All posts by Giulio

Architecture, Ideas, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories, Trends, Wood

When dreams come true

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World’s leading tree house company caters to every whim while maintaining sustainability focus

There are many ways to connect with your inner child.

But perhaps none can compare with the pure, unadulterated joy experienced when you drift back to less-stressful times when dreams were constant and life was all about having fun.

Two brothers, Andy and Simon Payne, tapped into that feeling in a big way, when they decided to let their imaginations run wild, creating a renowned tree house design and construction empire along the way.

Theirs was no one-off venture – they now, in fact, offer a variety of inspired and luxurious options, featuring everything from fairy-tale towers to spas to living spaces connected by rope bridges high up in trees. And their UK-based company, Blue Forest, has built hundreds of tree houses which mesh with their immediate environment, all utilizing sustainable materials such as timber.

Born in Kenya, the brothers grew up in the English countryside near Sussex, where they followed through on their vision to start a tree house business – realizing the potential after volunteering for a conservation project in their African homeland.

They came up with the name Blue Forest – named after the blue-hued pine forests in Japan’s mountainous Aomori region – and initially began creating tree houses of all shapes and sizes, including a traditional child’s house and party venues for adults and teens.

From that basic beginning, however, Blue Forest has grown. Today, it’s arguably the world’s most prominent tree house company.

“We have been able to fulfill clients’ dreams for unique and exciting tree houses,” says Blue Forest spokesperson Shar Maytum. “We are known for our sustainable practices and structures that which reflect their natural setting.”

Blue Forest works hand in hand with the world’s largest forest certification system, the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), as well as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), to ensure that all the wood used comes from sustainably-managed land. They determine where the original trees were grown, when they were cut down and how many trees were planted to replace the harvested ones.

“Our structures are built using a variety of natural construction materials, including timber which is FSC/PEFC-certified or sourced from sustainably-managed forests,” explains Maytum. “There is an active strategy of replanting and habitat regeneration, enabling them to blend in seamlessly with the beautiful natural environment in which they are situated.”

At the same time, Blue Forest encourages clients to build with high levels of insulation and incorporate renewable energy whenever possible. Achieving off-the-grid capacity is not always easy, but Blue Forest believes that the elements that make the tree houses most sustainable are not always difficult to achieve.

For example, Maytum says that simply insulating the building really well, and using such natural resources as the sun and wind for heating and cooling, plus incorporating low-energy lighting, combine to go a long way towards achieving an off-the-grid goal.


There are many ways Blue Forest helps clients achieve their sustainable goals. Homes are built around trees and utilize hybrid designs so that the weight of the structure is supported by posts and anchored by trees. There are also fully arboreal houses built right in the middle of long-living, deep-rooted trees.

The company designs also cater to client whims. Say a client prefers hardwood to softwood. Blue Forest can provide a more expensive sustainable alternative called Kebony, which uses a bio-based liquid to permanently enhance sustainable softwood, giving it a dark brown finish with premium hardwood features.

Across the board, however, Blue Forest finds that its clients all want to reconnect with nature in some way. And it’s that love of nature that makes sustainability a top priority.

It’s definitely a lifestyle choice, one more and more people are gravitating towards, says Maytum.

“Being built in and around the trees in their natural environment … there is no better place to live than in a tree house,” she says.
Web / blueforest.com
Blue Forest’s primary expertise is in building luxury tree houses but the company has designed and built everything from tree house hotels to woodland playgrounds, tree house classrooms, canopy walkways and eco lodges. Blue Forest provides a turnkey solution, with everything from design and planning to construction and commissioning comes in one package. Blue Forest mainly operates in the UK and Europe but has participated in a number of other projects around the world. The company also offers design or architectural consultancy service for customers further afield.

Architecture, Building Envelope, Green Energy, HVAC, Ideas, LEED, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories, Trends

Taiwanese twist

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Vincent Callebaut’s historic Agora Garden Tower the ‘right symbiosis between humanity and nature’

It’s been a long time coming, but the spell-binding Agora Garden Tower, a masterpiece of sustainable design conceived by Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, is twisting its way to completion.

Construction of this residential tower in Taipei, Taiwan, began back in 2013. Also known as the Tao Zhu Yin Yuan, the structure is rising to 22 storeys, and is expected to be completed, finally, by September 2017.

“Taipei is for me the new Asian Silicon Valley,” Callebaut says, in a CNN interview. “I hope that the Tao Zhu Yin Yuan will become, for the city of Taipei, the new ecological symbol of the right symbiosis between humanity and nature.”

That may be saying a lot, but there are many reasons to give Callebaut’s claims credence. Besides the impressive height, the tower twists 4.5 degrees at each floor, for a total of 90 degrees, when all is said and done. And Callebaut is quick to point out that this twisting effect allows residents to enjoy panoramic views.

Arranged throughout the tower will be 23,000 trees, on the ground and on individual balconies of each of the 40 luxury apartments. These are not merely decorative adornments – it is forecast that the trees will absorb 130 tons of CO2 each year.

As a sustainable residential eco-construction development, Agora Garden Tower will also be home to Taipei’s most luxurious rooftop clubhouses, a swimming pool, gym facilities and car parking. Each of the high-end apartments will offer maximum flexibility in terms of interior layout.

From a green standpoint, the structure will be a fusion of climate, landscape and architecture. The project has an integration of bioclimatic passive systems (natural lighting and ventilation, a rainwater recycle system, low-e glass, double curtain walls) along with an optimum use of renewable energies, including photovoltaic solar roof and canopies.

