ExAC to be Offered in Victoria and Vancouver

This year, Intern Architects have the option to write the ExAC in Victoria as well as in Vancouver.

Starting on June 1 until July 15, 2015, Intern Architects can apply to write the Examination for Architects in Canada (ExAC). Intern Architects are eligible to write the ExAC if they are in good standing with the institute and have a minimum 2,800 hours of experience logged, submitted and approved.

The deadline for submitting CERBs is June 30. The ExAC registration form will be available on June 1 from the ExAC website.

Three ways to attend June 11 Info Sessions: Vancouver location, Victoria location or online

To assist those who are interested in ExAC, the AIBC Intern Architect Committee will be hosting an ExAC introductory session and social event on Thursday, June 11, 2015, from 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. The event will be held at the offices of AIBC in Vancouver with a connection to the Cascadia Architects office in Victoria and also online as a simultaneous webinar. Further information including details on how to RSVP for the event will be announced soon.

For more information, please contact Admissions Coordinator Belinda Chao at bchao@aibc.ca or visit the ExAC website.

2015 AIBC Architectural Awards: Key Program Dates

Each year, the Architectural Institute of British Columbia showcases the best in B.C. architecture through its highly-respected awards program.

An esteemed jury with representation from both within and outside the profession will consider candidates for The Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia Awards in Architecture (both medal and merit); The AIBC Innovation Award; The AIBC Special Jury Award; and The AIBC Emerging Firm Award. While honours are given in these distinct award categories, there is one common element: Excellence.

Winners are celebrated at the Architectural Awards Reception, which will be held during the AIBC Annual Conference, and featured in architectureBC.

Key dates for this year’s program are as follows:

• Call for Awards Submissions:                               May 19, 2015
• Call for Awards Jurors:                                         May 19, 2015
• Deadline for Awards Jurors:                                 June 12, 2015
• Extended Deadline for Awards Submissions:      July 6, 2015 *
• Awards Jurors Announced:                                  July 9, 2015 **
• Awards Adjudication:                                            July 18, 2015
• Awards Winners Reception:                                 October 28, 2015

(* June 29, 2015 was the original deadline for awards submissions.)
(** July 2, 2015 was the original date for Awards Jurors to be announced.)

For detailed information including award criteria and submission requirements, and to make your submission, please visit the AIBC Architectural Awards website.

Heritage Vancouver Society

Our Main Streets
Our main streets are at the heart of our communities, and have often played a key role in the history and evolution of Vancouver’s neighborhoods. Main streets can be seen as cultural landscapes, which evolve and change over time. The panel discussion for this event will address questions such as:

• What features contribute to the character of main streets?
• How can this character be maintained, while allowing our main streets to evolve?
• How can we ensure our main streets are attractive spaces for shops, businesses and customers?

Date: June 12, 2015, 7pm-9pm
Location: Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. SFU Woodward’s, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Learning Units (LUs): 2 Non-Core LU
Cost: Free but registration recommended
To register: http://www.heritagevancouver.org/shapingvancouver.html#mainstreets

BC Wood

Understanding and Designing with Heavy and Engineered Timber Seminar and Factory Tour
Timber, both solid and engineered continues its dramatic growth as a popular building material due to its many superior attributes including environmental, strength and technical qualities. It is important for architects and engineers to continue learning about the developments and attributes of timber in its various forms. BC Wood is pleased to partner with Daizen Joinery at their new Timber Frame facility in Kamloops to invite interior members of the specifying community to join them for an afternoon of seminars and demonstrations on many key aspects of heavy timber as well as advancements in timber coatings and fasteners. This will be followed by a guided factory tour of a Timber Frame manufacturing facility.

Date: June 16, 2015, 11:30am-3:15pm
Location: Daizen Joinery, 2947 Shuswap Rd, Kamloops, BC
Learning Units: 3 Core LU
Cost: Free
To register: RSVP to Roy Manion at rmanion@bcwood.com

Industry Innovations Symposium

On June 9, 2015, delegates of the 2015 CSCE International Construction Specialty Conference will join members of the local construction industry for the Industry Innovations Symposium to hear industry leaders discuss some of the regions most innovative projects and global experts present emerging trends and technologies in sustainable buildings and infrastructure. Talks will be delivered in a TED-style format on a wide range of topics, including BIM/VDC, integrated practices, lean construction, modularization and prefabrication, computational design, and sensing and data capture technologies. The session will end with a panel discussion on the importance of collaboration between industry and academia to drive innovation in the construction industry. Join us for this unique event!

Date: June 9, 2015, 8am-1pm
Address: UBC CIRS, 2260 West Mall, Room 1250, Vancouver
Phone: 604-822-2027

For more information.

buildingSMART Canada BIM Forum 2015

buildingSMART Canada will be hosting their first ever BIM Forum on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm in the BC Hydro Decision Theatre (room 1151) at the Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.

