All posts by Giulio

Pier 2, Apartment of the Future Makes Waves

Humphreys & Partners presented a future vision of multifamily design at the 2018 International Builders’ Show in Orlando. Vice President of Design Walter Hughes revealed a high-rise concept that portrayed renderings of two towers on the Manhattan waterfront.

Pier 2 is the innovative solution to the growing changes in people’s lifestyle and inclusion of technology. It is a new form of dwelling that can improve quality of life and create a greater connection to nature.

The 100 percent sustainable project is designed with modular and micro units, co-working spaces and every amenity a futuristic apartment dweller needs to thrive: artificial intelligence, drones, home automation, autonomous vehicles and a variety of activity and wellness centers.

Starting from the ground up this concept includes: ground level retail space outfitted with smart shopping capabilities, photovoltaic glass, wind turbines, green walls, Tesla energy via Powerwall, vertical farming and park and recreational areas that will have facial recognition technology and other carbon footprint reducing features.

Forward thinking and integrating the latest technology into multifamily projects is Humphreys & Partners’ priority. Pier 2 not only defies conventional multifamily design, but represents the future of multifamily design.

Leading companies in sustainable housing recognized for their contributions and advancements in Ontario’s Green Building category

Ontario’s best Green Builders were celebrated at the EnerQuality Awards Gala (EQ Awards), taking place at the Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. Hosted by Breakfast Television’s Kevin Frankish, more than 200 industry peers gathered to share concepts and accolades as together they help to move towards a more energy conscious future.

“Advancing energy-efficient techniques and tools are huge priorities in the building sector to continue to improve healthy living conditions, fight climate change and minimize unnecessary spending,” says Corey McBurney, President of EnerQuality. “The EnerQuality Housing Innovation Forum & Awards help to connect builders with the innovation they need to meet their design goals as well as spotlight the change-makers who are effecting policies and driving standards towards a shared goal of Net Zero housing.”

The EQ Awards were enjoyed by all and featured special designations to highlight the outstanding contributions of industry leaders including:

2017 Hall of Fame Nominee – Larry Brydon, VP Business Development with Cricket Energy

Larry has been in the HVAC distribution and energy services market for more than 25 years. A past chair of Sustainable Buildings Canada and the Toronto Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Efficiency Alliance, the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE), Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC), and EnerQuality. Among his many achievements, Larry led the Enbridge and Union Gas’s Savings by Design program. This initiative has participated in over two hundred low-rise, and fifty high rise developer design charrettes where they shared energy-efficient design alternatives resulting in 15-25% energy improvement over the Ontario Building Code.

2017 Leader of the Year – Doug Tarry, Doug Tarry Custom Homes Ltd.

2017 was a banner year for Doug Tarry, of Doug Tarry Custom Homes. Fresh off winning the inaugural Net Zero Builder Award from the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, his Project Hope, a fundraising event that was the first time a Net Zero home was built in just three days, raised funds for the family of the late Johnny Nooren, a building inspector from St. Thomas. The project won the 2017 Prestige Award from the Ontario Home Builders’ Association for project of the year – low rise, and the trailer for the accompanying documentary was seen by more than 10,000 in movie theatres in Ontario. Doug Tarry led his team of builders to receive the 2016 EQ Builder Achievement Award and now holds the 2017 title of Leader of the Year for propelling the company’s holistic Net Zero housing concepts with simple controls designed to allow homeowners to save money while living in a healthy environment.

Impact Award – Arista Homes Ltd.

Arista Homes Ltd was awarded the honor of the 2017 Impact Award – an award introduced in 2016 to recognize a builder’s significant voluntary progress in reducing carbon emission and outstanding achievements through energy efficient and sustainability practices. “Green initiatives and ENERGY STAR participation have become staples of our building practices and we remain committed to continuing to improve our building practices and to lead by example,” says Franco Crispino, V.P. of Sales and Marketing. Arista Homes has proudly enrolled more than 1,200 ENERGY STAR® homes since the construction of its first multi-phase ENERGY STAR community in 2009.

