The Biological Sciences Complex at UBC – a project by Acton Ostry Architects Inc. – has received a prestigious Canadian Green Building Award presented through Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine. The LEED Gold Complex was one of only seven projects nationwide that received awards from a total of 56 submissions. The jury commented: “As a renovation this project set the design team the more challenging goal of revitalizing an unprepossessing existing building. Most striking was the use of an innovative solar tracking daylighting system, a courageous application of a new technology…”
Acton Ostry Architects is one of Canada’s leading design firms. Since the firm’s inception in 1992, AOA has demonstrated a commitment to the making of architecture that thoughtfully reflects local topography, climate, culture and to lessons learned from buildings inherited from the past. The values of the practice embody a consideration to design that is without willful extravagance. The firm’s design approach incorporates new technologies and materials in alignment with a considered, modernist idiom, resulting in buildings that offer sustenance to those who inhabit and experience them. The practice has received over 40 significant civic, provincial and national design awards. Current projects also at the University of British Columbia include the $85-million Sauder School of Business expansion and renewal and the recently completed $8-million Hillel House Student Centre. In addition, AOA was responsible for the $16-million Friedman Building and the Meekison Arts Students’ Space at UBC.