Building Envelope Design Competition 2026

Manitoba needs buildings that perform better in a changing climate — and building envelopes are where that begins.

Introduction

The 2026 Building Envelope Design Competition invited students and professionals to explore what future-ready, cold climate envelope design can look like for multi-unit residential buildings (MURB) in Manitoba.

Participants designed a Tier 3, NECB 2020–compliant envelope assembly for a theoretical MURB, demonstrating how emerging performance standards can be achieved without sacrificing architectural intent, occupant comfort, or real-world constructability.

The competition exists to accelerate design and technical capacity within the architecture, engineering, construction, and building science community; support readiness for evolving building and energy codes; encourage innovative, integrated envelope design; and showcase practical solutions suited to Manitoba’s climate.

As Manitoba prepares for higher-performance building standards, establishing practical and climate-appropriate envelope solutions will be key to successful code adoption and industry readiness.

2026 WINNERS

STUDENTS

1st Place Student Winner

Samara Rauch, Wade Robbins, Kai Dela Cruz, Kaeden Ham

Red River College Architectural Technology

2nd Place Student Winner

Owen Tintor, Chloe Card, Elena Dobrowney

University of Manitoba

3rd Place Student Winner

Carl Natiuk, Laura Li, Kepler Blumrich, Sheldon Greene

Red River College Architectural Technology

PROFESSIONALS

Winners standing in front of their winning design poster

1st Place Professional Winner

Adam Dubyna, Zahra Sharifi, Brooke de Rocquigny, Jennifer Atherton, Mary Torrefalma

ft3 Architecture Landscape Interior Design

2nd Place Professional Winner

Alan Aftanas, Laurie Aftanas, Jeff Brooks, Neil Klassen

WARM Window Team

3rd plan winners standing in front of their winning design

3rd Place Professional Winner

Kaamil Allah Baksh, Bryce Rezansoff

F-Blok Architecture

TECHNICAL & MODELING REQUIREMENTS

2026 entrants designed the building envelope for a theoretical multi-unit residential building (MURB) located in Manitoba.

Submissions focused on the fourth-floor apartment, including:

exterior wall assemblies
roof assemblies
windows and balcony doors
balcony details
interface details

Entries targeted Tier 3 performance under the NECB 2020 performance path for a cold-climate multi-unit residential building in Manitoba. Participants designed the envelope for the fourth-floor apartment, including walls, roofs, windows, and balcony assemblies.

Whole-building energy modeling was not required. Thermal performance and thermal bridging could have been demonstrated using manufacturer data and approved calculation tools. Full technical details are provided in the Competition Brief.

Submissions HAD TO include:

drawings of the building envelope
assembly and detail information
a short design rationale
bill of materials
poster boards for showcase

Full instructions, scales, templates, and calculation guidance are provided in the Competition Brief.

Evaluation Criteria

Submissions were evaluated on the following criteria:

Thermal performance
Daylight and views
Climate resiliency
Future proofing
Aesthetics
Local materials

Download the Full Design Brief

PRIZES & RECOGNITION

Cash prizes will be awarded in both the Professional and Student streams:

$5,000

First Prize

Student and Professional Streams for all Prizes

$2,500 & $1,000

Second and Third Prize

Designs to be Submitted by March

Next Steps

Construct envelope assemblies for additional testing by BETAC at RRC Polytech

Testing by BETAC adds an applied research component that allows winning designs to be evaluated beyond drawings, enabling real-world learning regarding constructability and cold climate performance.