2017 EQ Award Winners:

Partner Award

Enbridge Gas Distribution

Union Gas

Owens Corning

Enbridge Savings By Design Award

Remington Homes

Building Innovation Low-Rise

Great Gulf Homes Ltd

Building Innovation Mid/High-Rise

Times Group Corporation

ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year

(Small volume)

sean.ca (Sean Mason Homes)

ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year (Mid-volume)

Remington Homes

ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year

(Large volume)

The Minto Group

ENERGY STAR® Champion of the Year

Jacqueline Collier, Tamarack Homes

Best Green Marketing Campaign

Doug Tarry Custom Homes Ltd

R-2000 Home Builder of the Year

RND Construction

Net Zero Home Builder of the Year

Reid’s Heritage Homes

Evaluator of the Year

Angela Bustamante, Building Knowledge

Builder Achievement Award

Shaun Joffe, Great Gulf Homes Ltd.

Ontario Green Builder of the Year

Sifton Properties Ltd.

About EnerQuality

EnerQuality (www.enerquality.ca) is Canada’s #1 certifier of energy efficient homes and the market leader in delivering award-winning residential green building programs. Founded in 1998 by the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) and the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA), EnerQuality’s mission is to accelerate housing innovation to improve building performance.

Superkül

Active House: a model of sustainable suburban development

By Sarah Hicks

Communications Cordinator Ontario WoodWORKS!

Active House has a vision for the future. It’s one where buildings create healthier and more comfortable lives for occupants, without negative impact on the climate, moving us towards a cleaner, healthier, and safer world. The Active House label is a world-wide quality stamp for comfortable and sustainable buildings. Its metrics emphasize energy efficiency, low environmental impact, and superior occupant comfort.

Active House – Centennial Park is a model for modern, suburban development that sets a new standard of sustainable design for the thousands of new homes built in Canada every year. Wood and panelized wood construction were central in achieving the home’s high level of performance, so the project was a natural standout in the Environmental Award category at the Ontario Wood WORKS! Wood Design Awards.

Marianne Berube, Executive Director of the Ontario Wood WORKS! program that hosts the awards, remarked on the use of wood in contemporary construction. “Today’s wood products and systems are technologically advanced. Project teams are using these high-performance building materials in exciting ways, actively and imaginatively exploring wood’s expanding potential. Design professionals who understand the need for sustainable development are increasingly specifying wood products for innovative, environmentally responsible construction.”

Active House – Centennial Park is a prefabricated, panelized wood structure. The wall, floor and roof panels were factory built, flat packed, and brought by truck to the site for assembly. This efficient construction strategy reduced both construction waste and the duration of onsite construction; the frame of the entire house was erected in just a few days.

The innovative structural wood roof and wall system has an integrated air barrier that streamlined the weatherization process and vastly simplified and accelerated the assembly of the exterior walls. The system employs an integrated 3-ply exterior sheathing material (rigid Insulation, OSB sheathing and house wrap all in one). Fabrication in a factory setting, using computer generated cuts, optimized material use resulting in minimal waste.

Great Gulf’s H+ME Technology system — an advanced indoor automated manufacturing plant that allows roof, wall and floor assemblies to be built as integrated panels in a controlled environment — was essential to the project’s success. The H+ME Technology facility is supported by construction visualization, prototyping and fabricating technologies that reduce environmental waste and increase energy performance through the manufacture of tight-fitting building components. The system even provides the opportunity to build full-scale mock-ups to verify a project’s energy efficiency.

Wood’s environmental credentials and superior thermal comfort over other materials made it the obvious choice on this project. Its low embodied-energy and ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon is unlike any other building product – making it a natural choice for building sustainable, comfortable, high-performance homes.

The house occupies a modest footprint, but enjoys a greater feeling of expansiveness from the amount of natural daylight filtering in through the generous and strategically placed windows and skylights. This strategy also increases the potential for cross-breezes which naturally ventilate the house while decreasing reliance on air conditioning.

An open-plan configuration with double-height spaces connects all areas of the house without sacrificing privacy, removing visual barriers while creating a greater sense of engagement between family members. Consequently, the home feels far more spacious than its 2,900 square feet. Light and nature is brought further into the house through the provision of a small C-shaped courtyard, with views from all three sides outside to the surrounding flora and fauna.

