Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/962985
6 | A PR IL 2018 Prairie Architects Inc. continues to advocate a sustainable approach to building by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI Ground Breaking M anitoba-based Prairie Architects Inc. has never been afraid to redefine the norm and break new ground. This has been evident since its inception. Back in 1976 the company received its first national sustainable design honour – the federal government's Low Energy Building Design Award – for the Roseau Children's Centre, which was constructed from recycled materials and included a sod roof and earth berm exterior, and contained composting toilets, solar panels and a radiant floor heated by the central wood burning stone fireplace. At a time when sustainability was far from common in the architectural field, its founder, Dudley Thompson, had the foresight to conceive ideas and design in such a way that would neither detract from any natural resources or harmfully impact the environment. It makes sense then that the company's original founding principles, which remain at its very core today, were environmental sustainability and ecological sensitivity. "Over the years the firm has continued to build upon the principles of sustainability, but with an increasing contemporary design focus and view to life-cycle costing, durability and resilience," explains Lindsay Oster, principal architect. Oster adds that over the years the biggest influ- ence in the evolution from a more grass-roots approach to sustainability has been climate change and a concern for future generations. "Rising energy costs and a view to long- term building operations, along with government programs and policies, has allowed Prairie Architects Inc. to continue to advocate a sustainable approach to building, with an increased technical focus," she says. Prairie has evolved its sustainable expertise from projects like Mountain Equipment Co-op in 2002, which was the first LEED-certified building in Manitoba, and the Amber Trails Community School in 2015, which was the first LEED Platinum certified school in Manitoba and has an energy savings of 68 percent better than Model National Energy Codes for Buildings, to the present day with two more completed projects that are targeting LEED Platinum