Credits: 1 AIA LU; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations.

This webinar is part of the Sustainability Academy, and will explore innovative uses of wood in building design, profiling three unique projects across applications (commercial, multifamily, mixed use), each of which embodies the aesthetic, environmental, and structural strengths of wood as a building material. Presenters will share their deep knowledge of sustainable building practices, including a discussion on topics such as the basics of healthy materials, an overview of regulatory bodies and the latest standards, overcoming the challenges of cost issues and/or regulatory barriers, and highlighting specialized approaches to materials through case study discussions.

Janna Wandzilak, WELL Faculty, LEED AP BD+C, is director of Delos Solutions, a world leader in providing standards and solutions for interior environments that can enhance the health, well-being, and productivity of occupants. She will speak about the new Delos headquarters located in New York City, which is a showcase of health and sustainability in buildings, is WELL Platinum and Living Building Challenge Petal certified, and is pursuing LEED v4 Platinum certification.

Mary Dickinson, senior associate and regional sustainable design leader for Perkins & Will, is an expert on designing for well-being as well as the implementation of design innovations that allow dynamic projects and their occupants to perform to their greatest potential while improving the built environment impacts on human and environmental health. Her presentation will examine sustainable design features of a recent Perkins + Will project.

Jeff Frost is a project manager and healthy materials specialist for Brightworks Sustainability, a company whose mission is to help its clients establish and implement sustainability programs that significantly increase their operational performance while reducing their environmental footprints. Among the topics he will present on is the framework and criteria being used by firms to evaluate products in order to meet sustainable design goals.

The presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion focused on how ambitious sustainable design projects using healthy materials address several key issues, including:

• Cost: What tradeoffs, if any, are required to achieve design excellence using healthy, sustainable materials, products, and practices. In the featured projects, did using sustainable, healthy materials add costs that needed to be recouped in other areas of the project, or did it actually reduce overall costs?
• Regulatory barriers: Were there any regulatory or other legal barriers that the project needed to overcome? If so, what strategies did the design team use to overcome them?
• Drivers: Did the owner request a sustainable building, or did you, as the architects, propose it? If the latter, what led you to suggest using specific healthy materials towards the end goal?
• Design constraints and opportunities

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe specific aesthetic, environmental, and performance benefits and challenges of incorporating healthy, sustainable building materials and strategies into contemporary design projects.
2. Discuss a number of innovative sustainable building strategies and programs used in the projects highlighted in this presentation.
3. Provide details on the latest standards, certifications, regulations, and initiatives that are being employed in order for designers to meet sustainable building goals.
4. Explain the basic focus of the overall design and construction process behind the highlighted projects.

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