Many homeowners are already reducing their water consumption having retrofitted their home with water-conserving plumbing fixtures. They have accepted the soft touch of new showerheads over the powerful needle spray, and they are familiar with automatic-eye hand washing, dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals.

By Hugh Perry

(more…)

Niagara Regional Headquarters

The new building creates an urban street presence at a suburban intersection.

The tight budget and schedule requirements of a Design Build contract, combined with the sustainable agenda of a LEED® municipal client set this project apart from others of similar scope and scale. The four-storey office building is an extension to the existing Thorold City Hall, and consolidates operational services for the Niagara Region. (more…)

Stantec Toronto

View across the atrium. Work stations are held back from the windows to maximize the penetration of natural light

by Dathe Wong

This rehabilitation and conversion project brings the 170 employees of various disciplines who make up Stantec’s Toronto operation into one 4,925 sq.m integrated work environment - making a strong statement about the company’s commitment to sustainable design. (more…)

Wastewater testing facility

Low environmental impact and high indoor air quality drive design

The low profile building is clad with cedar siding, brick and stucco that help connect it to its residential neighbourhood

Completed in 2007, the new 26,340sf water and wastewater testing facility, part of the City of Hamilton’s central sewage treatment plant, sits in a mixed residential and industrial neighbourhood.
The location presented some unusual design challenges including: how to offset the heavy building systems loads and environmental impacts inherent in this building type; how to minimize the facility’s environmental impact on the adjacent residential community; and how to maximize indoor air quality. (more…)

Earth walls dissolve building into landscape using rammedearth

The design of Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre is a specific and sustainable response to the building’s unique context-the unusual Canadian desert found in the South Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Sited adjacent to a remnant of the Great Basin Desert, of which 1,600 acres are being preserved by the Osoyoos band as a conservation area, this interpretative centre is part of a larger 200-acre master plan. (more…)

Thoughtful green restoration achieves LEED Platinum

The roof garden on the new third-storey addition is irrigated through grey water recovery

With a 65sq.m addition on the roof, and the excavation of the 74sq.m basement, the owner/builder, a green building consultant, almost doubled the floor area of this two- storey, semi-derelict 1907 property, converting it into a contemporary triplex that now houses three generations of his family within this single green restoration project. (more…)

Passive and active measures a model for small scale design

The east elevation and main entrance

Ball’s Falls Conservation Area is part of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority’s Nodal Park System - providing public education and awareness of the Niagara Escarpment. The new Centre for Conservation will serve as a public entry point to the 20 Valley World Biosphere Reserve and the preserved heritage settlement. (more…)

Design incorporates building and site in quest for LEED Gold

The east elevation. Sustainable design features are incorporated with the program needs of the fire hall and its training facilities.

Expanding the idea of protective services to embrace the protection of the environment, the Hamilton Fire Hall in Richmond BC, combines concepts of sustainable architecture with the specific programmatic needs of the Richmond Fire Department. A career fire hall staffed by full time fire fighters, it is located in a rapidly growing neighbourhood adjacent to McLean Park on the city’s eastern edge. (more…)

A sustainable response integrates culture and landscape

View along the rammed earth entry wall, an attractive and durable construction with excellent thermal qualities. Note the section of Cor-ten steel at the location of the service yard.

The design of Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre is a specific and sustainable response to the building’s unique context - the unusual Canadian desert found in the South Okanagan Valley in British Columbia. Sited adjacent to a remnant of the Great Basin Desert, of which 1,600 acres are being preserved by the Osoyoos band as a conservation area, this interpretative centre is part of a larger 200-acre master plan. (more…)