a—A
Don Mills Jamatkhana and Ismaili Community Centre Wins 2023 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence!
Don Mills Jamatkhana and Ismaili Community Centre has been recognised by jurors of Canadian Architect for being "a great contemporary interpretation of Islamic architecture," and "a masterful composition of texture and natural light." Located in the Toronto suburb of Thorncliffe Park on the site of the first Ismaili prayer hall in Ontario, the Ismaili Centre will mark the 50th anniversary of the original building, a celebration of the community presence of the Ismaili branch of Shi’a Islam.
a—A is a design practice based in Toronto engaged in the act of city building, providing full architectural services across a wide range of contexts, scales and building types—from schools, galleries and cultural centres, to affordable housing and mixed-use developments, to urban parks and civic precincts. We work with clients and collaborators in Canada, the United States, and Europe. We are designers, researchers and urbanists who care about the city, and take care to create spaces that give meaning and invention to the ways we live and work.
Escarpment House
The Farm
383 Sorauren
Thompson Hotel & Residences
West Don Lands Block 8
St. James Cathedral Centre
Canadian Chancery Expansion
Centre for Civilizations, Cultures & Cities
Pond Road Student Residence
Pan/Parapan American Games Athletes' Village
Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research
Museum of Contemporary Art
11 Charlotte
Burnt Barns
Ravine House
The Grand at Sky View Parc
Pier 27 Phases 1 & 2
Don Mills Jamatkhana and Ismaili Community Centre
Junction Point
Four Seasons Hotel & Residences
Pickering Performing Arts Centre
Cairns Family Health & Bioscience Research Complex
Theatre Park
Fred Kaiser Engineering Building
ÏCE at York Centre
Harbour Plaza
West Don Lands Blocks 3/4/7
Pickering Library
West Block
A valuable precedent for Canadian architecture – nodding to history while exploring new ground.
A masterful composition of texture and natural light. The delicate building skin adds magic to an otherwise simple and economical building massing. [...] A great contemporary interpretation of Islamic architecture.
The Canary precinct is sophisticated proof (and a quiet rallying cry) that intelligent cities should renew the currency of the well-crafted ‘block’ as the real medium in which we can grow good neighbourhoods.