The SHIFT Architecture Challenge is a new Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) program created to highlight the distinct contribution architects and architectural thinking bring to addressing key societal issues. It aims to showcase the profession’s belief that good design can bring about positive change.

The program invites Ontario architects and their collaborative teams to respond to an identified area of concern using their skills and insights. Each edition of this new program will have a specific theme, beginning with the SHIFT 2019 Infrastructure/Architecture Challenge.

THE 2019 CHALLENGE

The OAA challenges the profession to identify and address an infrastructure issue, either physical or social, where architectural thinking can advance insight and innovation.

Infrastructure encompasses the foundational aspects of society, profoundly structuring and governing our daily lives. It can include anything from transit, water systems, housing, hospitals, and electrical grids to planning regulations, definitions of family, immigration laws and the status of First Nations, Inuit and Metis.

The OAA challenges the architecture profession to examine these systems and propose new ways to understand, create or support infrastructure that links our communities in order to address these connective elements. The goal is to show how architectural thinking can promote social equity, reduce isolation or embody social justice.

Visit the ShiftChallenge.ca Website for more information and to see examples that illustrate approaches to the challenge statement.

Those SHIFT 2019 submissions selected by a jury comprising architects and other experts will then become the basis of a broader conversation on the issue promoted by the OAA, including a book publication, media outreach and an exhibition that makes its debut at the 2019 OAA Annual Conference in Quebec City this May.

Don’t miss you chance to participate in this exciting new program! Submit today!

Click "Create Account" to begin a submission.

Submission Deadline: January 18, 2019