Mississauga Urban Design Awards

Since 1981, these awards have illustrated the City’s commitment to excellence and innovation in urban design.

Call for submissions is now open for the 2021 Mississauga Urban Design Awards

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions for the 2021 Mississauga Urban Design Awards.

More details regarding the 2021 awards celebration will be announced soon.

Submitting a project

To submit your entry for the 2021 Mississauga Urban Design Awards:

Review the Submission Package
Complete and submit the Official Submission Form, Submission Letter, Authorization Letter, Photo Credits Form and Consent to Audio Record, Videotape, and Photograph Form attached to the Submission Package
Use the Submission Checklist attached to the Submission Package to ensure your package is complete

Eligibility

The award competition is open to architects, urban designers, planners, landscape architects, heritage architects, professional artists, engineers, developers, contractors, consultants, owners and the general public
All projects must be located within the City of Mississauga
All projects must be fully completed at the time of submission
Interior design projects and previously submitted entries are not eligible for this program

Deadline

Call for submissions opens Monday, November 2, 2020

Deadline to enter submissions: Friday, April 30, 2021

Submission method

Please upload your complete submission package.

More information

For more information, please email urban.design@mississauga.ca.

A map of Mississauga with a stylized heart that includes drawings of City landmarks. — Official poster of the 2021 Awards. Artwork by Brad Emsley, commissioned by the City’s Public Art Program.

About the Awards

The Mississauga Urban Design Awards (MUDA) program began in 1981, and is the longest-running awards program of its kind in Ontario. The awards illustrate the City’s ongoing desire to inspire, develop and celebrate design leaders who help raise the quality of life for its residents and shape the image of Mississauga.

Winners are selected by a jury of members from the professional design community and a representative from City Council.

If you have any questions about MUDA or you need to contact us, please email urban.design@mississauga.ca.

Awards and judging criteria

Awards

The following awards are presented to projects that exemplify, as much as possible, the judging criteria and the City’s design principles:

Award of Excellence

This award is presented to projects that exemplify, as much as possible, the judging criteria and the City’s design principles.

Award of Merit

This award is presented to projects that demonstrate excellence in one or more of the judging criteria and the City’s design principles.

Award of “Healthy by Design”

This award is presented to projects that exemplify, as much as possible, the six Healthy Community Design elements: density, service proximity, land use mix, street connectivity, streetscape characteristics and parking.

Judging criteria

Significance – Citywide Scale

Contributes to the City’s design objectives as related to city image, visual identity, vistas, skyline, streetscapes, recognition of sites and location opportunities.

Significance – Community Scale

Contributes to the quality of the environment within a community which demonstrates regard for the context of the locale, enhancing a sense of place, personal health, and safety, or reinforcing a unique history.

Living Green

Demonstrates an integrated approach to design which supports environmental and sustainable site and building practices, while providing benefits to the community and supporting active modes of transportation, walkability and green infrastructure.

Innovation

The degree of creative response to program requirements and site constraints, considering sustainable best practices, including LEED and Low Impact Development, with the ability to influence trends.

Context

The relationship or blending of built form and spaces with existing and planned development, and respect for and enhancement of the area’s character.

Execution

The quality of construction materials and the interpretation of design into reality and how it supports the City’s Strategic Plan and the five Strategic Pillars for Change:

Move: Developing a transit-oriented city
Belong: Ensuring youth, older adults and new immigrants thrive, ensure accessibility
Connect: Completing our neighbourhoods
Prosper: Cultivating creative and innovative businesses
Green: Sustainability and environmental considerations

Healthy by Design

Contributes to the creation of walkable, sustainable and complete communities by demonstrating inter-related healthy development elements: density, service proximity, land use mix, street connectivity, streetscape characteristics and parking. The ‘Healthy by Design’ Award is currently possible through the partnership with Region of Peel.

Award categories

The Mississauga Urban Design Awards categories are:

Urban Elements

A standalone object, public art, small-scale building component or landscape element which contributes significantly to the quality of the public realm. This includes infill housing, additions, public art on public or private lands, street furniture, light fixtures, canopies, signage, walkways, stairways, or fences.

Private Project(s) in Context

A building or group of buildings in all types and scales that achieve urban design excellence and is precedent setting for a project of its type. Submissions should address how the project contributes to successful city-building through its contextual relationship, design quality and measures of sustainable and healthy design. Submissions may include residential, employment, commercial, mixed-use, heritage restoration and adaptive re-use buildings, parks, private open spaces, or plazas.

