As part of Architecture Week in the USA, we participated in a Crowd-sourced video initiated by Enoch Sears in which 50 architects from 12 countries submitted clips as they went about their day.
Check out the results below:
Thanks to Enoch for organizing and editing this!
– CAI
I am a Bullfrog customer because, while reducing energy loads from buildings through design is part of the solution, it is not the whole solution. Consider that when we add Photovoltaics to the roof of a high-performance office building with the best envelope we can design, they can only provide power for about three stories below. Technology may improve, but it is unlikely that on-site power will be the answer for urban areas. We don’t want low-rise cities that go on for miles and miles!
We need the electrical grid and we need renewable energy sources to feed the grid.
Recently I was interviewed by Bullfrog. Check out my Bullfrog Customer profile here:
I recently got to take part in a fantastic program run by No.9 called “Imagining My Sustainable City”. The program introduces sustainable urbanism and architecture to Grade 7 students across the city. This 4-day intensive workshop introduces children to urban planning, sustainability at both a localized and regional scale, spatial relationships between people and buildings, and the importance of collaboration. I was glad to be a part of this wonderful experience as this is the third and final year it will be running!
Experience with the Grade 7’s at Parkdale Junior and Senior Public School
The insight and enthusiasm from the kids was amazing! I was blown away by how quick they were to pick up on challenging content even professionals can struggle with! My only regret is that I was only able to attend the first two days. But those two days were jam-packed with learning and hands-on creation!
Day 1
After a brief introduction to Urban Planning, we conducted a site visit to the West Lodge Apartment Complex where the students envisioned things that they could change to improve/strengthen the community surrounding the site. Community gardens, music areas, gymnasiums, bird sanctuaries, parkour courts, and many other fantastic ideas erupted from the entire class! By the end of the day every student had been assigned a program to develop and had began their initial ideas for what that program would contain.
Day 2
Today started off with learning about spatial relationship using scale models. The students were tasked with building a 1:100 scale model of a space using 6 pieces of cardboard. It could take any shape they wanted, the only rules being that all the pieces were to be used and you could not build a box. They also had a 1:100 scale person so that they could “see” what it would be like to be within the space (an extremely valuable tool that they should hand out during first year (and some 4th year) architectural programs!). The results were amazing! I’ve attached some of the models with the sketches of their programs as examples, but space limitations don’t allow me to share everyone’s with you!
Go Parkdale!
Again I would like to thank the Grade 7’s for their enthusiasm and No.9 for putting together such a phenomenal program.
I’m was very pleased to be a part of this, and am looking forward to my next workshop with No.9 and TDSB in April when they are up in the Junction!!
Craig
Thursday night I attended a presentation of the design for the new home of the U of T Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, designed by Nader Tehrani, principal of the firm NADAAA.
The building is an addition to an historic building at one Spadina Circle. It’s in the current style that has sloped floors and stairs defining space without any regular rhythm or order. Fair enough. But good architecture is interesting and meets functional, budgetary and safety requirements.
I had hoped that it would address the fact that building operations in Canada generate somewhere around 30% of our GHG emissions.
On this note, it claims to be “beyond green; Not following LEED or anything”, but that statement is not followed by any description of WHY it is beyond green.
LEED may be reductionist, but it addresses a very broad range of environmental concerns in a rigorous manner.
In contrast, the Profession, as represented by the OAA, has just voted to renovate its HQ to meet zero greenhouse gas emissions in keeping with its support of the 2030 Challenge.
I don’t see how the U of T design excels. A short list of “green features” was mentioned; green roofs, and displacement ventilation, but no vision of how it all hangs together to achieve anything in particular.
I’m hoping this information is yet to come. Students deserve it.
Sheena.
Chris Magwood will be speaking about sustainable building practices in his new book “Making Better Buildings”. The event is happening in the Pit in the Architecture Building at Ryerson University on Tuesday March 18th at 7pm to 9pm.
Professor Mark Gorgolewski of Ryerson’s School of Architecture says of Chris:
“Chris Magwood’s considerable experience of sustainable buildings described in his new book “Making Better Buildings” book provides invaluable guidance for builders, designers and those thinking of building their own home. Striping away the hype, the book provides a rational and balanced assessment of alternative options for the major components of a building. It is particularly valuable since it includes a wide range of criteria such as cost, durability, code compliance and labour intensiveness together with environmental criteria, which make it a highly useful decision support tool for many sustainable building projects. Chris encourages us to get beyond the bickering about different systems at the “micro” level and to focus on the bigger picture, “macro” issues, when choosing building components and systems which will lead to significant change.”
Hope to see you there!
-CAi
Sonia Yuan’s “Heliotrope Spa” project, completed as part of her 4th year undergraduate studio project at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture is now on display in our storefront. Sonia designed a building as well as the systems for the building, including a 1:1 prototype of a concentrating photo-voltaic facade system that uses a 18″ Fresnel lens.
Here is a project description from Sonia:
The proposal for a spa in Cambridge, Ontario aims to create sensational, spiritual, and sublime spatial experiences with the use of a highly responsive sustainable building technology skin mimicking the function of the human body.
A key consideration of the project was to incorporate sustainable strategies into the design of the building instead of using tacked-on technology as an after-thought. The structural system of the building consists of ten columns supporting a space frame, off of which the glass curtain wall hangs. An aluminum frame superstructure supports a system of 18-inch-diameter solar-tracking and solar energy-collecting Fresnel lenses arranged in a grid, which covers virtually the entire surface area of the building. The Fresnel lenses converge sunlight onto high-efficiency tandem solar cells to store energy for later use or for immediate building energy needs, such as heating and cooling. This system of lenses not only provide the building with a large amount of usable energy, but in effect also provides solar shading, while allowing redirected, scattered, and dappled light into the building.
More information about her project can be found here: Heliotrope Spa (PDF)
If your in the area you’ll probably see her prototype in the window. Her work will be up until April 14th.
Best,
Coolearth
