Michael Sørensen, Henning Larsen | Keynote Speaker
Michael joined Henning Larsen’s Copenhagen office in 2006, became partner in 2016, and now leads the firm’s office in New York City. Michael’s design approach is rooted in a collaborative process and an attention to creating dynamic spaces for people to work, learn, and play. His broad portfolio features special competencies in cultural venues, higher education and research facilities, headquarters and commercial offices, civic projects, and mixed-use masterplans. His ability to distill complex project parameters and transform them into conceptual drivers is centered in the belief that architecture is about creating spaces that foster human interaction and well-being.
Having delivered award-winning projects in Scandinavia, Europe, and the Middle East, Michael now spearheads Henning Larsens New York Office and the firm’s projects in the United States and Canada. Recent experience includes East Harbour Masterplan—the largest commercial project currently planned in Canada; the Etobicoke Civic Center in Toronto; 202 Jarvis—a mixed use retail, student residence, and STEM building for Ryerson University in Toronto; the New Public Service Building in Minneapolis; and the College of Business at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
Michael grew up in Johannesburg and Copenhagen, and received his Masters degree in Architecture from Aarhus University in Denmark. In 2016, he was appointed to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ Society of Artists, and is a member of Van Alen Institute’s International Council.
A Space for Progress: Transforming Your Studio to Meet Industry Realities | Ellen Bensky, Turner Fleischer Architects
This session challenges and proposes solutions, to how studio spaces best serve staff, clients and the digitization of our industry. Through sharing the creation of “The Lab,” an area dedicated, and conducive, to a complete technologically innovative experience, speakers will discuss how space is best leveraged to serve industry realities.
Learning Objectives
- Learn to benchmark what changes in the A/E/C industry have driven a need to re-imagine the studio spaces we work in.
- Understand how the competitive market, particularly influence from the tech sector, drives the need for innovative space planning for an Architecture Studio.
- Apply what corporate culture tenets drive the reality of investing in the re-design of studio to your practice.
- Gain an appreciation for what the expected returns on investment on re-purposing and re-designing a studio space.
As a Partner, CEO and CFO of Turner Fleischer Architects, Ellen Bensky, B.A., Dip. Arch. Tech (Hon), CanBIM P1, contributes on a daily basis to the advancement of architectural technology and virtual design not only in her firm, but industry-wide through her initiatives and dedication. Passionate for education, Ellen is especially proud of spear-heading an internal academy, which provides a comprehensive learning and teaching platform for the firm. Through her current role, Ellen is able to engage daily in the process of successfully leveraging business needs and architectural realities, driving her quest for operational excellence.
An experienced speaker, she has presented at local and international at Colleges and Universities, as well as industry events including KA Connect 2018 and 2019, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s 2018 conference, BiLT Australia/New Zealand 2019 and has several engagements scheduled in Canada, the United States and Europe for the remainder of the year. Ellen is the proud recipient of the CanBIM 2017 Professional Achievement Award.
The Future of Design Delivery...Real Time Graphics, Collaboration, Data Visualization and Digital Twins | Aubrey Tucker, ETRO Construction Ltd.
The future has happened, but most designers and delivery teams are using tools set decades ago. Even BIM has grown profoundly into Digital Twins and common data environments. This class will cover many of the new advancements within design technology and speak to the benefits of the advancements for practice. Cloud based collaboration and client commentary management will be additional features within the course to discuss the best practices for meaningful dialogue using simply technology.
Learning Objectives
- Learning the basics of real-time game engines and what kinds of design authoring content can be in one. What kind of engines run on popular design platforms.
- How to use interactive info-graphic presentations (PowerBI) and what kinds of project data can be streamlined into a live, web based and easily accessible format.
- How to get BIM content (2D, 3D and meta data) into a facilities management platform. How FM platforms can become digital twins.
- What are digital twins good for? How buildings become a part of the smart city narrative and can contribute to a better understand of a long lasting "product" that can be evolved with the future.
Aubrey Tucker is the Director of Innovation and Technology for ETRO Construction, where he offers a focused and thoughtful approach to innovative research, implementation and application of technology across businesses to create efficiencies and amplify the power of ETRO’s people. He is an Enabler, Technologist, International BIM Speaker, University Lecturer and Revit Expert with an extensive career with skyscrapers, hospitals, schools, airports and technology.
