Andree Iffrig's Blog

Posted by Andree Iffrig

Buildex offers one of the most cost effective and valuable trade shows on the circuit. For a price that is sweet by any standard, Buildex informs and connects professionals from a wide variety of fields: property management, interior design, architecture, renovation, construction and real estate.

As part of an increasing focus on sustainable design and building, Buildex is offering more than a dozen green seminars during its upcoming two day trade show in Calgary, November 3-4, 2009. From a session on waste diversion for renovations, to seminars on building HVAC systems that perform to green standards, this year's trade show in Calgary is bursting with talent and food for thought.

Buildex Calgary's keynote speaker is author Jeremy Gutsche, who will deliver a presentation based on his book, Exploiting Chaos: How to Spark Innovation During Times of Change. Gutsche will engage the audience in understanding how to leverage viral trends and methodical innovation to generate breakthrough ideas.

This writer will be attending seminars on cradle to cradle design and water conservation and efficiency. Choosing between seminars, when there are so many enticing ones running simultaneously, will be the most difficult thing I do over the two days.

As a bonus for attending, professionals can accumulate credits for their professional accreditation with the Alberta Association of Architects, Interior Designers of Alberta and BOMA Calgary.

No trade show is complete without time to schmooze and Buildex is no exception. Form the opening Meet & Greet reception to interactions on the trade show floor, there will be ample opportunities for networking with other professionals.

Registration is still open. Visit the Buildex Calgary website for further information. Upcoming trade shows are planned for Vancouver and Edmonton in April and March 2010 respectively.

Posted by Andree Iffrig

It's a four storey mixed-use building, an infill development in a community that desperately needs to be revitalized. Viewed from the street, the 54 unit condominium development looks attractive: nice articulation of the façade so that it does not appear too massive, retail at grade level, underground parking.

The development gets it right in other ways too: in-floor, hot water radiant heating, balconies that are actually insulated for a Canadian winter—goodbye thermal fins—and a parking garage that accommodates bicycle storage.

From an urban design perspective, the condo building is a good fit: close to public transportation routes, near recreational areas, and a nice scale for the surrounding low-rise residential area: dense, but not too dense. If a transect were drawn through this neighborhood, this building would be the desired result.

The floor plans are another story. There are 16 different floor plans, many saddled with design features that not even future renovations will be able to rectify: long, dark corridors that are internal to units, dining rooms that are little more than left over space, and dark kitchens, entryways and dining areas.

Another development recently reviewed is a prefabricated, modular, ready-to-move (RTM) housing complex of six condo units. The prefab units were carefully detailed and constructed in an enclosed facility where almost no materials go to waste. Regional materials, triple-pane windows and geothermal heating are just some of the sustainable features of the 1400 square foot units.

Where the project comes to a bracing halt is in the design of the units: labyrinthine, warren-like spaces on the bedroom level and dark interiors for the kitchen and dining spaces. At more than half a million dollars each, these units come up short on basic necessities like ample natural light and good air flow.

We applaud the developers' green efforts but look forward to better examples of condominium design. In the meantime, sustainable design afficiandos can continue to appreciate some of the recent condo architecture in Calgary's Bridgeland community: the Acqua and Vento, by Busby Perkins + Will, and Sturgess Architecture's 21 unit Olive building.

Posted by Andree Iffrig

Like many others who have elected to study for LEED professional accreditation, Suite101's feature writer on architecture, Andrée Iffrig is no stranger to sustainable design. Her first foray was as an architecture student, working as a volunteer artist with Co-Design on community development projects.

That was many years ago. The decision to study at this time has brought the Calgary-based writer back to her design roots. Since graduating from a faculty of environmental design in the 1980’s, Andrée has worked in the field of community development locally and internationally. More recently, she developed a professional practice as a writer and facilitator.

Andrée returned to the design world some two years ago. Elemente Design Magazine asked her to interview Pulitzer-prize winning author and architectural critic Paul Goldberger. That was the beginning of a renewed passion for architecture and all things sustainable.

Having passed the LEED exam for new construction (LEED-NC), Andrée has joined an elite group who have acquired the knowledge to be accredited as sustainable practitioners. Every sustainably-designed building requires a combination of design, communication and facilitation skills. As a communicator and LEED AP, she is ideally positioned to support LEED building design.

Look for more articles on sustainable design and development in the near future, and send Andrée your ideas for green building stories.

Posted by Andree Iffrig

Famous for its iconic architecture, Dubai’s ultimate architectural legacy may be the folly of pursuing form for form’s sake. Dubai is a city of oddly-shaped towers, each vying with the other for attention. The city has failed miserably at creating the intricate web of buildings and human-scaled public space that support relationships between people and the urban environment.

The real story in Dubai is social and environmental in nature. The region’s economy has been built on the backs of indentured labor. When architects turn a blind eye to the social impact of erecting buildings, their actions call into question the raison d’être of the profession.

Writing about Dubai in the August 2009 issue of Architectural Record, Michael Sorkin observes the fallout of the international economic crisis has exposed Dubai's worst excesses. In the wreckage of incomplete buildings are to be found the casualties of form for form’s sake: half-built towers “blowing billions of BTUs to keep the square miles of carpet cool to off-gas undisturbed.”

Sorkin, who directs the urban design program at City College of New York, states “This is an environment designed by the world’s best and brightest.” Yet the environment and social justice have been short changed in the architects’ fetish for form. What were these smart designers imbibing with their beer at architecture school? Certainly not an understanding of the complex interplay of finance, culture, sustainability, history and place.

As an educator, Sorkin recommends giving every student a foundation in the different design professions: architecture, urban design, landscape and environmental design. Great cities are not created by individual architects but by collaborations between professions and the communities they are supposed to serve.

Being a graduate of an interdisciplinary program of studies, I know first-hand how hard it is to collaborate and genuinely practice integrated design. If designers are going to be knowledgeable about sustainable design and what makes for humane cities, schools of design will have to adapt. Integrated or interdisciplinary design processes need to become the norm not just for LEED buildings but the wider profession.

Posted by Andree Iffrig

Finalists for Architecture for Humanity’s latest Open Architecture Challenge have been selected. Eight teams were recognized for their designs of the classroom of the future.

The 2009 Open Architecture Challenge was underwritten by a consortium of corporate, academic and non-profit partners from around the world. The competition’s mandate was simple: designers were to collaborate with real students in real schools to develop real solutions, in an effort to improve school learning environments.

More than 1000 teams from 65 countries registered for the competition. After four rounds of reviews, a list of eight finalists was chosen. Each submission was rated on feasibility, sustainability and innovation in learning and overall design quality.

The jury consisted of more than 50 leaders in education, sustainability and architecture, and included students and teachers.

Architecture for Humanity (AFH) established the challenge in response to a dearth of new ideas and action on improving learning environments and literacy rates. The World Bank estimates that ten million new classrooms are required if every school c hild in the world is to enjoy a primary education.

The competition served as a catalyst for designing safe, sustainable and innovate educational facilities. An immediate result of the challenge is an online portfolio of design solutions licensed under Creative Commons and viewable at www.openarchitecturenetwork.org.

The principal corporate partner on the challenge was Orient Global, a private investment group based in Singapore.

This latest foray into social development cements AFH’s reputation for innovation in shelter and community design. AFH has provided shelter for more than 700,000 people in 31 countries.