In our October Issue
Our October issue offers a variety of perspectives on the urgent topic of sustainability in architecture.
For our cover story, Greg Whistance-Church visited S2 Architecture and gh3*’s Windermere Fire Station No. 31 in Edmonton. The striking, photovoltaic-topped design delivers on dual promises, writes Whistance-Church: “creating an expressive form that includes its community, and performing as a net-zero building that wears its sustainability credentials on its sleeve.”
We also take a look at another Edmonton project that turns a large solar panel array into a design feature—an office/college building called The Edge, designed by Dub Architects.
Ted Kesik takes a bigger picture in considering the past twenty years of architectural sustainability practices in Canada, and what’s needed for the current and coming generations of architects to tackle the wickedly complex problem of sustainability. “Unlike two decades ago, the issues and challenges are not primarily technological,” he writes. “They are cultural.”
Next up is an overview of three major mass timber innovations by Canadians: Intelligent City’s robotic mass timber factory in Delta, BC; Moriyama Teshima and Acton Ostry’s Limberlost in Toronto; and Michael Green Architecture’s Flora in Nanterre, France. “As more innovative and impressive projects near completion and prove their mettle, Canadian architects will continue to show that they remain at the forefront of mass timber innovation,” writes Adele Weder.
Our project coverage wraps up with a look at Park by Sidewalk Citizen in Calgary. Designed and built by local firm Studio North, the design turns humble plywood into a dining room draped in cascading ribs, inspired by Victorian greenhouses.
Calgary is one of the leading cities in converting office stock to residential and mixed-use—the kind of adaptive reuse that will be a necessary part of building sustainably. Stephanie Calvet reports on the Alberta capital’s strategy, and what other cities can learn from it.
This month’s editorial looks at the dilemma facing Ontario’s former Architectural Technologists OAA, while the AIA Canada Journal, published within our pages, considers the impact of tools like MIdjourney on visual communications in architecture, and reports on a panel discussion about the future of the profession.
-Elsa Lam, editor