The 4th annual Architizer A+Awards are now open for entries! Help us celebrate great architecture and get your designs recognized on a global stage: Find out how to submit your project here.
To celebrate the launch of this year’s A+Awards — the world’s largest awards program for architecture and products — we asked the winners from 2015 about the secrets behind their success, the exciting new projects on their drawing boards, and their architectural inspirations. Up this week is Jeremy Sturgess, principal of STURGESS Architecture — the winner of both popular and jury votes in the Architecture +Engineering category for their dramatic lookout in the heart of the Canadian Rockies: Glacier Skywalk.
Name: Jeremy Sturgess
Firm: STURGESS Architecture
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Education: B. Arch (1974), University of Toronto
What was it about your winning project that you think resonated most with voters?
I think the sheer subtlety and grace within a context of a heroic landscape.
Since winning your A+Award, what’s the most exciting project you have been working on?
We are the architects and urban designers for 30 stations for a low floor LRT line running through a necklace of historic and suburban communities in Calgary.
Which of this year’s A+Awards jurors do you find most compelling, and why?
What I find compelling in the list is the inclusion of those peripheral to our profession. As well as remarkable architects on the jury, you have filmmakers, actors, and writers.
Among your fellow A+Award-winners, which project is your favorite, and why?
It is difficult to judge architecture from a photograph. But the most compelling for me, and at the event in May, is the Incineration Line in Roskilde by Erick von Egeraat. The building is monumental and graceful at the same time, elements that I believe we achieved with our Skywalk.
Who’s your design hero and/or favorite building, and why?
Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, JJP Oud, Thom Mayne, Frank Gehry, and Steven Holl for their commitment to design at every level and to always pursuing the new, rather than perfecting the familiar.
What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
The commitment to the City. The fact that architecture is about building community, and the rediscovery of the City through sensitive architecture is having a real impact.
Which city would you most like to visit next for its architecture?
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Which material do you most love designing with, and why?
Currently, we are investigating the flexibility and opportunities of Cross Laminated Timber panels. We find they have application to a large number of design conditions we encounter.