The energy conservation systems are automated. Along with trees, the tower will also host a vertical twisted garden sitting in the middle along with the aforementioned landscaped balconies, cascades of flowers, fruits, vegetables and aromates. Moreover, the landscaped basement for parking will be naturally lighted and ventilated. All these measures were taken to achieve ecological objectives.

Callebaut is aiming for U.S. Green Building Council, LEED Gold and Low Carbon Building Alliance, Diamond Level certifications. To this end, a rainwater capture and recycling system will be on the roof. In addition, a large 10,763 square-foot roof-based solar panel array will reduce the building’s energy reliance on the grid.

The building is therefore eco-designed. It integrates not only the recycling of organic waste and used water but also all the renewable energies and other new state-of-the-art nanotechnologies (BIPV solar photovoltaic, rain water recycling, compost, for example.)

As a living organism, the tower becomes metabolic. It overpasses its energy-consuming passive role (absorbing all the natural resources and rejecting only waste) to produce its own organic food. The architectural concept is thus to eco-design an energy self-sufficient building, whose energy is electric, thermal and also alimentary.

Specifically, the four main ecological objectives attained will be:

  • The reduction of the climatic global warming;
  • The protection of the nature and the biodiversity;
  • The protection of the environment and the quality of life;
  • And the management of the natural resources and waste.

At the same time, according to a concept where nothing is lost, everything transforms itself; all the construction and furnishing materials are being selected through recycled and/or recyclable labels. By imitating the processes of natural ecosystems, it deals with reinventing in the industrial and architectural processes in Taipei in order to produce clean solutions and to create an industrial cycle where everything is reused; either by returning to the ground as non-toxic organic nutrients, or back to industry as technical nutrients able to be indefinitely recycled. The project demonstrates the symbiosis of human actions and their positive impact on nature.

Callebaut takes particular pride in the slogan accompanying this project: A small step for carbon absorbing, a big leap for anti-global warming.

“This type of ecological architecture is not a trend. It’s a necessity,” Callebaut told CNN. “For this project, I realized energy conservation, carbon reduction, and eco-friendly concepts through exceptional and novel green building design concepts with the goal of perpetuating the Confucian spirit of generational succession, continuation of the past and ushering in of the future, and long life and prosperity.”

Architecture, Building Envelope, Green Energy, Ideas, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories, Trends

Snaking into the future

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Wadala Tower concept an avant-garde design driven by strong image of Indian snakes

Mumbai, India – When completed, the mix-use Wadala Tower would be one of the tallest of its kind in the world.

Currently in the planning stages, it’s been designed by world-renowned architect James Law, of James Law Cybertecture International.

Wadala Tower is a 21st century ultra-futuristic “Cybertecture” skyscraper situated in the heart of India. The design concept of this super high-rise tower is driven by a strong image of Indian snakes. The tower targets to serve a diverse group of potential clients with the provision of shopping mall, services apartment, hotel and office use with 360 degree of breathtaking view. The avant-garde design is not only aiming to be the best mix-use tower in India, but is targeted to be a landmark as perhaps the best building in the world.

In concept, the 1000m tower is a dynamic curling form generated by twisting floor plates. Each floor plate is rotated slightly at five degrees continuously upwards in order to create the dynamic and fluidity of the tower. On the other hand, large and luxurious terraces are also created by the rotating floor plates.

The stepped terraces would be ideal for extraordinary views and social interaction. Although the skyscraper would be one of the tallest in the world, its proportion is made to be slender and elegant through a series of sophisticated and thoughtful design processes. The tower can be conceived as a whole regardless of different uses as the twisting shopping mall is merged into the tower part, which is completely different from the conventional high-rise building where podium and the tower usually did not match with each other.

Wadala Tower would also be one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly towers. With the provision of greenery, wind turbines and waterfall, a sustainable environment for apartment residents hotel users and office workers is introduced. A vertical urban forest is created by the twisting terraces with massive amount of vegetation which could reduce carbon emissions. External wind turbines are installed on every five floors which help to generate renewable energy. A grand waterfall along the core is not just for aesthetic purposes only but also helps to reduce the heat gain of the tower.

The dynamic composition of the diagrid façade system is inspired by the various skin textures and pattern of snakes. Different size and density of the diagrid create a magnificent layering visual effect. The overall frame is like the bones of snakes where there is a core with sub-structure. This structural scheme allows an open plan configuration by providing completely column free office spaces.

In addition, “Cybertecture” egg-like forms are located at the upper part of tower, which allows for flexible uses such as clubhouse, restaurant and conference hall. This special designed space is a symbol of identity for residents, office workers and even visitors.

The ‘egg’ would glow in light like a gem in the darkness.

Architecture, Green Energy, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories, Trends

The American Institute of Architects Select the 2017 COTE Top Ten Awards

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected this year’s recipients of the Top Ten Awards, the industry’s premier program celebrating sustainable design excellence. Now in their 21st year, the Top Ten Awards highlight projects that exemplify the integration of great design and great performance. Submissions are required to demonstrate how the project aligns with COTE’s rigorous criteria for social, economic, and ecological value. This year’s recipients will be honored at the 2017 AIA Conference on Architecture in Orlando.