Specific energy-saving and environmentally conscious features such as interior and exterior LED lighting systems, triple-glazing, low-flow water fixtures, low-VOC finishes and energy-performance monitoring systems complement the primary design strategy of maximizing opportunities for natural daylight and ventilation, ultimately achieving a greater sense of health and well-being for the occupants.

 

BIG-BJARKE INGELS GROUP – Plant-filled skyscraper in Singapore

BIG & CRA FUSE TROPICAL NATURE WITH MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN SINGAPORE’S NEW TOWER FOR CAPITALAND

The 280m tall high-rise on 88 Market Street, jointly designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has broken ground in the bustling Central Business District of Singapore. The tower, one of tallest in Singapore, will redefine and elevate workplace and living standards while adding an elegant new landmark to the Singapore skyline.

Located in the heart of Singapore’s financial district, the new 93,000 m2, tech-integrated and verdurous skyscraper which includes the ‘office of the future’, a serviced residence and retail components, transforms the site of a former car park complex built in the 1980s. BIG and CRA were selected to design the 51-story high-rise following an international architectural competition hosted by Asia’s leading real estate company, CapitaLand. The development funded by the joint venture partnership CapitaLand Limited, CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. is expected to be completed in 2021.

“Buildings can no longer be designed with a singular purpose or customer profile in mind – the definition of work is rapidly evolving and will continue to take on new forms. With our deep expertise in developing and managing offices, malls, serviced residences and integrated developments, CapitaLand is in a unique position to lead the charge in creating future-ready, work-live-play developments that will galvanize the community. Anchoring the rejuvenation of Raffles Place, the upcoming integrated development will set a new benchmark for workspaces of the future as we harness the best-in-class design, engineering and smart technologies to empower occupants with new levels of flexibility and mobility. This will be complemented by active placemaking initiatives in the integrated social spaces to build a vibrant work-live-play community. We are excited to embark on this journey to create a sustainable, people-centric development as we lay the blueprint for the workplace of the future.” Mr. Lim Ming Yan, President & Group CEO, CapitaLand Limited.

 

Rising to 280m, the integrated development offers premium Grade A office space, a 299-unit Citadines serviced residence to be managed by The Ascott Limited and ancillary retail space. The tower is set to make a distinctive mark on the Singapore skyline: the building’s exterior façade consists of vertical elements that are pulled apart to allow glimpses into the green oases blooming from the base, core and rooftop. A dynamic interplay of orthogonal lines and lush greenery presents itself in the contrasting textures of steel and glass, interweaved with tropical vegetation.

“BIG’s design seeks to continue Singapore’s pioneering vertical urbanism with the 280m tall diverse community of places to work, live and play inside as well as outside. At multiple elevations, the facade peels open to reveal urban oases for its users and the surrounding city – animating the elegant smoothness of modern architecture with the ubiquitous tropical nature.” Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG.

At the ground floor, visitors will be met by a public rainforest plaza and park. A series of spacious activity pockets invite possibilities for fitness sessions, temporary art installations or other community events. Meandering garden paths and covered passages create natural entryways into the City Room, a 19m-high generous open space at the foot of the tower. The lush exterior will be matched by an array of hi-tech solutions shaping a series of fully responsive spaces for work or leisure. Sensors, Internet-of-Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence capabilities are scattered throughout the tower which will enable the tenants to customize their experience of the building.

The City Room welcomes tenants into separate lobbies for the offices and residences, as well as shoppers and diners into the food centre within the tower’s podium.

 

The first eight floors of the tower are dedicated to the serviced residence including a wide range of facilities such as a swimming pool, jacuzzi, jogging track, gymnasium, social kitchen, residents’ lounge and barbeque pits. The top 29 floors of the tower offer premium office spaces with panoramic views to the Singapore River and Marina Bay.

 

At the core of the building between the hardscapes of the offices and residences are four connected levels of organic softscape, called the Green Oasis – a mesmerizing 30m open-air garden for work, casual strolls, relaxation, exercise and events. The multi-leveled oases are connected by a spiraling botanical promenade that creates multiple viewpoints of the vertical park within and the Singapore landscape outside.

