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AlvinofDiaspar
Guest
From the Star, by Hume:
New towers paint the town green
Feb 18, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Office towers aren't what they used to be. True, they're as tall as ever, if not taller, but now they mean something different – the symbolism has changed.
The edifice complex hasn't exactly disappeared, but today it's tempered by the sustainability reflex.
Originally, the skyscraper was all about corporate might – mine's bigger than yours. Now it's about doing what's right. There are examples everywhere. In New York, the Bank of America is building the tallest green tower in the world. In Europe, green skyscrapers have been around since the 1980s.
Finally, Toronto's getting into the act, and in a big way. After an absence of 10 or 15 years, when the only high-rises built in this city were residential – i.e., condos – the office tower is making a comeback. Last year 180 Queen St. W. was completed, though at 17 storeys it barely qualifies as a tower. And we mustn't forget the SAS Building, 280 King St. E., a mid-rise corporate headquarters notable for its "sustainable" features.
But three skyscrapers now under construction are all tall and green: Brookfield Properties' Bay-Adelaide Centre (50 storeys), Cadillac Fairview's RBC Centre (43 storeys) at Simcoe and Wellington Sts., and the Telus Tower (32 storeys) at 25 York St. near the Air Canada Centre (a joint venture of Halcyon Partners Fund, Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan and Menkes Developments).
All three are going for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification. That green building rating system, which has become the North American standard for evaluating sustainable architecture, is based on criteria such as materials, heating and cooling efficiency, green roofs and water recycling. The highest rating is platinum, followed by gold and silver.
In Toronto, the decision to go green remains strictly voluntary; no tax rebates or incentives are available. Despite this, the owners have decided that in the long run going green is worth the extra expense.
"It's a very powerful story," says Toronto architect Dermot Sweeny of Sweeny, Sterling, Finlayson, who's working on both the RBC and Telus projects. "This is the future. The fundamentals haven't changed since the mid-1960s. Nothing got much better architecturally than the Toronto-Dominion Centre; the only way to advance the model is to concentrate on the environment inside, which is key to attracting and retaining knowledge workers."
As Sweeny explains it: "It's pretty hard to justify three new towers in a market that has more than a nine-per-cent vacancy rate. Between the three, there are 3 million square feet of space. But these guys are confident that by building a better building, driven by tenant need, they'll all be fully occupied. It's pretty exciting stuff, and the tenants are really into it. These measures will give them a tremendous competitive edge."
Those measures include individual fresh-air control, operable windows, and natural and indirect lighting to reduce glare, as well as such features such as bicycle-storage areas and change rooms.
Then, of course, there's the critical issue of location: all three are in the downtown core, easily accessible by public transit. This is especially intriguing because, don't forget, for two decades or so corporations have been fleeing the city for the 'burbs, for places such as Mississauga, Brampton and Markham.
But it turns out that the knowledge workers the companies are after, who represent their future, are young and increasingly urban. They're the people who live in the condos now popping up at a fast and furious rate. For them, transit is not an abstract concept; it's a daily need. They don't want the commuter's life, driving to and from an oversized house at the end of a cul-de-sac in Vaughan.
"What these new towers say," Sweeny continues, "is, `We are resourceful. We are a place where young people are comfortable working. We're forward thinking. We're caring and we're building a better environment and a better place to be.'"
Nancy Searchfield of Colliers International, the first commercial real estate salesperson in Canada to become LEED accredited, believes the advent of these office towers represents a significant milestone in the sustainable development movement in Canada.
"Sustainability is the way of the future," she says. "The new LEED silver office towers are very cost-competitive with existing towers due, in part, to lower utility costs. In evaluating green buildings, it is important to also take into consideration the true economic cost of occupancy after allowing for all potential benefits arising from a healthier workplace: employee wellness, productivity gains, reduced absenteeism, improved employee attraction/retention and brand enhancement as an environmentally-responsible corporate citizen. When all of these factors are taken into consideration, the business case is quite compelling for green office developments. The question is not whether we can afford to go green but whether we can afford not to."
Downtown councillor Kyle Rae also takes heart from what he sees.
"We're moving in the right direction," he says. "This goes beyond what the city requires. We're still struggling with some of the smaller developers, but it's the new normal."