New for 2017
For this year, COTE substantially revised its Measures of Sustainable Design, the criteria judges use to evaluate projects. New topics include impact on health, wellness, and economy. In past years, criteria was based largely on predicted performance, not actual performance as measured after occupying the buildings. Since 2014, past Top Ten recipients have been invited to submit post-occupancy data and narratives to be recognized with a single COTE Top Ten Plus award each year. In 2017, these separate tracks are merged: The ‘Plus’ designation will denote projects with exemplary performance data and post occupancy lessons.

Bristol Community College John J. Sbrega Health and Science Building; Fall River Massachusetts Sasaki

Image © Edward Caruso Photography

Bristol set ambitious goals of making its new science building not only elegant and inviting, but also a model of sustainability. The 50,000-square-foot building sets the standard as the first ZNE academic science building in the Northeast. Providing hands-on learning opportunities and care to underserved populations, its program accommodates instructional labs and support space for field biology, biotech, microbiology, and chemistry; nursing simulation labs; clinical laboratory science and medical assisting labs; dental hygiene labs; and a teaching clinic. Taking a holistic approach to the design and construction of the Sbrega Health and Science Building, the team uncovered innovative ways to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, increase efficiency, and dramatically reduce demand.

Brock Environmental Center; Virginia Beach, Virginia
SmithGroupJJR

Top Ten Plus honor for exceptional post-occupancy performance

Image © Prakash Patel Photography

The Brock Environmental Center is a hub for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Hampton Roads office, supporting their education, advocacy and restoration initiatives. The Center is designed to express CBF’s mission of collaboration to protect one of the nation’s most valuable and threatened natural resources – the Chesapeake Bay. CBF aspired to manifest true sustainability, creating a landmark that transcends notions of “doing less harm” towards a reality where architecture can create a positive, regenerative impact on both the environment and society.  The Center surpasses LEED achieving zero-net-CO2 emissions, zero waste, and Living Building Challenge certification from the International Living Future Institute.

Chatham University Eden Hall Campus; Richland Township, Pennsylvania
Mithun

Image © Bruce Damonte

After receiving the donation of 388-acre Eden Hall Farm north of Pittsburgh, Chatham University conceived an audacious goal to create the world’s first net-positive campus. Home of the Falk School of Sustainability, Eden Hall Campus generates more energy than it uses, is a water resource, produces food, recycles nutrients, and supports habitat and healthy soils while developing the next generation of environmental stewards. Linked buildings, landscapes and infrastructure support an active and experiential research environment. New building forms, outdoor gathering spaces and integrated artwork complement and interpret natural site systems, while making cutting-edge sustainable strategies transparent and explicit.

Discovery Elementary School, Arlington Public Schools; Arlington, Virginia
VMDO Architects

Image © Alan Karchmer; Lincoln Barbour & VMDO Architect

Discovery Elementary School is the largest zero-energy school in the US. The challenge was to integrate a 98,000 SF building into a residential neighborhood while keeping the entire PV array on the roof. By terracing the mass into a south facing hill, the project met local goals for scale, community goals for preservation of flat, open space for recreation, and global goals for ideal orientation for solar generation. Discovery offers a positive example of a solution to the global crisis of climate change – and along the way emboldens students with the expectation that they are creative participants in those solutions.

Manhattan Districts 1/2/5 Garage & Spring Street Salt Shed; New York City
Dattner Architects and WXY architecture + urban design

Image © Albert Vecerka/Esto
The Garage and Salt Shed celebrate the role of civic infrastructure by integrating innovative architectural design with sustainability and a sensitivity to the urban context. The building is wrapped in a custom perforated double-skin façade that reduces solar gain while allowing daylight and views in personnel areas.  The 1.5 acre extensive green roof reduces heat-island effect, promotes biodiversity, and filters waste steam condensate and rainwater allowing it to be reused for truck wash. The projects are also benchmarks for NYC’s Active Design program, which promotes the health and fitness of occupants through building design.

Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University; Washington, D.C. Payette and Ayers Saint Gross

Image © Robert Benson Photography

The Milken Institute School of Public Health at GWU embeds core public health values — movement, light/air, greenery, connection to place, social interaction, community engagement — in a highly unconventional, LEED Platinum building on an urban campus in the heart of the nation’s capital. Research offices, classrooms and study areas are clustered around an array of multi-floor void spaces that open the building’s dense core to daylight and views. An irresistible, sky-lit stair ascends all eight levels, encouraging physical activity. The pod-like classrooms are set in from the perimeter so informal study and social interaction space can overlook the bustling traffic circle.

Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital; Singapore
HOK, USA; CPG, Singapore; Studio 505, Australia

Image © Rory Daniel & CPG Consultants

The Green Mark Platinum NTFGH is part of Singapore’s first medical campus to combine continuing care from outpatient to post-acute care. Based on passive principles, the performance-based design supports resource efficiency, health, and well-being. Seventy percent of the facility is naturally ventilated, representing 82% of inpatient beds. Unlike its Singaporean peers, NTFGH provides every patient with an adjacent operable window, offering daylight and views. An oasis in a dense city, NTFGH incorporates parks, green roofs and vertical plantings throughout the campus. The building uses 38% less energy than a typical Singaporean hospital and 69% less than a typical U.S. hospital.

