For public projects, as for other types of buildings, new engineered mass timber products, supported by recent legislation, make wood an economic and functional choice in both rural and urban areas. Two recent B.C. projects illustrate this point.
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To bring regenerative, collective habitation to all scales of development, Amsterdam (Netherlands)-based architecture practice GG-loop along with engineering company Arup is developing Mitosis: a modular building system created by a parametric design tool following biophilic and user-centric design principles.
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Designed by Dialog, the Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre in Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont., has been awarded Living Building Challenge certification—the most rigorous sustainability standard in the world.
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Multifamily construction represents nearly half of Canada’s housing starts, and the trend toward more urban housing is pushing developers and designers to adopt design methods that meet the burgeoning demand for innovative apartment and condominium dwellings.
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Five fire tests conducted by the U.S. International Code Council (ICC) Ad-hoc Committee on Tall Wood Buildings at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Fire Research Laboratory have met with positive results.
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Le Stade de Soccer de Montréal, completed in April 2015, is a new sustainable design icon for the city. However, the area was not always so appealing. Before being adapted into a sports facility, the land was used as a limestone quarry, and then as a dumping site. Throughout these transitions, the natural typography of the site was dramatically altered.
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Tucked in the woods of Saint-Calixte—an hour away from Montréal—is a residential retreat that might have gone unnoticed were its designer not trying to change the way we build and heat our homes.
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What if a building could function like a forest? What if a project could be designed so it was an integral part of nature and enhanced its surroundings? This was the approach taken by the design team for the York Region Forest Stewardship Education Centre (YRFSEC)—a new single-storey, 371-m2 (4000-sf) building located in the middle of one of Southern Ontario’s natural treasures.
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In September, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction announced the winning projects for the North American region of its international awards program. One of the six recipients in the Next Generation category for young designers was Toronto’s Jonathan Enns (Enns Design/solidoperations).
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