"These projects aspire to enhance the office environment," says Josh Chaiken, senior designer of the RBC Centre and an associate principal with New York's KPF Associates, one of the most highly regarded architectural firms in the U.S. today. "We're bringing in more natural light, more comfortable heating and cooling, things that will make a huge difference."
According to Chaiken, "Going for LEED certification is becoming more typical, but some of the features at RBC are not as typical as we would like." He notes that the RBC Centre will have exposed concrete ceilings, which means they'll be higher and more light-reflective. It will also boast – are you ready?  operable windows up to the 10th floor, something that hasn't been seen in a North American office tower in generations. The windows higher up will be fixed to avoid the "chimney effect," which pulls air upward and plays havoc with heating and cooling systems.
The icing on the cake here is that the RBC Centre, which forms part of a larger complex that includes the Ritz-Carlton hotel/condo building, is also an architectural highlight. Tall, sculptural and elegant, these twin towers speak the language of minimalist modernism but avoid the uncompromising rigidity of the Miesian grid as exemplified by the Toronto-Dominion Centre.
Robert Sampson of WZMH Architects, the Toronto firm that designed the Bay-Adelaide Centre, also believes the three towers represent a departure from tradition.
"I think there's a new generation of office tower," he observes. "The towers going up now are quite different now that things like LEED have entered the equation. Sept. 11 also had an impact on the modern tower; a lot of owners are looking to models used in New York, where most office towers have enhanced security such as turnstiles at the entrance and are also beefed up structurally.
In case you've forgotten, the Bay-Adelaide Centre was started back in late 1980s but fell apart in 1991, soon after construction began. All that remained of that complex was a six-storey service shaft and the exquisite Cloud Gardens, the enclosed tropical plant greenhouse and one of Toronto's overlooked gems.
"At Bay-Adelaide, our client was committed to LEED," Sampson says. "It's an all-encompassing thing related to mechanical and technical systems. But we also have bicycle storage areas and change rooms. There will be a tunnel under Adelaide St. to connect with Scotia Plaza and the underground city. The idea is to make transit use more practical."
WZMH will also ensure that all paints, carpeting, coatings, adhesives and sealants used inside the structure are low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The roof will be covered in a special material to reduce the heat island effect that causes buildings – and cities – to overheat. And, Sampson explains, "The architects have located the cistern so that rain water from the roof and public plaza can be captured, filtered and used for irrigation and flushing toilets."
He admits there is "definitely a cost" for LEED, but adds that many of the measures, such as air-quality systems, pay for themselves.
"A lot of what is done to achieve LEED certification is just good design," Sampson insists. "Pretty soon, these sorts of steps will be required in building codes."
Sweeny agrees: "LEED silver is becoming the norm, not the exception. There are many ways to achieve LEED rating; the buildings we're designing in Toronto go well beyond LEED."
it's worth noting, too, how the desire to create space that will attract workers – young workers – overlaps so completely with a green agenda. Turns out that what's good for people is also good for the environment. This shouldn't be surprising, but it's worth pointing out, especially in light of the oft-heard argument that sustainability can only be achieved at great cost. In fact, the opposite is true. Even those focused solely on the bottom line are coming to understand the benefits of smart architecture.
For example, when SAS set out to build its headquarters several years ago, the intention initially was to provide employees with working conditions so appealing that they would become more productive. The hope was that they would miss fewer days through sickness and work harder when they were at the office. That meant a building with fresh air, natural light, nice spaces, human-oriented design. Before long, the SAS project was LEED-bound.
By comparison, the condo market has failed to keep pace. Though there are a handful of projects that will be sustainable, the vast majority of residential developers haven't bothered to make the effort. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that condos are built as cheaply as possible and meant to be sold as quickly as possible. Typically, builders have no interest beyond delivering a product that offers the lowest square-foot cost.
Office towers, on the other hand, are rental buildings; in other words, the owner has a vested interest in making the space desirable, efficient to operate and easy to maintain. Given that the vast bulk of construction in the GTA is residential, the appearance of a raft of LEED-certified office towers must be kept in perspective. We still have a long way to go.
But as buyers grow more knowledgeable and prices of utilities go up, this will change; condo developers could find that demand for their buildings increases along with the sustainability quotient. If not, the prized young knowledge workers so sought after by corporations might find themselves toiling in better conditions than those in which they live.