Darryl Condon, HCMA Architecture + Design | Lunch Presentation: A Discussion on an Architectural Policy for Canada
Around the world, countries are developing and adopting Architectural Policies to help shape the future of the profession and to enhance the public’s understanding of the importance of quality built environment. This presentation and discussion will discuss a current collaborative initiative of the Canadian Architectural Licensing Authorities, the Canadian Council of University Schools of Architecture and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada focused on the development and implementation of an Architecture Policy for Canada. The session will include discussion of the current national initiative, a similar process undertaken in Quebec and provide both professional and governmental perspective.
Learning Objectives
- An understanding of the contribution that architecture policies are making in various countries.
- An understanding of the Architecture Policy for Canada initiative.
- An understanding of the National Architecture Policy initiative in Quebec.
- An understanding of the elements of the proposed policy and how to provide input.
Darryl Condon is a registered Architect, a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Past-President of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. He currently chairs CALA’s Future of Architecture committee that is responsible for leading the process of developing an Architecture Policy for Canada. Darryl has spoken on a variety of architectural subjects locally, nationally and internationally.
Questions Asked and Answered: A Countdown to Better Lighting Design | Rhomney Forbes-Gray, Lightbrigade Architectural Lighting Design
Lighting Design has gone through a major transformation the last 10 years with the adoption of LED’s and the growing importance of natural light, wellness, technology and controls. Leading architects were polled to compile a list of the most common questions about today’s lighting systems and design.
What do I need to know about successfully working with LED’s?
Why is it so hard to get the lighting I specified on the job?
What is all this talk about lighting influencing wellness and health?
Led by Rhomney Forbes-Gray, Principal of Lightbrigade Architectural Lighting, this seminar is guaranteed to be an animated session of simplified explanations and discussions about the benefits and short falls of today’s lighting systems.
Learning Objectives
- Learn the terminology necessary to better comprehend and specify LED systems.
- Understand how LED’s can integrate into architecture and how to avoid pitfalls.
- Understand the current industry position on the impact lighting has on health and well being.
- Discover possible lighting measures taken to attain net zero on a project.
Rhomney Forbes-Gray is the founder and principal of Toronto based Lightbrigade Architectural Lighting. She has been practicing the art of architectural lighting, a natural extension to her theatrical lighting beginnings for 30 years. She is a member of the IALD and IESNA as well as being Lighting Certified (LC). Recipient of the IES G.G.Cousins and Mentorship Awards, she has held a position on the Toronto IES Board of Directors for the past 22 years. Rhomney lectures extensively to the architectural and interior design communities as well as design schools.
Rhomney is the recipient of more than 20 international illumination design awards for her work including the IESNA International Design of Excellence, GE Edison Award of Merit and the Prix Lumiere. Recent award-winning projects include Simon’s – Net Zero Department store, Bisha Hotel in Toronto, Bank of Montreal’s Canadian flagship, W Hotel Atlanta and many more.
Sustainability and an Evolving Practice | Melissa Higgs, HCMA Architecture + Design
Designing buildings, public spaces and cities to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change will require our profession to think and operate in new ways, and to rethink how we practice. In this session, Melissa Higgs, a Principal at HCMA Architecture + Design, will challenge the status quo, presenting an integrated approach to sustainability as a spectrum including social and environmental aspects. The session will include insights into how the firm is changing their practice and philosophy to address the broad and complex issues related to climate change.
Learning Objectives
- An introduction to an integrated approach to sustainability, including social and environmental aspects
- An understanding of a new framework for goal-setting and evaluating social impacts
- A broad understanding of emerging sustainability frameworks, including Living Building, PassiveHouse and various Net-Zero strategies
- Learnings through cases studies of public buildings pursuing advanced sustainability strategies, integrating both social and environmental goals.
As a Principal, Melissa Higgs enjoys working closely with clients to find creative solutions to their unique design challenges. Her focus has been designing recreation facilities and arts and culture projects, including the award-winning Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre in Surrey, BC. She is also experienced with long-range vision plans, including Granville Island 2040 and the Vancouver Aquatic Strategy.
