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Smart Walls For Smart Kids: Okanagan College Child Care Centre Sustainable Architecture & Building Magazine (or SABMag for short) announced the Canadian Green Building Awards for 2018, including a personal favorite of ours among the winners: the Okanagan College Child Care Centre in Penticton, British Columbia. This project was nam … read more

5 Steps For Sealing Intentional Holes in Your Air Barrier A continuous air barrier is one of the defining design details of Passive House and high-performance building. The red line that many of us draw on blueprints to indicate the air barrier separating the interior conditioned space and the exterior environment, provides comfort, opt … read more

The Value of Air and Vapor Control Foundational Elements Of High Performance Enclosures We’ve heard the chorus of misinformation throughout years of speaking to builders across North America: “Buildings need to breathe – you’ll destroy them if you make them airtight”. “In a cold climate, if you don’t put a vapor barrier on the inside o … read more

A Declaration of Independence from Foam Plastic Insulation When in the course of constructing and renovating buildings, it becomes necessary for architects, consultants and builders to stop using materials and methods which have defined high-performance building in our time, and determine to set a new course separate and free from foam … read more

Bringing Light into a Historic Toronto Home Project Spotlight Location: Toronto, ON Project Type: Retrofit and Conversion Architect:Terrell Wong, Principal, Stones Throw Design Builder:Builder: Mark Nolan, Owner, Cildara Contracting Limited This renovation project transforms a historic build … read more

Avoid The Carbon Rebound On California’s Net Zero goals, embodied carbon of materials, and the Smart Enclosure System In the fight to mitigate Climate change in California, the term Net Zero may be getting a makeover.  Policy makers still view Net Zero buildings as a fundamental tool to reach climate mitigation goals; however, the carb … read more