“The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens,” a conservatory structure in Winnipeg, Man., Canada. Image: Blackwell Structural Engineers

New for the 2024 International Achievement Awards (IAAs) was the Best of Canada award, where all of the entries from Canadian companies competed against one another, regardless of category. The winner this year, over 18 other projects, was “The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens,” a conservatory structure in Winnipeg, Man., Canada.

The 84,400-square-foot building has a roof made of a sweeping spiral cable net that supports inflated ETFE pillows. It houses tropical and Mediterranean biomes and a butterfly garden. The ETFE has a light transmissibility of 95%, that high number being important to support those types of plants and insects at such a northern latitude. The use of the cable net design minimizes shading caused by the structure itself.

“The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens,” a conservatory structure in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, from afar showing the building as a whole against a blue sky with some clouds as the sun starts to set. Canada geese are in the foreground of lush green grass.
“The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens,” a conservatory structure in Winnipeg, Man., Canada. Image: Blackwell Structural Engineers

A steel diagrid core forms the building’s spine and also contains the equipment for inflation of the pillows and environmental controls. Designers and contractors worked closely together “to ensure that the cable net provided adequate torsional rigidity to maintain the stability of the pillows and extrusions under unbalanced load conditions,” the project’s notes state. “The structure of the diagrid does the heavy lifting for the building, resisting the gravity and lateral loads for the roof and providing the tension ring function to anchor the cables of the cable net. Like the roof, the interior partitions separating the biomes consisted of ETFE foil supported by cables.”

The 2025 IAAs, including the Best of Canada award, will be announced at Advanced Textiles Expo in Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 5. The submission window for the 2026 awards will open for Advanced Textiles Association members in the spring and close in June.

Project name: The Leaf at Canada’s Diversity Gardens

Location: Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Award: 2024 International Achievement Award, Outstanding Achievement, Tensile Structures, >2,300 square meters (24,756 square feet) and Best of Canada award

Design and Engineer: David Bowick, Blackwell Structural Engineers

Architect: Mitchell Hall and Glenn MacMullin, KPMB

Fabrication: Vector Foiltec

Subcontractor: Bird Construction

Fabric: Vector Foiltec Texlon ETFE

Images: Blackwell Structural Engineers



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