AoD
New towers paint the town green
Feb 18, 2007 04:30 AM
Christopher Hume
Office towers aren't what they used to be. True, they're as tall as ever, if not taller, but now they mean something different – the symbolism has changed.
The edifice complex hasn't exactly disappeared, but today it's tempered by the sustainability reflex.
Originally, the skyscraper was all about corporate might – mine's bigger than yours. Now it's about doing what's right. There are examples everywhere. In New York, the Bank of America is building the tallest green tower in the world. In Europe, green skyscrapers have been around since the 1980s.
Finally, Toronto's getting into the act, and in a big way. After an absence of 10 or 15 years, when the only high-rises built in this city were residential – i.e., condos – the office tower is making a comeback. Last year 180 Queen St. W. was completed, though at 17 storeys it barely qualifies as a tower. And we mustn't forget the SAS Building, 280 King St. E., a mid-rise corporate headquarters notable for its "sustainable" features.
But three skyscrapers now under construction are all tall and green: Brookfield Properties' Bay-Adelaide Centre (50 storeys), Cadillac Fairview's RBC Centre (43 storeys) at Simcoe and Wellington Sts., and the Telus Tower (32 storeys) at 25 York St. near the Air Canada Centre (a joint venture of Halcyon Partners Fund, Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan and Menkes Developments).
All three are going for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification. That green building rating system, which has become the North American standard for evaluating sustainable architecture, is based on criteria such as materials, heating and cooling efficiency, green roofs and water recycling. The highest rating is platinum, followed by gold and silver.
In Toronto, the decision to go green remains strictly voluntary; no tax rebates or incentives are available. Despite this, the owners have decided that in the long run going green is worth the extra expense.
"It's a very powerful story," says Toronto architect Dermot Sweeny of Sweeny, Sterling, Finlayson, who's working on both the RBC and Telus projects. "This is the future. The fundamentals haven't changed since the mid-1960s. Nothing got much better architecturally than the Toronto-Dominion Centre; the only way to advance the model is to concentrate on the environment inside, which is key to attracting and retaining knowledge workers."
As Sweeny explains it: "It's pretty hard to justify three new towers in a market that has more than a nine-per-cent vacancy rate. Between the three, there are 3 million square feet of space. But these guys are confident that by building a better building, driven by tenant need, they'll all be fully occupied. It's pretty exciting stuff, and the tenants are really into it. These measures will give them a tremendous competitive edge."
Those measures include individual fresh-air control, operable windows, and natural and indirect lighting to reduce glare, as well as such features such as bicycle-storage areas and change rooms.
Then, of course, there's the critical issue of location: all three are in the downtown core, easily accessible by public transit. This is especially intriguing because, don't forget, for two decades or so corporations have been fleeing the city for the 'burbs, for places such as Mississauga, Brampton and Markham.
But it turns out that the knowledge workers the companies are after, who represent their future, are young and increasingly urban. They're the people who live in the condos now popping up at a fast and furious rate. For them, transit is not an abstract concept; it's a daily need. They don't want the commuter's life, driving to and from an oversized house at the end of a cul-de-sac in Vaughan.
"What these new towers say," Sweeny continues, "is, `We are resourceful. We are a place where young people are comfortable working. We're forward thinking. We're caring and we're building a better environment and a better place to be.'"
Nancy Searchfield of Colliers International, the first commercial real estate salesperson in Canada to become LEED accredited, believes the advent of these office towers represents a significant milestone in the sustainable development movement in Canada.
"Sustainability is the way of the future," she says. "The new LEED silver office towers are very cost-competitive with existing towers due, in part, to lower utility costs. In evaluating green buildings, it is important to also take into consideration the true economic cost of occupancy after allowing for all potential benefits arising from a healthier workplace: employee wellness, productivity gains, reduced absenteeism, improved employee attraction/retention and brand enhancement as an environmentally-responsible corporate citizen. When all of these factors are taken into consideration, the business case is quite compelling for green office developments. The question is not whether we can afford to go green but whether we can afford not to."
Downtown councillor Kyle Rae also takes heart from what he sees.
"We're moving in the right direction," he says. "This goes beyond what the city requires. We're still struggling with some of the smaller developers, but it's the new normal."
