The singular focus of Painted Rock Estate Winery, according to proprietor John Skinner, had been “all about the wine” since he and his family purchased this 60-acre property overlooking the eastern shore of Skaha Lake in Penticton, British Columbia, in 2004. That single-minded emphasis has produced extraordinary results for this young winery – most recently named “Winery of the Year” in British Columbia in the 2013 InterVin International Wine Awards, which awarded gold medals for Painted Rock’s 2010 Cabernet and 2010 Syrah wines.

[David Ford of Crown Corr]

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the sixth busiest airport in the world and the third busiest in the United States serving nearly 63.7 million passengers – including 17 million international passengers – in 2012. Visitors are drawn to Los Angeles to experience everything from the area’s temperate coastal climate and beaches to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood movie-making.

The University of North Texas’ (UNT) Apogee Stadium – the first newly constructed collegiate football stadium in the nation to earn LEED Platinum certification – opened in Denton, Texas, in September 2011 as the new home of Mean Green football.

The new McAllen, Texas, Public Library – which opened on the site of a vacant Walmart in December 2011 – was envisioned by city officials from the start of architectural bidding to include environmentally friendly features. But, from the perspective of Boultinghouse Simpson Gates Architects in McAllen, no design could be more environmentally conscious than adaptively reusing the former “big box” retail store, saving approximately 130,000 square feet of building demolition debris from being sent to the local landfill.

When design of the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre was awarded to Perkins+Will Canada in late 2007, architects were challenged to create a building that not only would increase visibility for and attract more visitors to the approximately 54-acre internationally recognized garden in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, but also meet the highest goals in sustainable building design.

Architectural design of the newly opened Seven Clans Casinos Red Lake followed the wishes of community elders of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians who own and operate this casino-hotel complex located  in north-central Minnesota on the reservation’s southern edge.  They wanted the facility’s design to respect tribal heritage but also to exude an atmosphere of fun and relaxation.