This session has been cancelled.

Location: Laurentian Main campus, room C-114

1.5 ConEd Learning Hours

1.5 AIA LU

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

With global urban population growth expected to double by 2050, cities of the future will require the architecture profession to have a sound understanding of fundamental ecological principles and how they should be applied within urban, peri-urban, and peri-rural environments. The current rate of global biodiversity losses, coupled with ongoing climate shifts, requires robust and interdisciplinary design strategies that extend beyond the building scale and address more than energy efficiency and thermal properties of individual buildings. In pursuit of truly sustainable cities, individual buildings must be viewed as members within an overarching ecological system rather than singular design enterprise.

Once established, the physical form and land use patterns of cities can be difficult change and the result may be unsustainable urban sprawl. The architecture profession, in both practice and education, must foster closer working relationships with ecologist and biologists during the design stages of both buildings and urban environments. 

Learning Objectives

1. Hear a short history of architecture’s relationship to ecology. 
2. Learn about the fundamental landscape ecological principles that could be applied during the architectural design process (connectivity, ecosystem service, etc).
3. Discuss the benefits, both human and non-human, of integrating ecological knowledge into architectural design practices and the barriers that currently exist in architectural education/ practice to collaborate with biologists, ecologists, etc.
4. Discuss current architectural approaches to exploring new and novel approaches to ecological architecture.

Peter Braithwaite, BA, BEDS, MArch, MRAIC, NSAA, OAA, is an architect with Peter Braithwaite Studio, which has been awarded the Emerging Talent distinction by Canadian Architect and Twenty + Change and been described as one of the world’s most promising emerging practices by Wallpaper* Magazine. Prior to studying architecture at Dalhousie University, Peter worked as a carpenter and a cabinet-maker, which influences his approach to architectural design where building materials are recognized as the vehicle through which design idea are manifested. Peter has a deep interest in material culture and its relationship to the natural environmental. He believes a dedication to craft and the act of making facilitates the production of buildings that are both environmentally and culturally sustainable. He feels that thoughtful programmatic considerations that satisfy users’ requirements should be manifested into physical form that enhances both the natural and the urban environment. Peter he has been a dedicated educator at the Dalhousie School of Architecture since 2015, and also mentors architectural interns, acts as thesis advisors to graduate students, employs architectural co-op students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level, and has volunteered his time at Experience in Architecture: Igniting a Passion for Architecture Among African Nova Scotia Youth. In 2021, he was awarded a Killiam Doctoral Scholarship to complete studies within Interdisciplinary Studies department at Dalhousie University.