"These projects aspire to enhance the office environment," says Josh Chaiken, senior designer of the RBC Centre and an associate principal with New York's KPF Associates, one of the most highly regarded architectural firms in the U.S. today. "We're bringing in more natural light, more comfortable heating and cooling, things that will make a huge difference."
According to Chaiken, "Going for LEED certification is becoming more typical, but some of the features at RBC are not as typical as we would like." He notes that the RBC Centre will have exposed concrete ceilings, which means they'll be higher and more light-reflective. It will also boast – are you ready?  operable windows up to the 10th floor, something that hasn't been seen in a North American office tower in generations. The windows higher up will be fixed to avoid the "chimney effect," which pulls air upward and plays havoc with heating and cooling systems.
The icing on the cake here is that the RBC Centre, which forms part of a larger complex that includes the Ritz-Carlton hotel/condo building, is also an architectural highlight. Tall, sculptural and elegant, these twin towers speak the language of minimalist modernism but avoid the uncompromising rigidity of the Miesian grid as exemplified by the Toronto-Dominion Centre.
Robert Sampson of WZMH Architects, the Toronto firm that designed the Bay-Adelaide Centre, also believes the three towers represent a departure from tradition.
"I think there's a new generation of office tower," he observes. "The towers going up now are quite different now that things like LEED have entered the equation. Sept. 11 also had an impact on the modern tower; a lot of owners are looking to models used in New York, where most office towers have enhanced security such as turnstiles at the entrance and are also beefed up structurally.
In case you've forgotten, the Bay-Adelaide Centre was started back in late 1980s but fell apart in 1991, soon after construction began. All that remained of that complex was a six-storey service shaft and the exquisite Cloud Gardens, the enclosed tropical plant greenhouse and one of Toronto's overlooked gems.
"At Bay-Adelaide, our client was committed to LEED," Sampson says. "It's an all-encompassing thing related to mechanical and technical systems. But we also have bicycle storage areas and change rooms. There will be a tunnel under Adelaide St. to connect with Scotia Plaza and the underground city. The idea is to make transit use more practical."
WZMH will also ensure that all paints, carpeting, coatings, adhesives and sealants used inside the structure are low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds). The roof will be covered in a special material to reduce the heat island effect that causes buildings – and cities – to overheat. And, Sampson explains, "The architects have located the cistern so that rain water from the roof and public plaza can be captured, filtered and used for irrigation and flushing toilets."
He admits there is "definitely a cost" for LEED, but adds that many of the measures, such as air-quality systems, pay for themselves.
"A lot of what is done to achieve LEED certification is just good design," Sampson insists. "Pretty soon, these sorts of steps will be required in building codes."
Sweeny agrees: "LEED silver is becoming the norm, not the exception. There are many ways to achieve LEED rating; the buildings we're designing in Toronto go well beyond LEED."
it's worth noting, too, how the desire to create space that will attract workers – young workers – overlaps so completely with a green agenda. Turns out that what's good for people is also good for the environment. This shouldn't be surprising, but it's worth pointing out, especially in light of the oft-heard argument that sustainability can only be achieved at great cost. In fact, the opposite is true. Even those focused solely on the bottom line are coming to understand the benefits of smart architecture.
For example, when SAS set out to build its headquarters several years ago, the intention initially was to provide employees with working conditions so appealing that they would become more productive. The hope was that they would miss fewer days through sickness and work harder when they were at the office. That meant a building with fresh air, natural light, nice spaces, human-oriented design. Before long, the SAS project was LEED-bound.
By comparison, the condo market has failed to keep pace. Though there are a handful of projects that will be sustainable, the vast majority of residential developers haven't bothered to make the effort. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that condos are built as cheaply as possible and meant to be sold as quickly as possible. Typically, builders have no interest beyond delivering a product that offers the lowest square-foot cost.
Office towers, on the other hand, are rental buildings; in other words, the owner has a vested interest in making the space desirable, efficient to operate and easy to maintain. Given that the vast bulk of construction in the GTA is residential, the appearance of a raft of LEED-certified office towers must be kept in perspective. We still have a long way to go.
But as buyers grow more knowledgeable and prices of utilities go up, this will change; condo developers could find that demand for their buildings increases along with the sustainability quotient. If not, the prized young knowledge workers so sought after by corporations might find themselves toiling in better conditions than those in which they live.
AoD