“As someone with Singaporean heritage, I’m honored and humbled by the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing evolution of architecture in Singapore – the home of tropical modernism. BIG’s design looks to further this local typology by distinctly yet seamlessly blending the contemporary high-rise with abundant greenery in-between the offices, residences, amenities and recreation spaces.” Brian Yang, Partner in Charge, Bjarke Ingels Group.

 

The Green Oasis is a tranquil haven of winding walkways and comfortable seating areas for working outdoors or simply lounging in the shade. At about 100m above ground, the tropical garden will feature a jungle gym, treetop cocoons, sky hammocks and a café.

“At CRA, we aim to design spaces that can become settings for novel interactions. In this building, green areas are made accessible to the public at different heights, allowing the city’s exuberance to extend throughout the entire tower. Working in nature will be as essential to the experience of the building as the most advanced digital technologies, offering us a glimpse of tomorrow’s offices.” Carlo Ratti, Founding Partner, CRA; Director, MIT Senseable City Lab.


Images by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

 

 

HOUSE ON ANCASTER CREEK

Winner of wood design award an owner-driven, intergenerational home

The House on Ancaster Creek is an example of owner-driven development, creating a unique solution to the complex issue of aging-in-place.
The project in Ancaster, Ontario, has won the WoodWorks 2017 residential wood design award. It constructs a scenario for living that allows for autonomy while mutually benefitting from proximity. It confirms that sustainable systems and designing for the elderly are not exclusive from modern expression and exquisite details. As the family changes so can the family home.

The wide lot backing onto Ancaster Creek is the site for an intergenerational home for a family, including elderly parents. The house was conceived as two distinct residences, each formed into a linear bar containing the full program of a home. The bars sit perpendicular to each other, creating a landscaped courtyard setback from the street, and stack at the corner.

Ancaster Creek and its associated floodplain traverse the property. This site is one of 596 private properties that accommodate forest, wetland, meadow, and aquatic habitat in this protected area. The house is located at the back of the property in close proximity to the creek, while respecting the meander line to avoid the floodplain and erosion hazards of the watercourse. The landscape moves through the house, creating a natural context and denying the collection of McMansions that have been developed around the site and attempt to contextualize it as suburban instead of as connected to the land.

Williamson & Williamson[/caption]The parents’ suite occupies the ground floor with the living and dining space anchoring the view. The suite is laid out as a single floor accessible apartment with added features to accommodate the specific challenges facing the aging parents. Among them, well-located drains and a master power switch mitigate issues that have come with memory loss: a sink left running, or an oven left on. A second bedroom and bathroom are adjacent, but separate, for a live-in relative or nurse.

Running parallel to the creek is the main residence. The kitchen anchors the south end of the house. Set in a double height volume, the 20-foot-tall pyramidal ceiling creates an expansive space that opens to the creek, the courtyard, and above to the sky. Back-painted glass and polished Calacatta slabs are meticulously detailed to reflect the surrounding landscape and contrast the heavy, flat-sawn solid oak island with a faceted base.

Williamson & Williamson[/caption]The dining room occupies a glazed link pinched between the landscape that flows from the creek, through the courtyard, and to the front of the house. The living room, with a honed travertine fireplace and oak wall rendered in the form of the exterior cladding, extends under the cantilever in the summer months, doubling in size. These social spaces are shared by the extended family. A connected hallway that is easy to navigate for the parents leads around a softened corner and draws the family together.

The grand gesture of a wood-clad spiral staircase connects the living room to the second floor master suite, creating a unique moment in the otherwise orthogonal room and celebrating the connection between floors. The curvature opens as it rises and becomes the ceiling of the adjacent wing, creating a pinwheeling effect that leads to the parents’ suite.

Structured with sheets of laminated plywood, the white oak railings become thin, curved, structural elements that bridge between the floors. The complexity of this system is seen in the connections between the layers, with the two sides tied together by the treads, effectively treating the tight, inner spiral as a post.

Williamson & Williamson[/caption]The small second floor acts as a private suite. A lounge with concealed bar extends from the large landing, a custom oak library painted a soft blue provides an office space, a light-filled cantilevered bedroom reaches out into the best views of the creek and a serene bathroom clad in gray marble tiles sits across a linear walk-in closet.

