Agora Borealis: Engaging in Sustainable Architecture

James A. Love is a professor of architecture in the Faculty of
Environmental Design and an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering
at the University of Calgary. His latest publication is the Illuminating
Engineering Society’s Recommended Practice of

Interest in sustainable building is mushrooming in North America. Green
building was formerly a fringe interest, largely expressed in
single-family dwellings, but aspects of this approach are now being
incorporated into commercial and institutional projects. Vivian Manasc
is a principal in an Edmonton architectural firm, and Cheryl Mahaffy is
a freelance writer. They tell about the firm’s experiences working on
five buildings that incorporated environmentally friendly practices.
These included two town halls, a corporate office building, a
health-care centre, and a school, all of which were constructed on
typical budgets.

Manasc’s development as an architect is the theme used to tie the
narrative together, from her early years in the field to organizing
recent conferences on sustainable architecture, which grew out of her
involvement in the projects described here. The process followed in each
project is explained, from discussions with client representatives and
user groups to events in the construction process. The elements of
environmentally friendly construction adopted in each project are
described largely in jargon-free language—although a glossary would
have been helpful for the odd specialized term such as “four pipe fan
coil.”