
Queen’s Marque, a mixed-use project on the Halifax Harbour by local firms MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple and FBM, features a U-shaped assemblage of buildings — offices, condominiums, restaurants and a boutique hotel — that extend into the water like the prow of a ship. The structures are clad in Muntz metal, a shipbuilding alloy, and they have an energy-neutral cooling system that channels seawater. The best parts, though, are the publicly accessible boardwalks that skirt the harbour, connecting pedestrians to lookout points — and also to a polycarbonate tower, like an abstracted lighthouse, that will shine joyfully at night.

Team Brian MacKay-Lyons and Shane Andrews (MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple); Scott Armour McCrea (Armour Group); George Cotaras and Wayne Duncan (FBM Architects); Fathom Studio; Brackish Design Studio; Campbell Comeau Engineering; M + R Engineering; Studio Munge
Queen’s Marque features a U-shaped assemblage of buildings that extend into the water like the prow of a ship.