FULLY COMMITTED TO BUILDING DIFFERENTLY
Commitments Beyond Certifications
AMANDINE CADRO
BUILDING CARBON NEUTRALITY ANALYST (NEW AND EXISTING BUILDINGS), STUDIO CARBONE
In the face of growing environmental challenges, the mere reduction of negative impacts is no longer enough; we must generate positive impacts that support resilience within natural and human systems in order to face future challenges. To clarify this vision, we interviewed Marika Frenette, Manager at the Wigwam firm in France, and Studio Carbone in Canada.
Many environmental certifications have been developed since the 1990s. “Certifications have been a major driver of change in the construction sector,” said Marika Frenette. “They have shed light on issues that we were completely unknown until then, including the environmental impact of materials, the energy efficiency of buildings, and even resource management.” After 30 years, and 10 years after the Paris Agreement, it is clear that certifications, “have raised our collective awareness, but they no longer suffice on their own,” made evident by the steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Faced with this observation, “we need a more global, more ambitious approach,” she says. “Today’s challenge is not merely about achieving a score or a level within a set framework.” Today, global warming and social problems “demand more concrete actions that go well beyond labels and tools which, in the end, only represent design benchmarks and guidelines, not solutions in themselves.” In her view, we can “create exemplary projects that work over the long term without compromising environmental and human needs and without official certification. Conversely, some certified buildings do not meet the expectations of users or do not function properly.”
Environmental certification: A valuable tool, not an end in itself
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Moving beyond certification and broadening our consideration
“Personal commitment is key to this approach,” said Marika Frenette. “Before discussing certification, stakeholders, including professionals, clients and companies, must ask themselves what role they intend to play in this transformation.” The Regenesis Group’s regenerative design method places particular emphasis on this introspection: “It’s about asking ourselves the right questions to understand who we are, what we truly hope to contribute through our profession and how, given our scale, we can help regenerate our ecosystems and create a sustainable environment.”
MARIKA FRENETTE
STUDIO CARBONE AND WIGNAM®
This demands that we re-examine our values and ambitions, along with our personal and collective impact. She concludes, “finally, the most important thing is to develop projects that truly meet ecological, social and human needs through a systemic approach while harnessing creativity, collaboration and commitment to deliver relevant, sustainable solutions.” Through this approach, “certifications can help structure and validate certain measures, but the end goal must always target the benefits involved in living ecosystems and human communities.”
Wood plays an important role in regenerative urban planning
Thanks to its many advantages, wood is an increasingly popular material for new constructions. “It’s an excellent way to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. It is lightweight, quick to install and, above all, it can be prefabricated, allowing for more efficient site management.” On the other hand, Marika Frenette believes that “wood is more than simply material for new construction, it breathes new life into underused urban spaces.” Urban densification has become a significant issue. Urban sprawl is costly in both economic and environmental terms. We must find new and intelligent solutions to densify our cities once more. She explains that “wood plays a key role in this regeneration and urban densification process by elevating buildings and filling vacant lots.” She highlights the fact that “wood is particularly well suited to this type of project because it creates lightweight modular constructions that do not impose substantial loads on the existing building infrastructure we intend to build upon.”
After RE2020: The Sustainable City
LAURENCE DROUIN
SENIOR MANAGER - STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS
MYRIAM DROUIN
FREELANCE WRITER
By 2060, more than 60% of the world’s population will live within cities. Here, sustainability becomes a necessity. In Europe, a profound shift in perspective, design methods and urban development is already well underway. Laure Mériaud discussed her vision of the sustainable city and its application to the Paris Olympic Aquatic Centre.
In response to current environmental challenges, France implemented an ambitious policy for low-carbon construction, namely the RE2020 regulation. This new energy and environmental regulation covers all new constructions. Not only does it consider the impacts associated with a building’s energy consumption, but it also targets embodied carbon, namely the emissions associated with the materials used in building construction, from the extraction phase to the building’s end-of-life. According to the new standard, professionals must review their building design practices in order to meet the carbon thresholds set by the French government.
“The law forces the entire construction ecosystem to improve and reduce environmental impacts at every stage of the building’s life cycle. New requirements surrounding dynamic carbon calculations, which consider the carbon sequestered in bio-sourced materials, promote the use of bio-sourced materials like wood, straw and hemp.” Depending on the building’s typology, the regulations establish carbon threshold limits expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per square metre (kg eq. CO2/m2). These will become increasingly restrictive in the coming years, with thresholds set to drop further in 2025, 2028 and 2031.
