown and Storey Architects
· "Incisions and Incubators" by Shift Landscape Architecture

For more information, visit:

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2014/07/homegrown-design-challenge/