Regenerative architecture goes far beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions — it is about understanding our buildings as part of complex local and global ecosystems and designing strategies that support the continued habitability of our planet. If buildings fall on a spectrum of least (ie. camping) to greatest harm (ie. business as usual), how can designers establish an approach to explore and evaluate designs based on ever-reducing impacts, and ever increasing regenerative co-benefits? Can this approach also produce benefits in other areas, such as costs, which are typically pitted against sustainability goals?

Join the TSA for this 1-hour webinar as architect Andy Thomson, principal of Thomson Architecture, shares a unique approach to design informed by the directive ‘First, Do No Harm’. 

With 20 years of research into minimalist buildings and lifestyles under his belt, Andy will distill an aggressive approach for buildings that meet or exceed Passivhaus requirements while significantly reducing the capital expenditure of conventional construction. In other words, “how can architecture be more like camping?”

Informed by 20 years of research into minimalist buildings and lifestyles and illustrated through strategies and case studies, Andy will distill an aggressive approach for buildings that meet or exceed Passivhaus requirements while significantly reducing the capital expenditure of conventional construction. In other words, “how can architecture be more like camping?”.

During this lecture we will explore:

A brief history of building science (including lessons from the space program)
Miniaturization, Tiny Homes and CSA Trailers (OBC exempt) buildings
Ephemeralization – ‘lightweighting’ for reduced complexity and labour inputs
Strategies for form optimization and geometry improvement for cost mitigation and thermal strategy
Design strategies for balancing the competing challenges of airtightness and air quality
Case studies using building energy and carbon metrics to simplify comparative analysis
Some resources:

From the Thomson Architecture Blog,

• Architects as Energy Experts
• How Many Miles Per Gallon Does Your Building Get?
• ArchiCad, EcoDesigner and Passive House
• Air is Life

About the Speaker

Andy Thomson is the director of Thomson Architecture, Inc., an international, collaborative architectural practice dedicated to advancing BIM to BEM workflows for architects. As VP Strategic of the Ontario Association of Architects, Andy chairs the Sustainable Built Environment (SBEC) and Policy Advocacy Coordination Team (PACT) committees, and has been the proponent of the OAA’s new TEUI Calculator with Cove.tools and was a technical adjudicator of the OAA’s Design Excellence Awards for 2020. Andy studied and practiced in Germany at the advent of the Passive House standard and the ‘Energiewende’, and has been cross-pollinating best practices in green architecture from North America to Europe and vice-versa. Andy runs his ‘ephemeral’ practice via satellite, from a zero-carbon, passive solar lodge on a 50 acre campground in the middle of nowhere.

This event is FREE to TSA members. If you are a TSA member, you should have received a code in your regular mailing. 

This technical lecture is part of the Building, Technology, Science and Technology (B.E.S.T.) Series, a collaboration of the Toronto Society of Architects and the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design bringing affordable, timely and relevant knowledge, skills and tools to the profession as we work together to address the climate crisis