The BIM forum is free and is being held in conjunction with the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering’s International Construction Specialty Conference 2015 and the Industry Innovations Symposium being held at UBC from June 7th to 10th, 2015 from 8am to 1pm at Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability at UBC.

The BIM forum is an opportunity for all industry and academic stakeholders to learn and discuss about buildingSMART Canada’s activities and involvement in the Canadian construction industry, notably the recently published Roadmap to Lifecycle Building Information Modeling in the Canadian AECOO Community and the development of open standards for BIM.

buildingSMART Canada hopes to engage with industry and academia and present its mission, its outlook and its activities over the next couple of years. More specifically, the following topics will be addressed:

• International efforts and initiatives for BIM, in particular UK initiatives and how Canada can learn from them
• Canadian initiatives
• OpenBIM and its implications for project delivery and building lifecycle processes in Canada
• The status of BIM education in Canada and around the world
• A presentation and discussion on the recently published Roadmap to Lifecycle BIM in Canada

The session will conclude with a panel discussion and Q&A session.

Speakers include:

• Dr. Sheryl Staub-French, Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of British-Columbia
• Dr. Linda Newton, Defence Construction Canada, Chair, Project Development, bSC
• John Hale, Department of National Defence, Chair, Operations committee, bSC
• Susan Keenliside, S8 inc, Chair, Members community, bSC
• Erik Poirier, University of British-Columbia, Chair, Communications committee, bSC

Key Information:

Date: June 9, 2015, 1:30-4:30pm
Address: BC Hydro Decision Theatre (room 1151) Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (see map)

For more information.

Equity by Design: The Missing 32% Project Releases Complete Findings on Women in Architecture

By Wanda Lau
Architect Magazine, May 18, 2015

Architecture is a not a profession for the weak-hearted, but a recent report sheds some new light on the different obstacles female and male designers face in their careers. AIA San Francisco’s Equity by Design (EQxD) committee, formerly known as The Missing 32% Project, has released a full report of its findings from its 2014 Equity in Architecture Survey following its Equity by Design Hackathon workshop at the annual AIA Convention last week in Atlanta. EQxD had released preliminary results from the 90-question survey at its symposium in San Francisco last fall.

(Image: AIA San Francisco’s Equity by Design committee released preliminary results from their survey at a symposium last fall. Courtesy of Architect Magazine, photo by Jen Tai.)

The 53-page Equity by Design: Knowledge, Discussion, Action! report, published by AIA San Francisco, begins by reviewing the gender makeup in architecture schools and the profession historically. Women make up 42 percent of graduates from programs accredited by the National Architecture Accrediting Board, but only 28 percent of architectural staff in AIA member–owned firms, 26 percent of licensed architects (who are not principals or partners), and 17 percent of principals and partners. Read more…

Montreal metro’s underground architecture

by Nina Azzarello
Designboom, May 17, 2015

With a network of 68 stations, transporting over one million passengers daily, it’s not often that racing commuters stop to admire the architecture of Montreal’s metro system — yet in fact, it has a history rooted in the arts. in the mid 1960’s, a competition was held among Canadian creatives to realize the design of each station, with every stop reimagined by a different architect, and art installations commissioned on a station-to-station basis.

(Image: Namur, courtesy of Chris Forsyth)

The site and surroundings are perceived in a new light — beams of illumination overhead become a mesmerizing graphic pattern, colorful walls create a prismatic contrast to concrete materials, and passing trains speedily slide into the scene. ‘The architectural portraits show that beautiful design, and art is all around us, even when we may not notice it,’ Forsyth describes. Read more…

Modern hydroponics meet contemporary architecture in this new office in Mexico

By Helen Berg
Wallpaper, May 15, 2015

Growing plants using hydroponics has been around for centuries, and this unique method of looking after crops using nutrient-enriched water, without any soil, is still very much in use in modern agriculture. An extensive new facility for such an enterprise has just been completed in rural Guanajuato, near León in central Mexico, and features at its heart a modern office designed by local firm C.C Arquitectos.

(Image: Office views are concentrated towards the surrounding greenhouses, where lettuces are cultured using a nutrient enriched solution. Photo: Rafael Gamo, courtesy of Wallpaper)

Arranged in a way that promotes interaction between different departments, the offices also provide direct sightlines from employees’ desks into the surrounding five hectares of greenhouses, which contain row upon row of leafy lettuces, produced for international export by Next Vegetales. Visual connections between the office workers and the production processes were highly important, says C.C Arquitectos’ Manuel Cervantes. This is a development that aims to create ‘a collective experience of working together with a shared purpose’. Read more…