NOAA Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center; Honolulu
HOK with Ferraro Choi & WSP

Image © Alan Karchmer

Located on a national historic landmark site on Oahu’s Ford Island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Inouye Regional Center features the adaptive reuse of two World War II-era airplane hangars linked by a new steel and glass building. The hangars inspired beautifully simple design solutions for how the center uses air, water and light. The LEED Gold complex accommodates 800 people in a research and office facility that integrates NOAA’s mission of “science, service and stewardship” with Hawaii’s cultural traditions and ecology. The interior environment, which is based on principles of campus design, creates a central gathering place.

R.W. Kern Center; Amherst, Massachusetts
Bruner/Cott & Associates

Image © Robert Benson Photography
Hampshire College’s R.W. Kern Center is a 17,000-square-foot multi-purpose facility designed to meet the Living Building Challenge. As the gateway to campus, Kern includes classrooms, offices, a café, and gallery space. The building is self-sustaining— generating its own energy, capturing its own water, and processing its own waste. The Kern Center is the result of an inclusive and integrated design process and wholehearted commitment to the environmental mission by the whole team. The project demonstrates Hampshire’s dedication to the highest level of sustainability and stewardship, and to the college’s mission of critical inquiry, active leadership and hands-on learning.

Stanford University Central Energy Facility; Stanford, California
ZGF Architects LLP

Image © Matthew Anderson

At the heart of Stanford University’s transformational, campus-wide energy system is a new, technologically advanced central energy facility. The system replaces a 100% fossil-fuel-based cogeneration plant with primarily electrical power—65% of which comes from renewable sources—and a first-of-its-kind heat recovery system, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and fossil fuel and water use. The facility comprises a net-positive-energy administrative building, a heat recovery chiller plant, a cooling and heating plant, a service yard, and a new campus-wide main electrical substation. Designed to sensitively integrate into the surrounding campus, the architectural expression is one of lightness, transparency and sustainability to express the facility’s purpose.

About The American Institute of Architects
Founded in 1857, the American Institute of Architects consistently works to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings, neighbourhoods, and communities. Through nearly 300 state and local chapters, the AIA advocates for public policies that promote economic vitality and public wellbeing. Members adhere to a code of ethics and conduct to ensure the highest professional standards. The AIA provides members with tools and resources to assist them in their careers and business as well as engaging civic and government leaders and the public to find solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, institutions, nation and world. Visit www.aia.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ideas, Style, Sustainability, Top Stories, Trends

A no-brainer – virtually

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Switching from a costly traditional trade show to a more affordable cyberspace model

Canada’s premier virtual trade show for green building

November 1st, 2017 from 9a.m. to 6 p.m.

It’s a Catch-22 situation for every business owner – to shell out the expensive investment needed for participation in traditional trade shows … or not.

Until recently, physically setting up a booth, and all the inherent rental and promotion costs, could easily reach $100,000. For the largest firms, perhaps that was manageable, but for small and medium businesses those expenditures were becoming unmanageable.

Now, however, with the advent of virtual trade shows, business owners can instantly get much more bang for their buck – and all from the comfort of their offices, without the financial burden and logistical inconvenience of the traditional option.

In many ways, this shift is an industry game-changer, with more budget-friendly costs, and a green stamp of approval to boot. The virtual alternative eliminates the need for transportation of people and materials; that alone reduces a company’s carbon footprint.

For the uninitiated, virtual trade shows are designed for online use, designed to resemble a convention centre, with lobbies, networking lounges and exhibit halls. There are booths for showcasing products and services. An online attendee can view demos, peruse literature, or chat with sales reps in real time. Often, there are keynote speeches or webinars, videocasts and podcasts, as well.

With companies these days adhering to green, sustainable policies, the virtual trade show concept is catching on in a big way. This year, in fact, Green Building + Architecture magazine is presenting the first Canadian virtual trade show for green and sustainable building. Called Green Building Expo, it is utilizing cutting-edge technology. It’s definitely budget-friendly and free for attendees.

Companies, traditionally, participated in trade shows to generate new sales leads. People attended conferences for content and networking. The same results, as it turns out, can be attained by becoming involved in virtual alternatives such as the Green Building Expo.

And in many ways, beyond the financial implications, a virtual show has much more going for it. A physical trade show, to recap, can be a hassle for a large corporation and a major logistical nightmare for small and medium players. At a physical convention, hundreds of vendors and thousands of attendees are jammed into a cramped, noisy space. Often, the “little guy” gets dwarfed by the “big boys,” armed with substantial war chests, premium advertising and booth space, as well as high-profile keynote presentation exposure.

Now, thanks to computer technology, the playing field is level. There’s no doubt we’ll see explosive growth. It’s not a stretch to suggest that the virtual event market could replace the traditional conference and trade show concept.

Some of the more obvious advantages to virtual trade shows include:

  • The green effect: Not only does the virtual model reduce a company’s carbon footprint on the front end, but it also eliminates the production of materials that will go to waste after an event.
  • Making perfect sense: It’s logical to utilize new technologies and trends — after all, that’s what you’re encouraging your buyer to do. So it goes hand in hand with sustainability.
  • Tracking lead generation: Virtual trade show platforms make it easy to provide prospects with downloadable materials, and many offer built-in tracking, lead management, and attendee profiles so you know exactly who is downloading what.
  • Saving money: For those who’ve been to trade shows, you know it costs a lot, both to sponsor booths and to attend.Among the expenditures are paying for employee time, travel, lodging, and meals, not to mention the various outlays needed for booths. Then there’s internet, printing, electricity and shipping. There is absolutely no question that exhibiting at a virtual trade show costs significantly less.
  • Better time management: Virtual trade shows not only allow you to save time on travel, but they often house your virtual booth for up to a year after the actual event. That means that the money you pay for your space isn’t buying you a few days, it’s buying a more long-term marketing platform.
  • The cool factor: Booths can link directly to an exhibitor’s Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube social media accounts. Impossible to dispute the value of that.
  • Extended reach: Companies can reach out to a global audience to generate a high volume of leads and prospects.

