Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i Sustainable Architecture & Building

Back in 2008, we published an article on CSA Z782, ‘Guideline for Design for Disassembly and Adaptability in Buildings (DFDA). Like McDonough and Braumgart's’ recently published Cradle 2 Cradle, DFDA appeared to offer a compelling strategy for reducing construction waste and ultimately decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. However, the complex parameters that determine circularity have proven difficult to implement fully, without either the ‘carrots’ of incentives, or the ‘sticks’ of regulation. In Vancouver, new bylaws were required to enforce the disassembly (rather than demolition) of older homes, the value coming in the character or quality of materials (specifically old growth wood) found in these structures. Across Canada, the recent focus on embodied carbon has increased the number of buildings (most particularly large concrete structures) being retained…

An Annual Supplement by ZERO CARBON BUILDING - Design Standard ▸ 587 Avonhead Rd - Building A Mississauga, ON, Carttera Management Inc. ▸ Agrandissement Rayside Labossière, Montreal, QC, Rayside Labossière ▸ BC Government NetZero Carbon Neutral Conversion, Williams Lake, BC, Real Property Division ▸ CT REIT - Dufferin Distribution Centre, Calgary, AB, Neoteric Architecture Inc ▸ École secondaire Sainte-Anne, Lachine, QC, College Ste-Anne ▸ FortWhyte Alive Buffalo Crossing Visitor Centre, Winnipeg, MB, FortWhyte Alive ▸ Louis-B Mayer, Laval, QC, Triovest ▸ Maple Meadows Phase 4/5, Maple Ridge, BC, Nicola Wealth Real Estate ▸ Market Lands Mixed Use Building Winnipeg, MB, UWCRC 2.0 Inc ▸ MIFO, Orléans, ON, Mouvement D'Implication Francophone D'Orléans ▸ Neil Campbell Rowing Centre, St. Catherines, ON, Niagara 2022 Games ▸ Northeast Scarborough Community & Childcare Centre Scarborough, ON,…

An industry up to the challenge Windows are obvious critical components of building enclosures, especially those designed for the highest performance of Net Zero and Passive House. Select manufacturers and suppliers are meeting the demands of the high-performance building market which they see as only growing in the coming years. While the Passive House Standard is voluntary, it is broadly accepted as a proven methodology to meet very high levels of energy efficiency – as much as 90 percent more than conventional buildings – and is often used by progressive building professionals to meet the requirements of performance-based building codes. Innotech Windows + Doors in Langley, BC shares the views of most select window suppliers that building codes throughout Canada, such as the BC Energy Step Code, is giving rise…

SABMAG EDITOR JIM TAGGART RECEIVES 2024 RAIC ARCHITECTURAL JOURNALISM AND MEDIA AWARD SABMag editor Jim Taggart has received the 2024 RAIC Architectural Journalism and Media Award. Over a span of 25 years, he has written more than 20 books, 50 building case studies and 100 articles. He has also been the editor of Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine (SABMag) since its inception in 2006. Jim has been an advocate for wood in contemporary architecture through his award-winning 2012 book, Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture, and his co-authorship of Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance (2020). Jim's work has also broadened the national conversation on sustainability, expanding its early focus on the ‘hardware’ of high efficiency building systems, to embrace the ‘software’ of societal values and priorities. He has…

Jeff Ker, Engineered Assemblies Facades systems have always been one of the most important parts of sustainability. We are only now coming around to realize just how important. Facades, if done properly, will be a rear ventilated rainscreen. They will be part of an outboard insulated envelope and will be high performance. In keeping with that methodology, they will then be the Primary Passive Environmental Control System. Facades have always been on the front lines so to speak. They are often the single largest building component charged with insulation in addition to being most vulnerable to the substantial dictator – the environment. Managing the abuse the environment delivers is a holistic endeavour and is only possible with a combination of materials, good design and proper assembly. If we had to…

The Passive House Standard was developed with the intent of designing and constructing buildings whose space heating load could be entirely met through the ventilation supply air required for adequate indoor air quality. Early examples, including the Stadtwerke Hannover Passive House estate in Hannover, conclusively demonstrated that this goal can be achieved in practice. As Passive House expanded into climates requiring active cooling, this goal was expanded to include meeting the entire space cooling load via the ventilation supply air. However, delivery temperatures of around 13oC limit the cooling capacity of the ventilation supply air to a level that is generally inadequate for this purpose. To increase the cooling capacity, it is theoretically and practically possible to reduce the supply air temperature. Indeed, ASHRAE has developed a designer's guide to…

When designing low energy, high performance buildings, the role of enclosure design is critically important: including maximizing thermal performance through super-insulation, air tightness and the mitigation of thermal bridging; control of solar heat gain through shading and glass selection to minimize overheating risk; and natural ventilation through operable windows. While these strategies are designed to optimize the management of heat, air and thermal performance, from an architect's or structural engineer's perspective, the enclosure is also crucial to the structural support and overall aesthetic of the building. CONTEXT In the last quarter of the 20th century, the energy performance of buildings did not change as much as one might expect with technological innovation. With the introduction of higher performing materials, components, and systems, building forms simultaneously became more complex, with a…