Melissa also plays a key role in managing and developing the trans-disciplinary aspects of HCMA Architecture +Design, including communication design and community and stakeholder engagement to augment our architecture and to enhance our reach and impact. She believes that true collaboration and trans-disciplinary design has the power to improve creative outcomes across all project types and scales. The influence of this work can be seen in her Clayton Community Hub project, which includes the #ConnectingClayton engagement strategy.
Rediscovering the Waltz of Light and Architecture: How Emerging Technologies are Transforming Lighting Design | Sunny Ghataurah, AES Engineering Ltd.
In the era prior to artificial light, people's daily activities were integrated with the sun's cycles and followed circadian rhythms. When the sun rose and the sky brightened, they woke, and energy levels increased. When the sun set, they retired to shelter and rest.
In the early stages of the built environment, architecture was intentionally designed to consider daylight and natural illumination. Light became to architecture as music is to dance. Buildings, such as cathedrals, were shaped and massed to capture light and disperse it to the surrounding environment. Buildings and fenestrations were also positioned at ideal angles to capture the sun's rays, and light danced off walls and floors, casting shadows in its wake.
Today's abundance of artificial, controlled light has disconnected people from the rhythms of the sun, weather, and seasons. Integration with the natural world has been lost. Architects and lighting designers are seeking to reintegrate natural light into the built environment and welcome a return of the waltz of light and architecture. Advances in lighting technologies and luminaires are expanding the frontier of lighting design and its capacity to return to its roots and bring the waltz and dance of light and architecture back to life.
This presentation will explore how architecture and lighting design are returning to natural light and circadian rhythms, through the use of new and emerging technologies, backed by cutting-edge research, and supported by lighting standards and sustainability codes and guidelines.
Learning Objectives
- Comprehend how buildings were shaped to capture light, how massing dispersed light around the surrounding neighbourhood. Presentation of case studies where light was integrated into architecture.
- Learn about the evolution of the science behind lighting design, such as colour tempertatures, metrics, and how this has evolved codes. Understand the parameters and effects of biological rhythms in a 24-hour period. Analyze metrics of circadian stimulus, as well as how other sustainability standards, such as LEED or NetZero, are encourating the use of natural daylight, lighting controls, and new technology to promote circadian lighting.
- Learn about new lighting technologies, and how to make a windowless environment feel natural with artificial light. Identify new strategies and technologies in lighting such as luminaires and software that change colour temperature, dim to warm light, and artificial skylights that simulate sunlight. Learn how these technological advancements are impacting the direction and future of lighting design and the experience of occupants and users in different environments.
Sunny Ghataurah is one of Western Canada’s leading electrical engineers and lighting designers, licensed in Alberta, British Columbia and Washington State. As President of AES Engineering, he brings more than 25-years of experience in the construction industry. His skills in designing electrical and architectural lighting systems have been applied to hundreds of buildings across many sectors, including healthcare, education, hospitality, civic, recreational, retail, corporate office, industrial and residential.
Sunny’s projects have won numerous awards including Awards of Merit from the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies British Columbia (ACEC-BC), and a 2016 Special Citation and 2015 Award of Excellence for Interior Lighting Design from the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES).
The Future of High Performance; Energy & Objective Based Codes | Justin Pockar, City of Calgary
Energy codes represent a significant switch from traditional life safety-based codes in application and philosophy. The former – through the inclusion of a performance-based compliance methodology – offers users a superior compliance methodology to prescriptive codes, enables far more flexibility and design choice. This presentation will cover the latest iteration of the energy code (NECB 2017) and expand its performance-based philosophy to life safety codes in an exploration of contemporary codes applications.
Learning Objectives
- Familiarize attendees with NECB 2017 technical changes
- Increase knowledge of code applications
- Familiarize attendees with code compliance options
- Help attendees better apply code to design solutions
Prior to joining The City of Calgary Justin worked as a consultant, completing several projects certified to LEED Gold or better. As Energy and Environment Coordinator, current responsibilities include administration and integration of sustainable design technologies and policy in the built environment. Active participation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has led to roles as reviewer and author of the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings (NECB), and authoring volumes for both ASHRAE and BIM Canada.