On Friday, June 23, Azure celebrated the finalists and winners of the AZ Awards 2023 together with the architecture and design community at Evergreen Brick Works. The occasion marked the first time since 2019 that Azure hosted an in-person gala – and it was a spectacular evening!
Our charismatic MC, Jessica Allen, exuberantly hosted an exciting night. Before the jury winners and People’s Choice favourites were announced, Azure’s Editor in Chief, Elizabeth Pagliacolo, announced a new initiative – the Nelda Rodger Indigenous Student Award in Architecture and Design – and introduced the gala’s Guest of Honour, the architect Craig Dykers, co-founder of Snøhetta.
The awards were then presented in 24 categories. Jury winners received a stunning trophy designed by AZ Awards juror Marie Christine Dorner. This Earth-like orb is made from different layers of wood, including oak, sycamore and walnut, assembled at various thicknesses and in random order so that no two sculptures are alike.
The awards also included the A+ Award for Student Work, which comes with a cash prize that is generously sponsored by George Brown College’s Brookfield Sustainability Institute, a global solutions studio focused on applied and smart sustainable solutions for the future.
Meanwhile, George Brown School of Design, our decor partner, had created the luminous installation that transformed the Evergreen Brick Works with a paper landscape made of construction tubes lit from within and capped with rings of light. It was the perfect ambience for a fantastic event.
In the lead-up to the awards presentation, guests enjoyed special wines from Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Stratus Vineyards, and celebrated the winners and finalists with bubbles from Stratus’ just-to-be released Ancestral.
Known as the original way of making champagne, before filtration, this classic style is grown on their Niagara-on-the-Lake farm and is purposefully slightly “hazy” to preserve aromatics, complexity and flavour.
Later in the evening, an assortment of delicious Italian desserts was generously provided by our Gala Partner, Terroni’s PORTA. It was a sweet end to a wonderful evening.
The post Scenes from the Gala of the AZ Awards 2023 appeared first on Azure Magazine.
