Issue 06 - Spring 2011

SKINNER RESIDENCE AND OFFICE

New infill conserves power and water in a pleasing package

This urban infill lot stood vacant for 20 years, despite its prime location at the crest of a ravine, overlooking a river and parkland, just one kilometer from the city centre London, ON. ...more

GREEN CLEANING SOLUTIONS

Certified products keep indoors healthy

Chemicals are absorbed into our bodies in three ways: inhalation, through the skin and ingestion. With indoor air two to five times more polluted than outdoor air, and with people spending 90% of their time indoors, Lung Associations, the World Health Organization and Environmental Agencies view indoor air pollution as one of the greatest risks to human health. more

THE SCHOOLHOUSE

Reno to five living units makes an award winner

Through the renovation and conversion of a historic structure this unusual project has created a dramatic, modern and sustainable building. The project took a redundant 1940s schoolhouse, located in East Vancouver’s historic Strathcona neighbourhood, and transformed it into five distinctive residential units for the client and his extended family. more

RAMMED EARTH CONSTRUCTIONS

An Ancient Art

Rammed earth construction is the process of building with sub soils [not top soils or ‘mud’] and compacting them into a formwork of some kind, until they are as solid as stone. It is very similar to the way in which sedimentary rock is formed in nature. Just as there are many colours of sedimentary rock, so there is a natural variation in the colouring of rammed earth – a variation that can be enhanced by the addition of iron oxide or other natural pigments. more