November 14, 2025

At the GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN gala last night, York University Markham Campus was recognized as the Grand Winner in the discipline of Architecture. The project also received Gold certification in the category of Public Building/Higher Education & Research Building. 

York University Markham Campus is the first post-secondary campus of its kind in the City of Markham, a suburb just outside of Toronto. The project innovates by challenging the traditional academic building typology, defining a collegial community within a vertical campus that spans 400,000 square feet and accommodates 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students across a diverse range of programs.

Ten stories of highly flexible teaching and learning spaces are organized around a dynamic, multi-storey atrium and vertical podium. This open and interconnected central forum serves as a social and academic crossroads for the university. The building’s exterior is expressed by bronze-anodized aluminum cladding and curved geometries, establishing a strong urban presence and identity within Markham’s emerging city centre.

Addressing the challenge of the site’s high-water table and poor load-bearing capacity, the building’s design incorporates a six-metre grade change, created as a design solution to address the site’s upward water pressure. This gesture opens the building onto a sloping Campus Green at three levels—strengthening its connection to the new landscape and future development phases, which will include a second academic building and student residence.

The GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN Awards is an international competition that celebrates the excellence and the talent of creative professionals and firms who have distinguished themselves through exemplary practice.

Learn more about the project and awards here.