On Saturday, amidst the old-growth forests around Camp Kawartha, we attended the Annual Ontario Natural Building Conference. There were many interesting speakers and presentations on natural building techniques and methodologies. The event was held in a straw-bale structure that is part of the camp. Below are some notes from the conference: Opening…
This week the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve, a collaborator of Coolearth, has done a guest post for our blog on the important work they do. Together we want to bring awareness to the great beauty and vital importance of this UNESCO site. Photo by: Kenton Otterbein Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve (GBBR) is an area…
Map showing the extreme daily maximum temperature change in degrees Climate change is topping national, provincial, and municipal conversations these days: and for good reason. The fast few years have been the warmest on record (“NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal Record-Shattering Global Warm Temperatures in 2015“) and the perils of business-as-usual become apparent. Ontario is implementing a Cap and…
At the firm as part of our conversation around insulation types, one of the Principals, Marty, mentioned that we have been using newspaper to insulated walls for hundreds of years. Indeed if anyone has done a renovation or addition to a home in Toronto from the early 1900’s, they might have found old newspapers still…
Yesterday German, Coolearth’s Building Science Specialist, went with some friends to check the winter stations design contest at the Beaches. This competition explores a winter design for the life guard stations that are not used in the winter with the goal of providing protection from the weather and in some cases providing a warm up…
We are excited today to share a guest post by Nabia Majeed, on her thesis work at the University of Toronto around healing environments. Nabia participated in the Passive Building Show at Coolearth Architecture in the Fall of 2015. Nabia Majeed is a Master of Architecture graduate from the University of Toronto who completed…