Moreover, virtual events are quickly evolving, becoming much more user-friendly. No longer do you have to understand complex computer functions to take part. While the basic computer skills of sponsors and attendees have likely progressed over the years, the virtual trade show developers have made the experience much more accessible, as well.

For additional information about the first Canadian virtual trade show for green and sustainable building, contact Executive Managing Director, Giulio Marinescu at 416.250.0664.

Web / www.green-building-expo.com / giulio@green-building–expo.com

Architecture, LEED, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories

Entrance to Toronto’s financial centre

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Southcore design uses architecture as a gateway with mix of commercial and residential uses

The Southcore Financial Centre (SFC) is a major mixed-use sustainable development in Toronto’s emerging Southcore Financial District comprising three glass towers: the Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) Office Tower (18 York Street), the Bremner Office Tower (7B) and the Delta York Hotel.

KPMB Architects designed both office towers. PwC is a 671,000 square foot, 26-storey tower and Bremner Tower is a 700,000 square foot, 30-storey tower. The design responds to the City of Toronto’s district planning strategy to create a new gateway to the downtown financial district and to increase density with a mix of commercial and corporate uses.

All three towers are unified at the street level with an interconnected three-storey podium. The roof of the podium features a publicly-accessible urban forest planted as a boreal environment with indigenous species. Both towers include three levels of below-grade parking and bicycle storage with adjacent change rooms and showers. The ground and second levels of the podium include retail services.

 

Architectural idea and quality of spaces
The two towers are sited to act as a new gateway from the south to downtown Toronto’s financial centre. The oblong rectangularity of each tower is characterized by a rigorous simplicity of geometry and elegant proportion. The building envelopes are a high-performance glazing system with maximum-scaled glass panels, which reduce the number of mullions and exterior metal elements.

This strategy achieves three things: minimizes thermal bridging conditions, optimizes daylight transmission and expresses a purity of form that appears prismatic. The lobby of each tower is a 16-metre high light-filled space, anchored at the core by elevator banks clad in Ontario limestone. The lobbies of both towers have escalators leading to the second floor to provide direct access to a sheltered pedestrian route to downtown Toronto’s grand central station. A monumental cylindrical glass and stone exterior stair located at the centre of the south elevation of the Bremner Tower provides access to the public garden terrace located on the second and third floor terraces of the podium.

General structure of the projects in relation with the surrounding landscape
The design fulfills the district planning strategy to use architecture as a gateway condition and to achieve a vibrant mix of commercial and residential uses. Committee of adjustment and site plan approval applications were prepared by a multi-disciplinary team of consultants under the leadership of KPMB. Successful negotiations were conducted with CN Rail, GO Transit, and other stakeholders to address concerns for soil stability during construction – as well as with the City of Toronto for making connections to the PATH system and the West York Teamway. The team also successfully negotiated an alternative solution to a requirement for grade level outdoor public space by convincing the City of Toronto to provide this space at the second level in order to accommodate service access below.

Project choices considered energy efficiency, creating comfortable working conditions to reduce the cost of running technological systems.

Certified LEED SC Gold, the buildings feature state-of-the-art operating and life safety systems including: rainwater collection system, Enwave’s deep lake central cooling supplemented by a thermal storage system, 18-inch raised floors, and enhanced indoor air quality.

Thermal storage tanks are incorporated into the lowest level of the building where they are used as a cooling source during daytime hours and recharged at night from the Enwave Deep Lake Cooling system when demand and rates are reduced.

The automated roller shading systems are controlled by a computer using a 3D model of the district to anticipate shade masking from adjacent buildings and selectively leaving blinds open where the sun is obscured in order to optimize daylight harvesting. Rainwater harvesting and an oversize cistern provide both sediment interception and a source of grey water for toilet flushing and irrigation to green roof vegetation during drought conditions.


Functionality, understood as compliance with the project’s purpose and brief
The tower design is conceived around creating a highly supportive and flexible space for work consistent with the shift from conventional compartmentalized approaches to office organization to open, connected workplace design where access to daylight, vistas, and good ventilation are fundamental.

With no columns interrupting the floor plate between the core and the perimeter, the space permits maximum latitude for accommodation of occupants’ needs. Floor to ceiling glazing maximizes views and permits daylight deep into floorplate. The raised access floor system maximizes flexibility of service delivery as well as low velocity ductless air distribution employing the displacement principle.

he design is attractive to a broad spectrum of potential tenants, from large corporations seeking to align values and commitment to sustainable practices, to smaller tenants seeking well-serviced conventional office environments in an accessible, downtown location.

Designed to meet the highest quality standards and expectations for high-rise office space, the project conforms to a tight financial pro-forma while creating signature architecture. The building’s elegant skin takes the capabilities of unitized curtain wall glazing to their limits by using the largest feasible lite size to reduce joints in the exterior skin and enhance the play of reflected and transmitted light. This approach reduces aluminum framing joinery, thereby lowering the cost of production while cutting heat transmission at frame members to enhance thermal performance.

