Golden Towers: Lisa Garriss Brings High Design to Vancouver’s Metrotown

by Hadani Ditmars
Wallpaper, Aug 19, 2015

(Image: Gold House is a shimmering new residential development bringing high design to Metrotown. Courtesy of Wallpaper)

A shimmering new residential development is bringing high design to Metrotown, a rapidly growing area – buoyed by Canada’s second largest shopping mall and rapid transit hubs – in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. The sleepy Kingsway corridor area, full of ageing strip malls, is enjoying a wave of new high-rise development thanks in part to Asian real estate investors.

Echoing a trend in downtown Vancouver that has seen local developers bring in international talent – for projects ranging from Norman Foster’s Jameson House to Ole Scheeren’s design for a new tower in Coal Harbour – Rize Alliance is launching Gold House. The two 40-storey tower, mixed-use development (designed by local firm Chris Dikeakos Architects) is not only bringing much needed density to the Kingsway corridor, but also internationally known interior designer Lisa Garriss of HBA. Read more…

In Vancouver’s City of Glass Punchy Designs and a Little Showmanship Go a Long Way

by Christopher DeWolf
South China Morning Post, Sep 2, 2015

(Image: Vancouver House has won praise for its honeycomb facade. Courtesy of South China Morning Post, photos from Westbank Corp, Bjarke Ingels Group)

When Douglas Coupland called Vancouver the “City of Glass” in a 2000 book of the same name, the moniker stuck – not because the author/artist was making some kind of metaphorical statement about the city’s character, but because it was literally true.

Vancouver’s housing boom, which started in the mid-1980s and has continued until now, with few interruptions, has left it with a thicket of glass-walled apartment towers that seem almost apologetic about their intrusion into the city’s beautiful natural surroundings. Read more…

How Smarter School Architecture Can Help Kids Eat Healthier Food

By Adele Peters
Fast Co, Aug 20, 2015

(Image: A 1950s-era elementary school in rural Buckingham, Virginia was redesigned to help kids lose weight. Courtesy of Fast Co., photo by Tom Daly)

Some schools have banned junk food. Some have added longer gym classes, new nutrition classes, or even required standing desks. But childhood obesity rates are still about three times higher than they were in 1980. Now schools are adding another tool to the fight for fitter kids: Architecture.

A 1950s-era elementary school in rural Buckingham, Virginia was redesigned to help kids lose weight. The architects worked directly with public health researchers to change a long list of details based on current research, from designing a kitchen with dedicated storage space for local, seasonal fruit, to placing healthy meals at kids’-eye level in the checkout line. In a teaching kitchen, third-graders can learn to make healthy meals from the foods they grow in the school garden. Read more…

UBC SALA Fall 2015 Lecture Series Focusing on Infrastructure

Infrastructure Everywhere
Infrastructure provides the backbone of contemporary society; it’s everywhere. Networked infrastructures of water, food, energy and mobility continuously shape new landscapes and forms of urbanism. In the face of climate change, ongoing urbanisation, geopolitical conflict and environmental degradation, the planning, design and engineering of infrastructure is key in addressing notions of risk, adaptation, and resilience.

The Fall 2015 Lecture Series examines these topics of infrastructure from a wide range of vantage points, cutting across multiple disciplinary boundaries and geographic scales. Each speaker brings to light new practices, design strategies and research models as we continue our journey into the Anthropocene.

All lectures will take place at UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street. 6:30pm lecture start; 7:00pm start for the Garden Design Lecture.

September 14, 2015
Hillary Brown
Architecture, CUNY, New York, NY

September 21, 2015
Keller Easterling
Architecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT

September 28, 2015
George Baird
Professor Emeritus, Architecture, Toronto
Lecture supported by Dialog.

*Please note the October 5 lecture below has been cancelled
October 5, 2015
Form and Energy Lecture
Luis Callejas
LCLA Office, Cambridge, MA, and Medellin, Colombia

October 26, 2015
Susannah Drake
dlandstudio, Brooklyn, NY
Reception following the lecture sponsored by Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance.

November 2, 2015
Pierre Bélanger
Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA

November 6, 2015
Annual Garden Design Lecture
Louisa Jones
Provence, France
Lecture supported by the BC Society of Landscape Architects, Golden Spruce Nurseries, Houston Landscapes, SLS / Light Resource, and Stone Event Imports.

November 16, 2015
Paul Sangha Lecture
Piet Oudolf
Hummelo, Netherlands

Please note that this is a free but ticketed event. Tickets will be released at noon on September 15. We expect this event to ‘sell out’ quickly, so get your tickets early.

Reception following the lecture sponsored by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vancouver.

For full details, visit the UBC SALA website.