With sustainability at the forefront of the design process, the requirement of material durability and longevity was paramount. Careful detailing of local materials achieves this. The ground floor of the house is clad in 3-1/2-inch thick locally-quarried Algonquin limestone which meanders around the perimeter.

Williamson Williamson[/caption]

The coursing is designed to highlight the compression and layering that forms this sedimentary rock. Twelve-inch-tall stones at the top-most course compress to four inches at the bottom. The horizontal joints are raked deep and the vertical joints are filled flush to emphasize the horizontality of the rock. Milled cedar clads the upper volumes of the house. One-by-six boards were milled with thin shadow lines that create depth in the material and emphasize the verticality of wood’s natural state. A three-part finishing system extends the life of the wood and stretches the time required between maintenance work.

Williamson & Williamson[/caption]

To reduce the ecological footprint, energy consumption was decreased through a number of key moves. Most importantly, two families are now living on a single-family lot, increasing density without increasing building area. Second is the envelope: High-performance glazing systems, including triple-pane wood-frame windows with an average Uw (heat loss rating) of .77, anchor the highly insulated envelope. Radiant floor heating can then be used sparingly and only to compliment a high efficiency furnace. Finally, a 37 module 9.8 kW Canadian made solar array was installed across two of the flat roofs, offsetting energy consumption. Combined with LED lighting, these measures culminate in a low-energy home that sits comfortably in this northern climate.

Web / wwinc.ca

Williamson Williamson Inc. is the architecture and design studio led by Betsy Williamson, OAA, and Shane Williamson, Associate Professor and Director of the Daniels Faculty’s Master of Architecture program at the University of Toronto. Practice-based recognition includes the Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement and the Professional Prix de Rome for Architecture from the Canada Council of the Arts, the Emerging Architectural Practice Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, and the Young Architects Prize and the Emerging Voices Award from the Architecture League of New York.

WOHA ARCHITECTS – Living green tower in downtown Singapore

Oasia Hotel Downtown Offers a Living Prototype for Commercial High-Rise Development

The Oasia Hotel Downtown, designed by Singapore-based WOHA Architects, presents a radically different face to the world than its glassy neighbors in that city’s central business district.

The structure incorporates 25 species of creeper plants into its permeable aluminum façade, giving the high-rise a character that is both unique and indicative of the architects’ conception of design for the high-density, yet green city. WOHA’s design for Oasia Hotel Downtown moves beyond vague notions of “sustainability” by fundamentally embracing living systems into a mixed-use program—one that grows, rather than exhausts a city’s resources.


While buildings most often stand in opposition to nature, replacing green with grey, WOHA’s work proposes that even our highest density built works can amplify living greenery within urban space. Oasia Hotel Downtown actively contributes a lush, living ecosystem to the city, from footprint to skyline, by producing over 1000% of the greenery found on the site prior to its construction. Over time, the tower’s open terraces, sky gardens and blossoming façade will evolve into a lush and permeable envelope.

With the Oasia Hotel Downtown structure divided into both hotel and office uses there was a great need for a circulation plan that could support varied uses and allow for individualized open spaces. WOHA’s plan of distributing necessary elevator and building service cores to the four corners of the building allows for generous open spaces on the 6th, 12th, 21st and 27th floors. As WOHA principal architects Richard Hassell and Wong Mun Summ are keen to point out, this distribution scheme allows the rare pleasure of standing in the center of an upper sky terrace and taking in a 360-degree view.



Singapore’s newest tower breathes life into the upper reaches of the CBD skyline. This architectural prototype, with its naturally ventilated shared spaces and growing material palette, is a novel architectural experience, whether from afar or from within. Moreover, in keeping with the Singaporean firm’s extensive experience and expansive repertoire, Oasia Hotel Downtown embodies WOHA’s vision of high-rise, high-amenity architecture that responds to the complex conditions of megacities and the broader Global South.

 

Fast forward

Flexibility of Flexsola design key to creating sustainable and environmentally-friendly housing

Nicholas Varias is an innovator, plain and simple.

The president of Flexsola International Development Corporation has a lengthy cutting-edge track record dating back to the 1980s. But the culmination of his ground-breaking design efforts to create affordable, adaptable and environmentally-friendly housing just might be his latest design – the Flexsola.

