New U of T Architecture school, Green or Greenwash?
Thursday night I attended a presentation of the design for the new home of the U of T Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, designed by Nader Tehrani, principal of the firm NADAAA.
The building is an addition to an historic building at one Spadina Circle. It’s in the current style that has sloped floors and stairs defining space without any regular rhythm or order. Fair enough. But good architecture is interesting and meets functional, budgetary and safety requirements.
I had hoped that it would address the fact that building operations in Canada generate somewhere around 30% of our GHG emissions.
On this note, it claims to be “beyond green; Not following LEED or anything”, but that statement is not followed by any description of WHY it is beyond green.
LEED may be reductionist, but it addresses a very broad range of environmental concerns in a rigorous manner.
In contrast, the Profession, as represented by the OAA, has just voted to renovate its HQ to meet zero greenhouse gas emissions in keeping with its support of the 2030 Challenge.
I don’t see how the U of T design excels. A short list of “green features” was mentioned; green roofs, and displacement ventilation, but no vision of how it all hangs together to achieve anything in particular.
I’m hoping this information is yet to come. Students deserve it.
Sheena.