West Vancouver Museum Extends Exhibition, Announces Series of Architect Talks

West Vancouver Museum is pleased to announce that From the Inside Out: Integrating Art and Architecture on the West Coast has been held over to September 19, 2015. Through drawings, and plans, as well as paintings, ceramics, sculpture, furniture, and photography, the exhibition explores a uniquely West Coast style of midcentury modernist art and architecture practiced by such luminaries as B.C. Binning, Egon Eppich, Arthur Erickson, Bruno Freschi, Shoji Hamada, Fred Hollingsworth, Kawai Kanjiro, Zoltan Kiss, Francisco Kripacz, Wayne Ngan, Len Norris, Ned Pratt, Bill Reid, Jack Shadbolt, and Gordon Smith.

We are also pleased to announce an exciting series of four presentations by architects, curators, and homeowners designed to enhance your experience of the exhibition in its final weeks.

Until September 19, please visit the exhibition during our extended opening hours (Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm) and be sure to join us for one or all of the following special programs. All events are free and everyone is welcome! Seating is limited on a first come basis. Stair access only to the room where presentations will be held.

“Inside Out” Architects’ Talks:

September 12, 2-4 p.m.
Enjoy a film screening and meet Hugo Eppich, owner of an Arthur Erickson designed home, and Arthur Erickson’s nephew, Geoffrey Erickson.

September 15, 6-8:30 p.m.
Meet an Architect: Nick Milkovich

September 17, 6-8:30 p.m.
Meet Kiriko Watanabe, WVM Curator with architect Peter Pratt

September 19, 2-5 p.m.
Meet Kiriko Watanabe, WVM Curator with architect John Keay

For more information, visit West Vancouver Museum’s website.

2015 AIBC Annual Conference: Exhibitors’ Networking Session

Exhibitors’ Networking Session
October 28, 2015 – 5-6 p.m.

Join us for a fun and productive evening at the Exhibitors’ Networking Session. This event is a great opportunity to meet potential clients and partners while enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres and special giveaways. As part of the conference opening reception that includes the presentation of the 2015 AIBC Architectural Awards, this promises to be an exceptional evening for all attendees!

Visit the 2015 AIBC Annual Conference website for full details and to view conference pricing information.

2015 AIBC Annual Conference: Discover the Disruptive Trends Influencing Professional Practice

Disruptive Trends
October 29, 2015 – 3:30-5 p.m.

What theoretical, technological, social or economic innovations are disrupting existing professional practices? What effects are these innovations having in current practice? What long term changes are likely to come of these new ways of thinking about, designing and producing architecture?

This plenary panel will discuss developments that have gone from an idea to reality in a few years (often without us noticing) but with long-term effects for the profession and practice of architecture. These changes often start out small in unrelated fields of industry or academia or as a ground swell from within the profession itself (as an example the rise of New Urbanism). One thing is sure; architecture won’t be the same after these influences arrive.

Register today to attend the Disruptive Trends plenary session.

Visit the 2015 AIBC Annual Conference website for full details and to view conference pricing information.

2015 AIBC Annual Conference: Learn How to Assess Facility Safety at the Post Disaster SAP Training Workshop

Post Disaster SAP Training Workshop
October 28, 2015 – 8:30a.m.-5p.m.

This workshop, based on California’s Safety Assessment Program (SAP), will provide guidelines and procedures for making post-disaster building evaluations. The purpose of these evaluations is to determine whether damaged or potentially damaged buildings are safe for use or if entry should be restricted or prohibited.

Using local and international case studies as well as technical handbooks, the instructors will provide attendees with an understanding of their potential role on a damage assessment team and provide guidance on evaluating structural, geotechnical, life safety and nonstructural hazards.

Upon completion of this full day training, architects, intern architects, technologists and architectural students will be eligible to register on the AIBC’s Post Disaster Volunteer Database.

Register today to attend the Post Disaster SAP Training Workshop.

Visit the 2015 AIBC Annual Conference website for full details and to view conference pricing information.

Building Smart #22 – From the Ground Up: Current Construction Options for New Homes in B.C.

The 2012 BC Building Code has modernized home construction with changes in requirements for almost all of the major building systems.

While past seminars have looked into the details of specific changes, Building Smart #22 will bring together all of the recent Building Code changes required in the construction of homes in British Columbia.

The three hour seminar will use a typical B.C. house as an example to explore a variety of code conforming approaches for each step in the construction process, from excavation through to the final finishes of the house.

Dates: September 14 to November 23, 2015

Location: Various locations, visit HPO website to see full listing

Cost: $80 (GST included)

To register: Online at HPO website

For more information, contact HPO Communications or call 604-454-5425.