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DECEMBER 2019 | 19 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JON ADRIAN/COURTESY HDR ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATES, INC. Green Building Design It has often been said that the future of green building design lies in the hands of those architects who are willing to take the lead. One firm that has a firm grip on this notion is Prairie Architects, which has been working with and certifying under a new version of LEED (v4). This has brought issues such as building product disclosures (addressing transparency in material ingredients and supply chain), lifecycle assessments, VOC emissions (not just content), and acoustics into Prairie's sustainable discussions. Its very own new office space in the Exchange District of downtown Winnipeg recently received LEEDv4 Commercial Interiors Platinum certification, and is Manitoba's first and Canada's second LEEDv4 CI Platinum space. "For us, this showcases how existing building retrofits can significantly contribute to combating climate change and allows us to advocate by example. Further to this, Prairie Architects Inc. became a founding signatory of the Canadian Architects Declare pledge, which is the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Committee on Regenerative Environment's call to Canadian archi- tectural and design firms to commit to combating climate crisis with urgent and sustained action," says Lindsay Oster, principal architect. Prairie has seen a noticeable shift lately toward discussions of climate change and the role that buildings play in striking a balance between carbon reduc- tion, health, and resilience. However, Oster says there is still some pushback. "Unfortunately, in some jurisdictions across Canada, sustainability is still viewed as an additive approach as opposed to an integral part of the way we live and the lens with which we view success." Over in Penticton, B.C., HDR Architecture Associates, Inc. is seeing the greater use of wood in construction projects as a positive step toward greener infrastructure. Robert Cesnik, architect at HDR, welcomes the recent news that B.C. is changing its building code to increase the height limit of wood buildings from six to 12 storeys, and says it is "an economic and environmental alternative to concrete apartments." He adds that mass timber, CLT, and glulam, while not new, will help toward the goal of zero carbon. HDR recently completed the six-storey, mass timber West Wing at the Penticton Lakeside Resort. It is believed to feature the most extensive use of CLT panels in any building in the Okanagan. It is widely known that wood acts as a "carbon sink," absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but wood also has a lighter environmental footprint than concrete or steel. After completing West Wing, HDR created a lifecycle analysis on the building using an outside firm. With this information HDR created a carbon balancing toolkit that analysed all the materials that went into the project and highlighted areas for improvement, such as using wood fibre insulation as opposed to spray insulation, which is considered carbon intense. "This toolkit will help with our decision making on future projects." Another great benefit of mass timber, according to Cesnik, is the ability to disassemble and reuse. "We have the responsibility to look at what happens in 50 years if a building runs past its use. Can the CLT be reused? It's about longev- ity and keeping it out of the landfill." West Wing, Penticton Lakeside Resort, Penticton, B.C. Honco.indd 1 2019-07-11 9:39 AM

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