The restraint of the massing and skin complements the vegetated roof and terrace areas of the project, providing a stage-like platform and backdrop to showcase the urban forest garden at the third floor terrace where a sample of St. Lawrence Lowland forest ecology will be recreated in full view of the towers of the financial district to the north.

KPMB Architects is an award winning, internationally recognized Canadian practice. Their approach prioritizes integrated design thinking, and the making of architecture of the highest quality in a manner that supports everything their clients wish to achieve – socially, functionally, financially, aesthetically, and environmentally. The philosophy of sustainability at KPMB is a philosophy of integrated architecture in which beauty, energy efficiency and environmental responsiveness are equally calibrated.

www.kpmb.com

Architecture, Ideas, Technology, Top Stories, Trends

All about the details

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Wallzcorp Inc. dedicated to clients and takes a personalized approach

Project managers at Wallzcorp don’t beat around the bush – they have a very clear modus operandi.

For starters, they are the creators of a modern-day design-build process. They are their clients’ most trusted providers of professional services, consistently exceeding expectations and bringing the highest value to each and every relationship.

That’s a key element as they take a partnership approach to help promote sustainable and economic growth of communities. Wallzcorp managers work tirelessly to ensure their projects are mutually successful, with a contribution that reaches far beyond bricks and mortar.

By continuously striving to excel at these core set of values, Wallzcorp believes long-term profitability, growth and client satisfaction will result.

And A. Nima Ahmadi, President of Wallzcorp Inc., fully supports these key company principles.
“Our expertise is to understand our clients’ needs and vision,” says Ahmadi. “We usually discuss all aspects of construction, the pros and the cons of different ideas, and work with our client step by step to bring their visions into a reality.”
“We recognize issues way ahead of time and address them one by one in order to get a project started and keep it progressing smoothly. We have learned that the only constant in the construction management industry is change so we anticipate potential obstacles and ask the difficult questions so we don’t get any surprises in the process. We guide our client through the entire design and building process, from start to finish.”


Call it the one-stop-shop advantage. Wallzcorp provides everything from participation in property acquisition, to floor-plan design and assistance with the complete municipal approval process, to preparation of financial feasibility studies, to monitoring and managing all phases of development. Wallzcorp has access to award-winning architects and designers, and most of its professional trades have worked with the company for several years.

“The first thing that we will discuss with all our customers is their requirements,” says Ahmadi, whose company is based in North York in the GTA. “We discuss their wish list and we systematically manage all the information that they are looking for. This way, our clients save time and money and have single-point accountability. At the same time, we do our best to maintain a crystal clear communication channel.”


To emphasize his point, Ahmadi provides a step-by-step guide to the meticulous process Wallzcorp adheres to. And he breaks that process down into sections entitled Briefing, Idea, Sketch, Design, Develop and Celebrate. One thing that is obvious in this process is that at Wallzcorp: It’s all about attention to detail.

Briefing

“Our philosophy is that a construction project should elicit excitement, joy, and pleasure as you come home or go to your workplace. A true custom build should reflect the personality and lifestyle of its owner, and should integrate the interior and exterior spaces with the land and gardens that surround it.”

Idea

“In this important stage, we take the time to learn about the clients’ tastes and ideas, their lifestyle requirements. We incorporate all of this into a Personalized Project Criteria, which we use to design and prepare conceptual drawings.”

Sketch

“In the preliminary design stage we provide three-dimensional rendering services in order to review the clients’ ideas and identify the details. This will allow our client to actually see how the final project will look like before we proceed, which will also allow the client to make unlimited changes earlier rather than incurring a change that costs during the construction phase.”
Design

“Once the client has approved the conceptual designs, we work with our team of professionals, architects, engineers and interior designers to create detailed working drawings. This step allows the client one more opportunity to view the construction drawings, and provides a unique insight into how the design will eventually come together.”

Budget

“We know that every client has a budget, and we strive to provide the best bang for their buck. After a client finalizes a style, square-footage, and wish list, we sit down and do a complete financial analysis and discuss the most economical overall budget.”

Development

“As construction gets started, we feel an open and consistent communication is the most important factor for a smooth-running, stress-free experience. We will schedule periodic meetings with the client to review interior and exterior finish material options, make selections, and to get updates on the construction progress. It is critical to keep everyone informed by quickly adding daily logs, updating schedules, marking up plans and more to our online construction management platform. We will also have “site walk-through” with the client at key points in the construction to make sure that the work is according to our plan.
In addition, our site manager will automatically e-mail a client a weekly construction report, outlining what took place at the site that week. Ongoing collaboration between our team and the client continues throughout the project and until it is completed. This ensures a pleasurable building experience and guarantees that each project will be finished on time and on budget, and at the highest level of quality.”

Celebrate

“At Wallzcorp, we pride ourselves on our quality consultants and trades as much as our projects.  We recognize that our diverse, multi-skilled workforce has the desirable skills and competencies to deliver excellence in all our activities. Working together, we provide customer satisfaction at every level to maintain our reputation as honest, reliable and quality contractors. Our management team brings a vast wealth of experience and helps drive the company towards continued success.”

Web / wallzcorp.com

About Wallzcorp Inc.
Wallzcorp offers all-inclusive, fully-integrated design and development management services that honour and reflect the preferences, requirements, and vision of each client. Wallzcorp represents the highest level in design creativity. The company is distinguished by its imaginative combination of artistic ingenuity, high-quality craftsmanship, and timeless elegance. Wallzcorp is deeply committed to serving its clients through a collaborative team-approach and single-point accountability. Wallzcorp focuses on the residential and commercial market in GTA, and throughout southern Ontario.