Public Project(s) in Context

A building or group of buildings that serve the public and are accessible to the public. All building types and scales are eligible, including education, healthcare, recreation, cultural, community, civic buildings, heritage restoration and adaptive re-use buildings, bridges, parks, streetscape, public or private open spaces, plazas, landscaped areas, or stormwater facilities.

The jury reserves the right not to present awards in every category. The jury also reserves the right to reallocate submissions into categories which they deem to be most appropriate.

2020 Retrospective People’s Choice Award Winners

Absolute World Tower Phase IV and Meadowvale Community Centre and Library are the top picks in Mississauga’s 2020 Retrospective People’s Choice Urban Design Awards.

Additional top selections include the Applewood Landmark building, Xerox Research Centre, Mississauga Celebration Square, and Central Library and Civic Square Extension.

This year’s program took a retrospective approach and featured Award of Excellence winners from the last 35 years of the Mississauga Urban Design Awards. Residents were encouraged to vote online for their favourite places from a list of 70 distinguished projects.

Learn more about the winning projects below.

Winners – Private Projects

Top selections in the Private Projects category are:

Absolute World – ‘Marilyn’ Tower (Phase IV)

The ‘Marilyn’ tower Phase IV has earned its place as a significant landmark and centrepiece in Downtown Mississauga. Its 56-storey sculptural twists and dynamic form have a remarkable ability to reflect light and articulate its striking silhouette at distances near and far. It includes a variety of residential units, a recreational facility and retail stores. The open forecourt includes public art, as well as hard and soft landscaping.

Address: 60 Absolute Avenue
Award year: 2012
Developer: Cityzen Development Group and Fernbook Homes
Owner: PSCP #930
Consultants: MAD Architects, Burka Architects, Inc., NAK Design Group

Applewood Landmark

The Applewood Landmark residential building, located in Mississauga’s Applewood neighbourhood, forms a visual gateway and a skyline reference to traffic progressing westward through the city. It is a twenty-six storeys building and includes a variety of residential units and indoor as well as outdoor fitness facilities and entertainment features.

Address: 1300 Bloor Street
Award year: 1981
Developer: The Shipp Corporation
Owner: PSCP #171
Consultants: D. Allan Ross and Julian Gaspar

Xerox Research Centre

The Xerox Research Centre, located in the Sheridan community node, demonstrates a high-quality, state-of-the-art building and reinforces the company’s public image of innovation and creativity. The building’s orientation and arrangement, with its landscape features, are appropriate to its setting and present an attractive visual impact for those travelling on the Queen Elizabeth Way.

Address: 2660 Speakman Drive
Award year: 1984
Owner: Xerox Research Centre of Canada
Consultants: Shore Tibe Henschel Irwin Peters, Architects, Engineers Moorhead Fleming Corban McCarthy

Winners – Public Projects

Top selections in the Public Projects category are:

Meadowvale Community Centre and Library

Meadowvale Community Centre and Library, located in the Meadowvale neighbourhood, overlooks Lake Aquitaine and the surrounding parklands and serves approximately 60,000 inhabitants. This facility was carefully designed to meet accessibility and sustainability standards. Program elements include a library, aquatics, fitness, gymnasium, multipurpose rooms and various outdoor and indoor amenities and gathering spaces suitable for multi-generational purposes, from children to older adults.

Address: 6655 Glen Erin Drive
Award year: 2018
Owner: City of Mississauga
Consultants: Perkins+Will, Fleisher Ridout Partnership Inc.

Mississauga Celebration Square

Mississauga Celebration Square, located in the heart of Mississauga’s Civic Centre, is an urban space that works successfully at a community and city-wide scale. The square consists of elements such as a stage and media wall, raised gardens, an enlarged lawn and a skating rink/fountain. It supports a variety of events that provide an opportunity for community gatherings.

Address: 300 City Centre Drive
Award year: 2011
Owner: City of Mississauga
Consultants: CS&P Architects, Janet Rosenberg + Associates

Mississauga Central Library and Civic Square Extension

Together, the Civic Centre, Central Library and Mississauga Celebration Square create a vital urban landmark. The Library’s architecture has a civic presence, yet creates an inviting, friendly image appropriate for a library. The building makes a remarkable contribution to Celebration Square and the three surrounding streets, in addition to creating an urban place that encourages pedestrian traffic.

Address: 301 Burnhamthorpe Road West
Award year: 1991
Owner: City of Mississauga
Consultants: Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners, Fleisher Ridout Partnership Inc.