“The construction sector is lagging behind in terms of innovation,” says Varias, a Canadian architect, artist and writer, whose company is based in Burlington, Ontario. “And that’s especially in respect to dealing with climate change. Flexsola can bring a much-needed contribution.”

Flexsola is a modular system for creating sustainable and environmentally-friendly multi-use developments. Its flexibility makes it affordable and adaptable to peoples’ needs as they change over time. Its functional flexibility can provide lifetime residency, opening the way for the creation of a stable, caring and economically-sustainable community.

“Flexsola will appeal mainly to first-time homebuyers and seniors,” says Varias. “That’s thanks to its capability of constructing small units and then expanding them as needed. Cost-wise, for construction, we are aiming for a maxiumum of $150 per square foot.”

A patented steel saddle connection is at the heart of the Flexsola modular building system. This novel approach facilitates the creation of space modules, which can be added, removed, or relocated within a three-dimensional rectangular grid. The flexibility and affordability of Flexsola modular building system make it an ideal solution for an ever-increasing demand in homes of all types and other uses.
“The steel saddle is the key feature of the system,” explains Varias. “It expedites the installation of the posts and beams, and permits the addition or relocation of modules.”

The Flexsola system can be used for a wide range of applications and modules can be made to any size or shape for easier transport. In addition, localized assembly plants can be utilized to increase design flexibility through the use of more complex module shapes. The system can be adapted to all forms of housing currently available on the market, with the added benefits of unprecedented flexibility and adaptability. It is also ideal for infill developments and can be easily integrated into the existing urban fabric.
A Flexsola building system property will be more attractive and economically viable than conventionally-built buildings, says Varias. Economic projections indicate that initial investment could be recovered over a few years if advantage is taken of all the potential financial benefits of using this system.

Where a large percentage of the purchase price of a home comes from a mortgage, a conventional house often remains a liability for a long time, despite its growing equity. In contrast, a Flexsola building is a financial asset because of savings not found in conventional buildings. Some examples:

  • Lower construction cost resulting from prefabrication and the unique modular system further enhanced by the use of the saddle connection system, which speeds up the erection of the posts and beams;
  • Reduced insurance costs;
  • Long-term lower costs of energy consumption and maintenance;
  • Revenue generating options due the functional flexibility of the floor plan (i.e. rental of a secondary unit, or home-based business);
  • Electricity generation revenue;
  • And relocation potential of the entire house, or of some of its modules.

Varias says a Flexsola building system has a low-carbon footprint because of very important features, such as of its innovative steel structures, landscaped rooftops, and unique devices to generate solar and wind energy.

According to the Flexsola president, a building produced and erected in this system will also be more sustainable than alternative structures. This is why:
Quick erection on site due to off-site fabrication and the patented saddle;

  • Ease of transportation;
  • Steel is 100 per cent recyclable and can be recycled indefinitely, the only “cradle-to cradle” recycled material in the world;
  • Durability and longevity;
  • Steel is a long-term investment that does not go to waste;
  • Steel manufacturing and fabrication to exact specifications causes minimal waste;
  • Flexsola system buildings will consume less energy through heating and cooling than other buildings of similar size if clad with approved off-site produced sustainable cladding materials to give the highest level of thermal fabric performance;
  • The system can outperform conventional construction in virtually every sustainability criteria including acoustic performance, air tightness, thermal performance and durability. It requires less maintenance by adhering to rigorous quality standards during assembly in the factory;
  • And enhancement to Flexsola energy reduction benefits include additional options such as green/sedum roofs, parapet and post mounted PV panels and mini wind-turbines.

Web / flexsola.com
Flexsola International Development Corporation has been awarded the 2017 Innovative Product Award by Toronto Construction Association. In 1996, Varias won the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s FlexHousing Design Competition and a model of his design was built in 1997 at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology in Ottawa.

Going the extra mile

An architectural backstory at the heart of a glorious Kensington Market renovation

This is a story behind the story about the metamorphosis of a century-old property in Toronto’s Kensington Market district.

The project? The Kensington, 299/301 Augusta Avenue. The main player? Design/Build company Barbini Corporation. The backstory, supporting cast, in this scenario? Two architectural specialists: James L. Sa’d and Brian L. Abbey.

