8 Toronto Studios Amongst the 2021 AZ Awards Finalists

Eight Toronto-based architecture and design studios made this year’s list of finalists for the AZ Awards, which annually recognizes the best architecture and design from across the world. The jury, which features a host of design-world luminaries, including Patricia Urquiola and Karim Rashid, whittled 1209 submissions down to just 72 finalists in categories ranging from residential and product design to lighting installations.

Several of the finalists have recently recently graced the pages (both in print and online) of Designlines, including Drew Mandel Architects, whose Bracondale Hill reno was selected for the Residential Interiors category; Castor Design, whose collaboration with chef Matty Matheson on a new line of cookware made it to the final four for Interior Products; and Studio Paolo Ferrari, whose design for Alchemy, a cannabis shop, was selected for the Commercial and Institutional Interiors category (and who’s showing off his rainy-day Ame chair in our next issue, and whose Extra Rolled-Back Lounge was our product of the year for 2020).

The other names rounding out the list of local finalists include Partisans (Urban Design Visions), gh3 (Commercial and Institutional Buildings Over 1,000 SqM), Nienkamper (Furniture Systems and Collections), LeuWebb Projects (Lighting Installations) and Perkins & Will (Environmental Leadership and Architecture – Residential, Single Family).

Have a project you love above all the rest? Take a look at the full list (although like us, we expect you’re biased) and vote for your favourite.