Wednesday, June 25, 2025
CABN, a Canadian builder of sustainable, prefabricated homes, with B+H Biomimicry, are the recipients of AZURE Media’s 2025 AZ Award and the People’s Choice Award for Conceptual Projects, Ideas and Prototypes. The award-winning concept serves as a blueprint for future community development that blends built and natural environments harmoniously.
Slated for Eastern Ontario’s Augusta Township, the CABN Community Development introduces a land-use strategy that integrates innovative housing with a forward-thinking planning approach. The proposal combines CABN’s energy-informed building design with B+H Biomimicry’s regenerative land-use planning strategy to create a community of 80+ units that contributes to the betterment of the natural environment while enhancing human interaction, self-reliance, and visual connectivity to biodiversity.
“This award is a testament to the urgent need for scalable housing solutions that respond to both climate change and the housing crisis,” says Jackson Wyatt, CABN CEO and Founder. “We’re proud to be recognized for a community-scale concept that reflects CABN’s core mission to deliver sustainable homes to those who need them most without compromising the planet.”
Now in its 15th year, the AZ Awards, presented annually by AZURE Media, have become a globally recognized benchmark for excellence in architecture and design. A jury of world renowned architecture and design professionals evaluate submissions over a multi-day period according to a project’s aesthetics, function, creativity, and social and environmental responsibility.
To create a truly resilient design, CABN and B+H Biomimicry conducted a holistic socio-ecological site assessment, interpreting the land’s natural patterns, strengths, and limits. The assessment guided decisions such as infrastructure placement and inspired biomimetic clustering to support ecological health and social interaction.
The site assessment determined that a biomimetic land use plan – an approach that draws inspiration from nature to guide sustainable design – would maintain the site’s ecological health, keeping key environmental indicators at levels similar to its original, undeveloped state.
At the community level, compact, intimate spaces promote safe, organic movement and enhance human interaction. The clustered orientation of CABN units ensures that front doors face front doors, maximizes solar energy use, encourages shared spaces, and facilitates equal access to amenities. The built form also incorporates sustainable infrastructure systems – including spaces for food production, a solar-powered energy system, decentralized water and waste management, and a flood-resilient landscape – designed to be low-impact and adaptable to future environmental changes.
CABN’s Augusta Township Community Development is undergoing a consultation process, and the municipality remains enthusiastic about the proposal.
CABN founder Jackson Wyatt is known for his success establishing a global sustainable products company, Greenlid, for which he built 50+ innovative products distributed in 10,000+ stores across North America and 25 countries worldwide.
Featured image credit: CABN
