The environmental crisis is perhaps the most urgent architectural issue of today. In Canada, buildings are responsible for enormous amounts of energy used, resources consumed, and atmospheric emissions.

Say “prefabricated” or “modular” housing and you might think of small, rectangular homes built in a factory and hauled down the highway on massive trailers. However, that isn’t the tip of the iceberg of what these terms mean today. 

This is the first a three-part series that will consider alternatives to the way many contractors approach a home building project. We start by examining the three major factors that might impact the way Canadian homes will be built in the near future.

Let’s start with one thing. I love coffee. Not much compares to the first sip in the morning. Except maybe the first sip at 2:30 in the afternoon.

The HomeStars Giving Back Award was created to recognize companies who go above and beyond to help out their communities.

Several years ago, I worked in some of Toronto’s most innovative kitchens. Certainly, in my youth, I was captivated by the culinary arts and have since wondered how it informed my interest and subsequent career in architecture. 

Welcome to the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! In our blog today, we will be focusing on Natural Ventilation.

Welcome to the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! Our blog today will dive into efficient Water Use.

This is the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! Our blog this month will be about Renewable Energy.

This is the Building Blog educational blog series! Our blog today will be about Grey Water: what is it and how can it benefit your project?

This is the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! Our blog today will be about Building Materials.

This is the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! Our blog today will be about the Building Shell.

This is the Sustainability 101 educational blog series! Our blog today will focus on Passive Solar Design.

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Shou-Sugi Ban is a Japanese cladding technique that preserves wood (making it resistant to fire, vermin, and decay) by first charring it, then cooling it, cleaning it, and finishing it with natural oil. We have used this technique on our very own METHOD.TO test shed, charring the wood ourselves; but for other projects in Toronto we have left the fun to the professionals.

Everyone knows that law students write the bar exam to becomes lawyers. Medical students take on months of residency to become doctors. But how does an architect become licensed? Few people are familiar with the ExAC (Examination for Architects in Canada), which is a grueling, 2-day, 4-part exam held once a year in November.

An ERV is an Energy Recovery Ventilator. Its little brother is an HRV, or Heat Recovery Ventilator. Either is needed when building a new, energy-efficient, airtight home (or renovating your current home) to ensure that you have fresh indoor air without unnecessarily losing heat through your building envelope (your walls, roofs, floors; and around windows and doors).

The owners of what would become Willowdale Passive Solar House had a poorly built, leaky, drippy, mouldy home that needed to be torn down. We normally try to salvage stuff and avoid landfill, but there was truly nothing of value here.