June 2015
| Business World
77
it's been an absolute pleasure to work with
the Patkau’s and they're very committed to
their architecture, as are we.”
The revitalization of the historic site includ-
ed the addition of the 24,000 sq ft visitors
centre designed to educate guests about the
history of the site, including the Battle of
York in 1813. Beyond the monolithic steel
walls of the structure, the Visitors Centre
rises up toward the Fort, which provides an
encompassing view of the entire historic site
through a belvedere located on the rooftop.
The project also won both Kearns Mancini
and Patkau Architects an Honorable Men-
tion at the OAA Awards, but the Fort York
Visitors Centre did take home Canadian
Architect Award of Excellence in 2011. The
project's architect, Dan McNeil explains
what the award recognition means to the
firm.
“We've received a fair amount of good rec-
ognition for the building and we continue
to get an embarrassing amount of congratu-
lations on it,” McNeil said. “It was very nice
that the OAA recognized it with 10 other
honorable mentions, and we don't take it for
granted.”