Depending on the building’s typology, the regulations establish carbon threshold limits expressed in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per square metre (kg eq. CO2/m2).
PARIS OLYMPIC AQUATIC CENTRE GREATER PARIS METROPOLIS ARCHITECTS: VENHOEVENCS + ATELIERS 2/3/4/
© YVES DE POMMEREAU FOR ATELIERS 2/3/4/
According to Laure Mériaud, Architect at Ateliers 2/3/4/ in France, sustainable construction means going even further. “Indeed, calculating carbon is only the beginning, since it is now required in France. It is a fundamental part of design,” she says. “Now, we have to go further and ask the right questions to create a sustainable city. You can make the best building with the least amount of carbon, but if it’s ill-adapted and poorly designed without sufficient thought for the future, your project will only generate more impacts.”
This desire to do more can be seen in the architect’s vision of a sustainable city in which spaces are designed to create wellness in people, to draw them in while remaining sustainable in the long term. In her view, the city must have density without neglecting other environmental and social issues.
PARIS OLYMPIC AQUATIC CENTRE GREATER PARIS METROPOLIS ARCHITECTS: VENHOEVENCS + ATELIERS 2/3/4/
© YVES DE POMMEREAU FOR ATELIERS 2/3/4/
The notion of porosity often surfaces. Architects are tasked with creating porosity at various levels: Literally to ensure water infiltration in soil, and figuratively to direct mobility upon entering the city, or when moving through it.
“We have to consider carbon; it’s part of the basics. It must be incorporated into our standards and design methods. But the real question for today’s cities, particularly in a small territory like Europe, is: How do we all live together in a cramped area? How do we create porosity in our buildings and include nature at every level? How do we create exceptional spaces to ensure that people, including those who live on the 40th floor, don’t feel trapped in a thermos bottle?”
The Paris Olympic Aquatic Centre, designed to minimize environmental impacts
Working in collaboration with VenhoevenCS, Ateliers 2/3/4/ put all of these sustainability concepts into practice when the time came to design the Olympic Aquatic Centre for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The aquatic centre was intended to demonstrate that the Olympic Games could benefit their host city. The designers set out to create a building that would be embraced by the local population, a building that would last over the long term. The approach focused on the building’s post-Olympic period, rather than the games themselves, which were deemed exceptional in the equation. Above all, it was designed for tomorrow, for the long term, and for the benefit of the population that surrounds it, not for the immediate needs of the Olympic Games. This mixed-use approach sought to promote human interaction. More than a mere gathering place, it represents an exceptional architectural approach designed to minimize its impact on the environment. (See article p. 19)
For the architect, sustainable cities require “density that is pleasing and desirable.” The city must bring nature to life and use up all the available space. Renaturation is central to this concept. The benefits go even further by helping to increase biodiversity and tackle urban heat islands.
Finally, sustainable cities require that construction be planned for the long term, with consideration for its adaptability from the very start of the building’s design phase. The need for restructuring has led the architect to conclude that certain buildings can be restructured fairly easily, despite the apprehension of many professionals, who deem it too complicated. In her view, new buildings should be designed to meet a variety of needs that emerge over time, thereby extending their lifespan. For example, office buildings should be designed while considering the possibility that they may one day become hotels, then student residences. One cannot plan for every possible use, of course, since this would lead to generic spaces and a loss of architectural quality. But we must design buildings that can adapt over time
LAURE MÉRIAUD
ATELIERS 2/3/4/
The Paris Olympic Aquatic Centre, designed to minimize environmental impacts
Working in collaboration with VenhoevenCS, Ateliers 2/3/4/ put all of these sustainability concepts into practice when the time came to design the Olympic Aquatic Centre for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The aquatic centre was intended to demonstrate that the Olympic Games could benefit their host city. The designers set out to create a building that would be embraced by the local population, a building that would last over the long term. The approach focused on the building’s post-Olympic period, rather than the games themselves, which were deemed exceptional in the equation. Above all, it was designed for tomorrow, for the long term, and for the benefit of the population that surrounds it, not for the immediate needs of the Olympic Games. This mixed-use approach sought to promote human interaction. More than a mere gathering place, it represents an exceptional architectural approach designed to minimize its impact on the environment. (See article p. 19)