On Thursday, May 28, AZURE celebrated the winners and finalists of the 16th annual AZ Awards. Taking place at a brand-new venue — the St Lawrence Market North Building — the Gala brought together more than 400 architects, designers, urbanists, artists and more for an early-summer night to remember. 

Upon entering the St Lawrence Market North Building (designed by RSHP with Adamson Associates Architects as Architect of Record and ERA Architects as Heritage Consultants), guests passed through an archway made from hundreds of illuminated berry baskets. Designed by local multidisciplinary studio RAW Work, the spectacular installation transformed the biodegradable farmers’ market staple into a sophisticated architectural structure that honoured the “rhythm of the harvest and the elegance of circular sustainability.” A second tapestry of berry baskets was suspended over the DJ booth, where DJ Jon Daniels was spinning tunes and keeping everyone in a celebratory mood. 

Stretching the length of the five-storey central atrium was a wondrous gourmet food installation by Forno Cultura. An inspired modern-day take on The Garden of Earthly Delights, the nearly 12-metre-long display was an edible landscape of local seasonal vegetables and fruits, meats and cheeses arranged in a composition that invited multi-sensory exploration. And Montauk Sofa provided the lounge settings — furnished with its luxurious soft seating — and also hosted the gala pre-party at its stunning 8 Britain Street location.

Our emcee for the evening was comedian, actor and podcaster Miguel Rivas, who charmed the audience with his humour and wit. The AZ Awards Gala presentation fêted the jury winners and the People’s Choice winners, with category winners receiving a one-of-a-kind cast-aluminum trophy designed by Toronto-based designer Jake Oliveira. We also celebrated the winners of our second installment of the EMERGING category — Aamp Studio took top prize for architecture (with Palma, Wayback Architects and Ultralocal receiving honourable mentions), while Montreal’s smallmediumlarge and By Lemoignan were awarded for industrial design and interior design, respectively.  

25 Special Moments from the 2026 AZ Awards Gala

Raw Work set the scene at the St. Lawrence Market North Building with a tapestry of berry baskets.

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Just beyond, Forno Cultura created a landscape of food.

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Inflatables 101 was created by OCAD U Circular Design students (led by Ranee Lee) and Studio Rat.

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The installation invited guests inside for fun selfie opportunities.

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Designer Jake Oliveira created the trophies for the AZ Awards 2026.

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Smallmediumlarge’s Sharlene Dupont-Morin and Juliette Mondoux with SBB Collective’s Lisa Barnes and Lindsay Singer and Molly Scott of Moooi Canada.

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Architect and designer Erik Behrens perched on Montauk Sofa’s latest chaise.

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Montauk Sofa also furnished the central lounge at the gala. Ali McQuaid Mitchell (centre) received an Award of Merit for Futurestudio’s design of Jaybird Kingsway.

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Emcee Miguel Rivas got the evening off to a raucous start.

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Monos’s Ari Hafezi took home a trophy for the luggage brand’s retail interior in New York. Aleksandra Stratton of Fisher & Paykel bestowed the honours.

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The Lebel & Bouliane team took the jury prize for its interiors in the Durham Spine & Pain Institute.

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Thom Fougere and Bureau Tempo won an AZ Award for their residential interior, Pine Island Cottage.

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Montgomery Sisam won in Architecture: Projects over 1000 sqm for its Koffler Scientific Reserve.

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Rasmus Astrup of SLA picks up one of two trophies, this one for Gronningen Bispeparken in Copenhagen, which took the jury prize in Landscape.

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1120 Ossington won the Social Good award.

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The AZ Awards gala also celebrated the People’s Choice winners across all categories.

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Azure Editor in Chief Elizabeth Pagliacolo took to the stage to announce the winners in the second annual Emerging Awards.

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Anne-Marie Armstrong received a trophy on behalf of her firm, AAmp, which won the Emerging Architecture Firm award.

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Tony Lemoignan of Montreal’s Bylemoignan received an Emerging Interior Studio award.

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Smallmediumlarge’s two founders received the prize of Emerging Industial Design Studio.

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Back on the floor, food was served up by Forno Cultura.

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Andrew Sun of Atelier Sun (left) received a People’s Choice Award for Suite 115 – Craft cocktail bar. Coolican & Company (which includes Peter Coolican, centre, and Lauren Sroka, right) received an Award of Merit for its Asquith table.

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DesignTO’s Anna Bartula with Rachel Tremaine of Maharam Toronto and interior stylist Trevor Cranmer-Johnston.

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Photography by Mauricio J. Calero and Marla Warner. Sharing on social? Tag @mauriciojcalero and @marlawarner_.

The AZ Awards 2026 was presented by Fisher & Paykel. Keilhauer was the EMERGING Category sponsor. Colombo Design America, Dark Tools, Jeld-Wen, Montauk Sofa, Scavolini, Vicostone and Landscape Forms were the Gala Sponsors.

Our media partner was v2com newswire.