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D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 | 27 Green Building Design R EN D ER I N G CO U RT E S Y D I A M O N D S C H M I T T A RC H I T EC T S Our understanding of green building design has come a long way and experts are driving us toward a more resilient future by NATALIE BRUCKNER W hile the term green building design is not new, its concept has expanded over the years, as too has our understanding of what steps are now needed to significantly reduce fossil fuel demand and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from both the existing and new building stock. Diamond Schmitt Architects (DSAI), renowned for its progressive attitude when it comes to green buildings, is seeing increasing interest from clients to design resilient buildings. "The urgency of address- ing the core causes of the climate crisis have become more apparent and that urgency is resonating with more people," says Derek Newby, principal, DSAI. When it comes to embodied emissions and life- cycle analysis, Newby says there is much work to be done: "That's a huge black box for many people and we are doing a lot of work with our clients on carbon intensity. About 10 years ago we faced the same issue with becoming 'literate' about Energy Use Intensity [EUI], and it took time for people to learn. Now we find that most people simply do not know where to start with embodied carbon intensity and GHG intensity, and that needs to change." DSAI has a number of green building design projects in their recent portfolio, including the Innovation Centre at Red River College in Winnipeg, along with three large-scale passive house projects. As for what's coming down the pipeline, Newby believes we need to shine a light on embodied carbon "as it's been opaque for far too long." He adds: "More emphasis will be needed on lifecycle analysis, with our institutional clients being out front first, and some of the leading municipali- ties taking action with increasing requirements for reporting, ahead of firm targets. We all recognize extreme weather events happening and the expec- tation for buildings to be more resilient will become increasingly more important." Lindsay Oster, principal architect at Prairie Architects Inc., agrees and believes we are still on the cusp of seeing the changes and developments to sustainable design based on what the pandemic has highlighted with respect to proper ventilation and healthy indoor air quality. "There have been an increasing number of articles published in the ASHR AE Journal [and elsewhere] dealing with virus transmission and mitigation strategies; it will be interesting to see over the next while if specific reg- ulations and design guidelines are established for air distribution, air change rates, filtration, opera- ble windows, etc.," she says. Oster says another significant shift in sustain- able design has been away from a sole focus on operational carbon and instead toward total carbon emissions, including embodied carbon. "We really like the way that Architecture 2030 [architecture2030. org] presents this: 'Achieving zero embodied emis- sions will require adopting the principles of reuse, including renovating existing buildings, using recycled materials, and designing for deconstruc- tion; reduce, including material optimization and the specification of low to zero carbon materials; and sequester, including the design of carbon sequestering sites and the use of carbon seques- tering materials.' What's great about the 'Reuse, Reduce, Sequester' approach, is that it takes a some- what complex notion and makes it quite tangible," explains Oster. Prairie has a number of projects that are cur- rently targeting LEED certification that are in various stages of construction and post-construc- tion. One example is The Waverley West Elementary School, which is in early stages of construction and is Prairie's first school pursuing certification under LEED v4. "There are interesting changes to the approach from schools we've done in the past," says Oster. "One particular aspect we are implement- ing is having bird-friendly glass. It's not something we've done on past projects, but we understand the increasing importance of doing so and are watching as various jurisdictions adopt regulations in both retrofit and new construction projects." Another project is The Churchill Marine Observatory – a research facility for the University of Manitoba that has recently completed construction and gearing up for its first LEED submission. "It's a very different building typology, and it, along with the Rankin Inlet Air Terminal expansion project we are currently designing in Nunavut, have really highlighted the importance of the building enclo- sure and the role it plays in a sustainable building." One of the most significant changes being seen in green building design over at HDR Architecture Associates is the increasing interest in taller wood buildings. No Excuses Innovation Centre, Red River College, Winnipeg, MB