About A. Nima Ahmadi
Ahmadi graduated from Ryerson University’s Master of Architecture (MArch) program and his company has membership with Tarion, Building Industry and Land Development (BILD) Association and Project Management Institute (PMI). Previously, Ahmadi spent four years as an architectural designer with Melillo Architects in design and construction management, and two years as the principle designer at Pionova Studio. He has been President of Wallzcorp Inc. for nearly four years, doing design and construction management, and completing more than 60 small-to-medium sized projects during that time period. He has received a Thermador award of kitchen design in North America, and his client RE/MAX Hallmark has been the recipient of RE/MAX Integra best real estate office design award in both 2014 and 2016.

 

Architecture, Ideas, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories, Trends, Wood

Top of the world

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World’s tallest wood structure in B.C. a quantum leap forward for Canada’s forest and construction industries

It can be easy to get caught up in all the hoopla about the tallest wood building in the world being built in Canada, at the University of British Columbia.

Yes, the mass wood structure and façade has been completed for UBC’s Brock Commons student residence, with interior elements soon to follow, and it’s 18 storeys high. That, in itself, is impressive. However, the fact that the basic construction came in at four months ahead of schedule might be even more extraordinary.

Time, as they say, is money … and that especially holds true in the construction industry. So, yes, the world-record height is something for all Canadians to be proud about, but the hybrid building appears to represent much more.

“This remarkable building, the first of its kind in the world, is another shining example of Canadian ingenuity and innovation,” says Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources. ”It’s an apt demonstration of how Canada’s forest industry is finding new opportunities through technology and innovation — opening up a world of possibilities for our forest and construction industries.”

 

The structure was completed less than 70 days after the prefabricated components were first delivered to the site. And Brock Commons is the first mass wood, steel and concrete hybrid project taller than 14 storeys anywhere in the world. The building has a concrete podium and two concrete cores, with 17 storeys of cross-laminated timber floors supported on glue-laminated wood columns. The cladding for the façade is made with 70 per cent wood fibre.

The $51.5-million project was designed by Acton Ostry Architects of Vancouver with Architekten Hermann Kaufmann of Austria as tall wood advisors, Fast + Epp as structural engineers and GHL Consultants Ltd. as the fire science and building code consultant.

A key mandate for the innovative project was to demonstrate the viability of mass wood structures for B.C.’s development and construction industries. This was achieved with a hybrid design that combines the benefits of mass wood and concrete to achieve an economical structural system that is comparable in cost to that of traditional all concrete and steel structures.
Part of the design and construction strategy was recognizing that the level of prefabrication available in B.C. is not as extensive as that which is available in Europe. However, the speed and skill of high-rise residential trade contractors in Vancouver proved to be considerable.

To test the speed and efficiency of the erection of the mass wood hybrid structural system, a full-scale two-storey proof of concept mock-up was constructed in July 2015. Erection of the structure went smoothly and assembly proved to be faster than was initially projected.


Brock Commons has been designed to target LEED Gold certification and to conform to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. The building will connect to the UBC district energy system and is projected to achieve up to 25 per cent energy savings over a typical building of the same use.
“Brock Commons will demonstrate that mass wood structures offer an economically viable alternative to concrete and steel while providing a way to lessen the carbon footprint of the built environment,” says Russell Acton, Principal at Acton Ostry Architects.

Architecture, Ideas, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Trends

Not to be confused with Tiny Homes

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How to downsize, co-habitate, build income property, and go greener by leveraging offsite construction systems

By Tim Kuntz, President Revenu SGC (Strategic Growth Consultants)

You have watched it on TV, it’s all over the internet – as people are talking about it with curious excitement – while urban and rural municipal by-laws are changing to accommodate it.

What I’m talking about is MicroHome Living (small houses), not to be confused with Tiny Homes, which are usually on wheels and under 500 square feet in size. MicroHome designs generally range in size from 600-1,000 square feet.

HGTV’s Tiny House Builders, Tiny House Nation and Tiny House Hunters are at the forefront of mass media attention, conveying the message of “size doesn’t matter” when it comes to alternative housing.

Just ask Graham Hill, Montreal born designer/entrepreneur who founded treehugger.com and lifeedited.com who is on a mission to: Design your life to include more money, health and happiness with less stuff, space and energy. Lifeedited is working with architects and developers to bring small space living ideas to larger buildings in cities such as New York and San Paulo, Brazil.

My passion for small homes began almost immediately when I was hired as a project manager for an offsite construction systems (OCS) housing company in North Bay, Ontario back in 2010. I was amazed at the quality and efficiency of OCS logistics.

And I quickly noticed a couple of Quebec-based designers/fabricators that had begun to pioneer modern homes that allowed end-users to live smaller lower carbon lives without sacrificing great design.

These smaller home designs have continued to evolve over the past years, mostly in Quebec, although Kent Homes from the Atlantic provinces launched a modern “tech-home” in 2015.

One of the most recent advanced MicroHome designs comes from Laprise Group. In the fall of 2016 they launched a MicroHome called “AIR”. This innovative small space design incorporates many of the innovative features that were missing from earlier designs, such as built-in cabinets, furniture, beds, LED lighting, storage, roof deck, and room dividers.

”We are very excited to be entering Canada’s largest market (Ontario) with our OCS portfolio,” says Bert Rioux, business development manager with Laprise Group.

