Winnipeg grad wins Canada Council architecture prize

Winnipeg's Michael Acht has won a Canada Council prize for up-and-coming architects.

Worth $34,000, the Prix de Rome in Architecture for Emerging Practitioners is awarded annually to a recent, exceptional graduate of one of 10 accredited architecture schools across the country.

The prize money allows winners to study and research particular design styles around the world, according to the type of practice they wish to pursue, and to intern with an architecture firm of international stature.

The assessment committee that selected the Winnipeg-based Acht included well-known Toronto architect Jack Diamond, critic Elsa Lam and Jon Tupper, director of Charlottetown's Confederation Centre for the Arts.

Calling his student work "nicely grounded, well-tempered and effective," the committee also praised Acht's employment experience and his continued interest in "gaining first-hand exposure to buildings and construction detailing."

Acht supported himself during university by working at a fireplace manufacturing factory, first as a labourer and later as a machine operator and designer. He began working for Winnipeg design firm DIN Projects in fall 2004.

A graduate of the University of Manitoba with a master's degree in architecture (2004) and a bachelor's degree in environmental design (2001), Acht has decided to travel to Portugal, Switzerland and Germany for his prize.

He will also serve an internship with German architect Regina Schineis, whose work was included in the German exhibition of the 2004 Architecture Biennale in Venice.

Previously, the Prix de Rome awarded winners $34,000 and a year in Rome to study architecture. In 2004, the Canada Council revamped the prize and split it in two. The $50,000 professional prize allows winners to make shorter visits, over the course of two years, to destinations relevant to their practice.