Their task? To perform a wholesale makeover of a mixed-use building – with a storied history to say the least – owned by John McBride.

“One of the more interesting challenges,” says Sa’d, OAA, Principal, Paradigm Architecture + Design, “was that the building is located on a very compact, restrictive site, with a proximity to neighbours that required us to prescribe several innovative envelope solutions in order to be able to comply with fire-resistance requirements set out in the building code.”

Keep in mind that architectural considerations always factored in the core wishes of the owner – to create a new landmark building for a neighbourhood that is undergoing significant change, albeit at a much slower, more selective pace, than the rest of Toronto. As the process evolved, the site underwent a gradual transformation. Today, it’s a three-storey, mixed-use building consisting of a new home for the Kensington Brewing Company on the ground floor, a commercial office space on the second, and four executive rental micro-apartments on the third.

“Looking back on our first meeting, over six years ago, sitting there in the Barbini office, it’s really hard to believe what you see today,” added Abbey, Principal, Licensed Technologist, OAA. M.A.A.T.O. BSSO. A Sc.T. CSC. BCQ with Adtek Building Consultants. “The Kensington, 299/301 Augusta Avenue, has completely transformed the neighbourhood over that period of time.”

Back in 2011, it was Abbey and Adtek who got things going. Later, Sa’d and his Paradigm team were brought into the mix; fortuitously, as it happened. More on that later.

“I realized early on that it would take a lot of ingenuity and creativity to come up with any kind of concept that would be both aesthetically pleasing and financially feasible as well as sustainable, accessible and energy efficient,” Abbey says.

“I came up with the idea of creating a three-storey mixed-use building that would contain retail or restaurant space on the main floor, flexible commercial space on the second floor and luxury residential units on the third floor. We all agreed that this concept, in principal, would be an ideal attribute to the Kensington Market community.”


What followed was the hard part – making the concept work within a long and narrow lot, and treating the project as a renovation, not a new build, which meant maintaining 50 per cent of the main walls in the existing building.
Abbey says he wanted to come up with a pleasing design, but also wanted to have as much flexibility as possible to allow for any future change of use.

“So I chose to design it as a fully sprinklered, non-combustible construction building, even though it was, technically a ‘small building’ regulated under the Ontario Building Code (OBC),” he explained, “being less than 600m2 in gross building area and no more than three storeys in building height.”

It was at this stage of the project that Abbey says he was “thrown a curve.”

“This happens in all designs, but in this case the owner wanted to add an additional seven feet at the rear of the building to gain more space,” Abbey recalls. “ We pushed the building over the limit of 600m2 and it then was considered a ‘large building’ and subject to different regulations.”

When all was said and done, and the building permit process completed and approved, it was time for Abbey to turn over the architectural design duties to Sa’d and Paradigm.

“Although I was pleased and excited to have been instrumental in the conceptual design, the design development, the construction drawings and the building permit process, I was really upset that being only an accredited architectural technologist that I had to hand over the reins to a licensed architect of record because of the building’s new classification,” says Abbey.

“Notwithstanding that hurdle, I have to say that Jim Sa’d and his team from Paradigm Architecture have done a magnificent job and I am really proud to have been part of the project.”

With Sa’d and Paradigm at the helm, the reno continued. The building has a façade composed of materials, Sa’d says, that suggest a dichotomy reflective of the struggle between Kensington Market’s past and future, all within a relatively narrow lot frontage.

“Two thirds of the façade consists of contemporary, purple-black, high-iron content brick accented with crisp, clear anodized aluminum awnings above each storey,” he explains. “While the last third harkens back to the gritty and organic history of the Market by virtue of a sculptural, Cor-Ten steel-clad elevator shaft with backlit perforated letters that spell out the Market’s namesake, all the while creating a subtle beacon, now recognizable to visitors and residents of the neighbourhood alike.

“Perforated black steel guardrails on the second and third floor Juliette balconies echo this language of raw materials that are found on various buildings nearby.”

