Today the five short-listed competitors who will vie for the title of ‘winning design' in the St. Lawrence Market North Building Design Competition were revealed.

The announcement comes after architectural teams across the country and abroad responded to Stage 1 of the competition by submitting expressions of interest, and the City and a professional advisor to the competition narrowed the field to a final list of competitors. Stage 2 of the competition begins today, in which the finalists develop full building designs. These will be exhibited to the public in May.

The list of jury members for Stage 2 was also unveiled today. The jury members, who come from across North America, will deliberate, debate and adjudicate over which design should be chosen for the North Market redevelopment. The redevelopment of the St. Lawrence Market North property is to replace the existing one-storey North Market building with a new four-storey, multi-purpose facility that is more environmentally sustainable, energy efficient and mindful of the character and heritage of the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood.

Following jury deliberation and selection of the winning design, competition results will be announced to the public in June. The new North Market building in the St. Lawrence Market Complex is expected to be completed and operating in 2014, and during its construction, the Saturday Farmers' Market and the Sunday Antique Market will continue to operate at a temporary market structure at 125 The Esplanade.

The five design teams that have been selected from a field of 30 to compete in Stage 2 of the St. Lawrence Market North Building Design Competition are:

Adamson Associates Architects and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Cohos Evamy + Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects
Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
NORR Limited, Architects Engineers Planners
Taylor Hazell Architects and Montgomery Sisam

The seven members of the competition jury are:

Christine Couvelier, President of Culinary Concierge
Dr. Ron Dembo, Founder and CEO of Zerofootprint
William N. Greer, B.Arch., FRAIC, CAHP, Professional Heritage Consultant
Andrea P. Leers, FAIA, Principal at Leers Weinzapfel Associates
David Mirvish, Toronto-based theatrical producer
Peter Ortved, B.Arch., OAA, FRAIC, Principal of CS&P Architects
Claire Weisz, Founding Partner of WXY Architecture

Visit http://www.toronto.ca/stlawrence_market/design for more information.