The 7th Active House Symposium will be held for the first time in North America in Toronto on September 16-17 at Evergreen Brick Works. Active House is an international building practice that is based on a balanced and holistic approach to building design and performance. Toronto won the bid to host this Symposium which was previously held at the Politecnico Di Milano in Lecco Italy, Bornholm Denmark, and other global cities.
According to Active House, the ambition for the Alliance is – in the common interest of its members – to create a viable, independent and international influential alliance which supports the vision of buildings that create healthier and comfortable lives for their residents without impacting negatively on the climate and environment – moving us toward a cleaner, healthier and safer world. The building is evaluated on the interaction between 3 core principles: Comfort – the indoor climate conditions, Energy consumption and impact on the Environment.
Active House states that the impact of hosting the event in Canada is to ensure the design community has access and can participate in this relevant and global conversation. The importance of the Symposium is to bring industry professionals from around the world including architects, academics, builders, engineers, regulators, designers and other specialists to stimulate conversations, exchange of ideas and education surrounding healthy and sustainable building design with the mission to benefit homebuyers and owners. The values of the Alliance are open dialogue between partners, engagement in the development, holistic approach to design of buildings and credible communication. Active House states that it is gaining popularity in China where the importance of sustainability targets to build green buildings has escalated due to global warming.
Featured speakers include; architects Kristian Lars Ahlmark, Denmark; Jishou Zhong, China; and Siamak Hariri, Canada. From the business community Michael Koenig, Honda Smart Home US and from academia, Marco Imperadori, Italy and Alex Lukachko, Canada.
According to Active House, developers have always been at the forefront of building science and have a social responsibility to pay attention to these issues with the mandate to provide comfortable and healthy shelters while being prepared for climate change.
Great Gulf was attracted to this building concept 10 years ago and became one of the founders of the Alliance. It committed to these standards with CSA certified H+ME Technology building science, an advanced indoor automated manufacturing plant that allows floor, wall and roof assemblies to be built as integrated panels in a controlled environment. The H+ME Technology facility is supported by 3D computer visualization, prototyping and fabricating technologies that reduce environmental waste and increase energy performance through the manufacture of tight-fitting building components.
“Together with Velux and other members of the industry, we are the driving force behind Active House Alliance,” said Active House Chairman of the Board Advisory Committee and Great Gulf President Low Rise Tad Putyra. “We use wood in our homes including mid-rise residential buildings because it is a sustainable resource of the future. We’ve already built several Active Houses in Ontario and use these as prototypes. We have included some of these elements in our current projects which are being extensively tested and implemented in our Great Gulf homes to improve our standard product. This includes improvement in daylight, climate control and overall building science.
For more information and to register go to activehouse.ca