Innholdsfortegnelse for Fall 2024 i Sustainable Architecture & Building

The globally-recognized IPAX Americas Awards honour outstanding achievements across the real estate sector from nine global regions, awarding projects that exemplify innovation, superior quality, and environmental responsibility. Amexon's award-winning Residences at Central Park in Toronto —a 12-acre master-planned community of five towers— contains numerous green technology measures, some of which include: In the building: • Vegetated roofs reduce energy consumption and absorb rainwater • Photovoltaic modules supplement the building's power needs • High-performance thermal building envelope minimizes unwanted solar gain and heat loss • Over 1,500 electric car charging stations service every parking space, including visitor parking spaces, a first in North America • Energy-efficient LED light fixtures and motion sensors in corridors and common areas • Intelligent building automation system for heating and cooling controls in common areas •…

Prefabrication, an innovative production method, stands out with its unique features that have the potential to yield significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions while meeting current and future construction needs. The fundamental differences between factory prefabrication and conventional site construction offer a reduced carbon footprint, and so a promising path towards a more sustainable future. With traditional construction, the different building materials are delivered from production facilities to the site where the building is constructed from the ground up. In prefabricated construction, building components are fabricated at an off-site facility and installed at the construction site. Moreover, using prefabricated precast concrete products significantly reduces the waste and energy usage typically associated with construction. This shift from the building assembly stage to the product manufacturing stage not only minimizes the environmental…

The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) recently launched its Zero Carbon Building Essentials Micro-Credential, a new leaning path designed to help green building professionals develop the knowledge needed to advance carbon reductions. “The growing demand for low-carbon building solutions requires building professionals to acquire and integrate new skills and knowledge now,” says Thomas Mueller, CAGBC President and CEO. “Drawing on 20 years' experience delivering high-quality green building training and the expertise we gained from our Zero Carbon Building program, CAGBC's new micro-credential will provide the key concepts and insights that Canada's building professionals need to advance decarbonization today.” The ZCB Micro-Credential was developed to support Canada's building sector and meet growing demand for low-carbon buildings and retrofits. With only five years left to meet 2030 carbon reduction targets and another…

Around the globe, the construction sector is in the midst of a profound transformation. Faced with an array of social, economic, and environmental challenges, the industry is adapting to new demands and regulations. As urban populations swell—80% of the world's population is projected to live in cities by 2050, with Canada already at 81%— the need for affordable, high-performance multifamily housing has never been more pressing. The sector is grappling with rising operational costs, material expenses, and a shrinking labour force, all while striving to enhance energy efficiency and affordability in rapidly densifying urban areas. THE CARBON CONUNDRUM Decarbonizing construction is a crucial part of this transformation. For decades, regulations have focused on operational energy, pushing the industry toward buildings with minimal energy demand and related monthly costs. Recently, however,…

Completed in 2022, the Kipling Transit Hub is a 4,890m2 revitalization of an existing transit station. The LEED Gold station serves as a key transit interchange in Toronto's west end, connecting GO Transit, TTC subway and MiWay buses under one roof. The focal point of the project was a new 300m2 bus terminal with a long curving cantilevered roof structure projecting out over the bus parking and circulation area. The $73 million design/build project was led by Ellis Don. The elliptical shaped roof structure supports a 4,460m2 green roof which contributed to the LEED accreditation. Along with the station building there were many other components including a pedestrian bridge, tunnels, platforms and parking, which will not be covered in this article. Over the course of the project it was determined…

A thorough, highly individualized interdisciplinary approach led to the design of Giant Steps Autism Centre, a cutting-edge facility aiming to transform the way autism services are deployed worldwide. Tailor-made for individuals on the spectrum, this project constitutes a perfect example of the use of architecture as a malleable work tool. More than just a school. Giant Steps is a place of solace – a safe space for the entire community. For the past 40 years. Giant Steps Autism Centre has asserted its leadership in the provision of services supporting the education and success of people with ASD. As the number of individuals and families affected by autism steadily grows, there was an urgency to develop new ways to respond to their needs. The Centre represents a centralized hub based on…

Reducing the time on site by not needing to manufacture balconies in-situ can be a time and cost-effective way to manage balconies on a development. Delivering fully assembled units means not only a decrease in cost, but also a reduction in risk. And, since the floor of the prefabricated balcony is not continuous with the floor of the interior space, thermal bridging is all but eliminated. Pre-finishing as much as possible in the factory reduces the requirement for secure storage on site – a further benefit particularly ideal for projects in city centres like Toronto or Vancouver where site space can often be extremely limited. On-site health and safety issues, such as the risk of errors and potentially costly project delays due to bad weather, can be reduced with a…

FAST + EPP HEAD OFFICE The four-storey mixed use building is located close to the city centre on the south shore of False Creek, an eclectic light industrial area that has undergone dramatic transformation over the past decade. The 137.1m × 13.3m site is zoned for an FSR of 3.0, of which 1.0 must be an industrial use located at street level. A 1.2m right-of-way reduced the width of the site, forcing a portion of the industrial use to the second level and making vertical fire separations necessary. Below grade, the reduced width required the elimination of interior columns in favour of a clear span, post-tensioned slab to accommodate a single row of parking and an aisle. This in turn influenced the design of the above ground structure, where clear…

Canada has made a range of commitments to sustainability in the construction sector, focusing on reducing environmental impacts, promoting energy efficiency, and enhancing green building practices both domestically and globally. Domestically, these commitments include initiatives like the National Climate and Green Building Initiatives and Net-Zero Energy Ready Codes. Under the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Canada aims for all new buildings to be net-zero energy ready by 2030. In line with this goal, the National Building Code now incorporates sustainability guidelines. Additionally, the Canada Green Building Strategy (CGBS) was launched to address the environmental footprint of the building sector. Programs like LEED Certification incentivize sustainable construction practices to further reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Globally, Canada has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45% below…

When it comes to energy use in buildings, it may seem counterintuitive to say that big savings can cost less than small savings – but this is true if you consider the entire building as a single integrated system. Amory Lovins, co-founder of the green energy non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute, has written extensively on the diminishing returns that are realized when an incremental approach is taken to improving the energy efficiency of traditional building systems; and how the whole building approach to energy conservation can Étunnel through the cost barrier'. A Whole Building Approach Whether the demand is for heating or cooling, a whole building approach shifts the emphasis from a reliance on high-capacity active systems to the predictable (and much reduced) energy demand inherent in the stable thermal mass of…