The MicroHome market has generated some great designs, so why don’t we see more of these energy efficient homes in the market place? Simply because these alternative housing communities just don’t exist yet. We are witnessing a shift in the multi-residential condo market, with innovative small spaces (300-600 square feet), and it’s fast becoming mainstream (and cool) to live with less … however it is still very much the status quo when it comes to single and multi residential communities.

The reasons we haven’t noticed these innovative homes and communities in the market is because it’s a radically new concept. Most developers, investors, architects, city planners, designers and builders are still producing traditional housing projects (average 2,500 square feet). Yes, some of them are branding NetZero or offering Net Zero Energy (NZE) ready homes, however size, design and value are still being approached from a very traditional perspective.

“Living small is possible and it could really work for your communities,” says Kevin Deck, senior associate at SFCS Architects. “But in order for that to happen, we have to disrupt the norm. We have to challenge historical square footage expectations and challenge the idea that quantity is king and think quality really matters.”

Municipalities, building officials and city planners, along with architects and developers, haven’t fully grasped the concept of the MicroHome Lifestyle Community or Low Carbon Living alternative. It will require a disruptive shift in traditional municipal development models: smaller land parcels, alternative zoning models, new infrastructure models, alternative landscaping designs, innovative packaging of value-added services like share libraries, built-in vehicle charging stations, bi-directional metering. For proof, you just have to just look at a recent joint venture between Japanese developers and Panasonic – the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town.

We are not the Japanese, nor are we like New York City. We live in Ontario and we have urban cities like Toronto, Ottawa, London … we have growing communities, like Fergus, King City, Bowmanville, and Orillia. We need to define our own vision of smaller space living and a lifeedited community.

If we asked, here’s what the market might be saying:

  • Smaller is good, as long as quality, design and space flexibility remain high;
  • Affordability is critical, if I choose to downsize my life, live smaller, then it has to make fiscal sense ($139,000 – $299,000) ie. all-inclusive fixed pricing packaging and mortgage financing;
  • Smarter greener technology and security is important ie. eco “lock ’n’ go” lifestyle;
  • Maintenance free, hassle free, easier living with like-minded neighbours, sharing community;
  • If I choose to live smaller, I want options, lots of options: from economy to premium fit and finishes, interior design professionals (option) best-in-class accessories ie. Panasonic, Jaga, Spaberry;
  • I want it delivered 50 per cent faster. I want plug ‘n’ play, I want it to have everything I ordered, installed, running, and tested prior to taking possession (easy knowledge transfer and ongoing support);
  • Built-in appliances, furniture, solar and storage (option), R62 insulation upgrade (option);
  • Hydronic heating systems with low temp boiler and hot water on demand, cooling options: fan versus AC;
  • Built-in cabinets, beds (Resource Furniture), smart blinds (Somfy), exterior door/hardware (options);
  • Options: outdoor kitchen/barbecue and furniture, spa/sauna, lap pool, garden, flowerbed;
  • Options: carport/garage, decks, glass railings, pergolas, fences, storages sheds, sitting room;
  • Options: awnings, gas fire-pit, wall art, fans, media and sound systems and WiFi;
  • Specialty lifestyle options (doors sizes, bathing systems, support rails, communication systems);
  • Costs me significantly less to operate and maintain on a yearly basis (eco options);
  • To be greener, to be more environmentally conscious throughout design selections;
  • And to hold its value in the market, and be attractive to the next buyers, and future generations.

Co-habitation (aging parent(s) and/or family caregivers) as well as added rental income are two big trends driving the demand for innovative MicroHome designs. As cities like Ottawa and Toronto revisit by-laws to accommodate rising costs of living in these urban centres, and boomers look to downsize with aging parents, new by-laws will surely open the way to adding a Microhome to your existing property, commercial roof top, or allow for a community of homes that offers a new level of design flexibility.

Vancouver has some great lane house designs available and real-estate valuations and rents justify designing custom MicroHomes there. Most Ontario markets, however, will require a more standardized design approach, leveraging OCS combined with value added: design options, add-ons, and accessories.

Does all of this sound too good to be true?

Great design, affordability, lower energy costs, best-in-class design options, green technologies, great design space for aging parents, extra income, a simpler lifestyle … what’s the catch? Well until a leading-edge developer starts to package these products, you will have to take matters into your own hands.

Here are some tips when considering a MicroHome project:

  • Understand the regulatory process – hire a professional to manage your building application;
  • Site survey: crane and transport access, understand your current physical framework and infrastructure: water, sewer, power, gas, cable, setbacks, easements, design by-laws, setbacks;
  • Proforma analysis: is it financially feasible to execute this project?
  • Select a design and blueprints and foundation drawings with site plan drawings to submit for approval;
  • Get pre-construction appraisal based on blueprints, land value and current comparable, get pre-approved financing;
  • Select an Ontario Home Builders’ Association-approved contractor or a recognized project manager who will deliver a fixed budget quote for end-to-end execution and management of project.

We will see the introduction of MicroHomes in Ontario in 2017. This year’s Cottage Life show will feature a MicroHome design by Guildcrest Homes. You can also watch for an innovative four-season total solution cottage/home.

Regardless of where you are in your accommodation/habitat lifecycle, you can be sure small space design is on its way … living greener, smaller, happier, with less, with great design, are all possible when considering the MicroHome lifestyle.

Web / revenusgc.com