Sa’d says the apartments were designed with many space-saving solutions, including Murphy bed units that collapse atop couches, instantly transforming living rooms into bedrooms, and kitchens packed with highly organizational cabinetry and concealed appliances, such as an under-sink dishwasher drawer. Alternate lighting options and high, coved ceilings add to the illusion of larger suites, each of which contains its own washer/dryer.

Yes, there were architectural hurdles, but they were circumvented. And that’s one of the trademarks of the Barbini Corporation brand.

Web / amedeobarbini.com

Barbini Corporation is a leader in green building. Architect James L. Sa’d of Paradigm Architecture + Design says a number of sustainable features were incorporated into the project at 299/301 Augusta Avenue. “Mineral wool insulation with R-values above minimum code standards were employed in order to reduce energy consumption costs for heating/cooling; daylight tubes were installed in order to reduce the amount of artificial lighting required during daytime hours; a greywater recycling system was employed that reused rainwater collected and stored in retention tanks in the basement for toilet flushing within the third-storey rental apartments. Generally, materials, finishes and energy efficient technologies were incorporated into the design and construction of the building.”

 

 

Qatar to build a fully modular, demountable World Cup stadium made from shipping containers

THE FIRST EVER TRANSPORTABLE AND REUSABLE STADIUM IN THE WORLD

Spanish firm Fenwick Iribarren Architects (FIA), led by architects Mark Fenwick and Javier Iribarren are the visionaries behind this venue’s bold design.

The stadiums design is unique as it’ll be the first ever demountable, transportable and reusable stadium in the World. Its structure is based on shipping containers, which can be easily assembled or disassembled as required.

The main objective is to create a socially responsible stadium based on following concepts: modularity, movability, legacy, functionality and iconic image.

Using adapted shipping containers as building blocks cuts down on the amount of building materials required, creating less waste and reducing the stadium’s carbon footprint.

Mark Fenwick, from Fenwick Iribarren Architects, assures that “we are confident that this innovative and sustainable concept will serve as an inspiration for other architects from all over the world. And will allow for the creation of aesthetically pleasing spaces to serve as a legacy for future projects”.

The concept of sustainability is at the very core of Ras Abu Aboud Stadium

Constructed using shipping containers, removable seats and other modular ‘building blocks’, not only will this innovative, 40.000-seat venue have a remarkable design, but it will be completely dismantled and repurposed following the tournament.

“This venue offers the perfect legacy, capable of being reassembled in a new location in its entirety or built into numerous small sports and cultural venues. All of this in a stadium that delivers the atmosphere fans expect at a World Cup and which we will build in a more sustainable way than ever before,” said Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of Qatar’s World Cup organizing committee.

In its short lifetime, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium will create an innovative blueprint that will give global stadium developers and tournament planners a fine example to follow. It will guide the way towards more sustainable and more legacy-driven sporting competitions, opening up hosting opportunities to countries all over the world. The stadium is aiming to achieve a four-star Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) certification.

People who live close to the stadium site will enjoy a verdant waterfront development that will occupy the site once the stadium has gone. Work will begin soon after the final whistle brings the venue’s Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-final match and the stadium’s tournament duty to an end.

As soccer fans make their way to Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, enjoying stunning views of Doha’s skyscrapers from across the bay, they will marvel at a soccer stadium unlike any other. This 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup venue will be constructed using shipping containers and modular steel elements, echoing the nearby port and Doha’s long maritime history. The result will be a distinctive, boldly colourful and thoroughly modern arena that will almost look like it is made from building blocks.

The design uses prefabricated and modular elements. This approach reduces the waste generated during production of stadium components and the waste created on site during construction. The use of modular elements also reduces the venue’s construction duration.

The venue’s temporary nature and clever modular design will mean that fewer building materials will be required than in traditional stadium building, helping to keep construction costs down. And with other projects reusing the seats, roof and other components of the arena, parts of the venue will be utilised for years and even decades to come. Minimizing construction costs and ensuring regular future use are the key ingredients in making a new stadium and sporting mega events sustainable.

The design concept will result in the swift, cost-efficient construction of a stunning arena, which will have an elegant curved square form. The enclosed shape of the stadium will ensure a memorable atmosphere for fans and players alike at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup fixtures up to the quarter-final stage

Web: www.fenwickiribarren.com