Design Research and Methodology: B. An Eco-Vilage for Montreal s West Island. M. Arch. 1

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1 Design Research and Methodology: B An Eco-Vilage for Montreal s West Island M. Arch. 1 By: Shawn Moscovitch shawn.moscovitch@mail.mcgill.ca Advisor: McGill University School of Architecture February 3 rd, 2003

2 PROPOSAL The development of an ecologically based language for the architecture of a specific location, a sort of regionalism based on sustainable principles. The region in question will be Montreal's West Island (specifically, St-Lazare, in a forested area which will surely see development in the near future). This will involve a detailed study of the site which will help inform design decisions. The program will be a housing complex, an "eco-village", of which one unit will be developed in detail. As much as possible, this complex will be self-sustained: issues of energy, water, waste treatment, food production, density and transportation will be key. The reasons for such a study are quite simple: to reduce human-kind's impact on Nature by re-shaping the way in which we live. Housing provides the opportunity for an intimate relation between the building and it's occupants: a symbiotically didactic relationship which is mutually morphological. In essence, it is a response to the current trend of the suburbs and sprawl. The house here is to be seen as tool (as opposed to a machine) for living; an extension of the human body, its shape based on the requirements of the task assigned to it (much like a hammer is an extension of the arm, design to tolerate high impacts, to increase the force of each blow and to be comfortably held be one's hand). The study of the site will provide the definition of the tasks to be performed by the house.

3 SITE The site is located over several lots in St-Lazare along a main road (St-Charles). Each lot is approximately 165' x 537' and consists largely of forested area. Proximity to the commuter train provides inhabitants with easy access to various business districts. PROGRAM A housing complex which will mimic (or surpass) current suburban densities. The complex will be largely self-sufficient.

4 PRECEDENTS -materiality (local materials) -consistency in language (steel, glass, concrete, stone, colors) -overall theme (waterfall/cascade) -relationship with site (mutually enhancing) -natural setting source: -"eco-aesthetic" -interior/exterior link Fallingwater Mill Run, Pennsylvania (1939) Frank Lloyd Wright Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Natural House. New York: Horizon Press, 1954.

5 -"eco-aesthetic" -mysticism/romanticism -natural forms source: Casa Mila Barcelona, Spain (1910) Antonio Gaudi Zerbst, Rainer. Antoni Gaudi. New York: Taschen, 1999.

6 -location; similar climatic conditions -self sufficient; relies on few outside sources -doesn't look like traditional house source: Toronto Healthy House Toronto, Ontario (1993) Martin Liefhebber Ledger, Bronwen. A Healthy House. Canadian Architect February 1997: 29-30, 37. McDougall, Bruce. Going Green in the Burbs. Canadian Geographic January/February 2003: 67-72, 74. Warson, Albert. First Totally Self-Sustaining House is Built in Toronto. Architectural Record March 1997: 28. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) The Healthy House System "Unplugged Houses in Toronto, PV Power, Issue 7, May

7 -location; similar climatic conditions -self sufficient; relies on few outside sources -food production -waste treatment through natural means source: -natural systems vs. mechanical systems Prince Edward Island Ark Charlottetown, PEI (1976) New Alchemy Institute New Alchemy Institute. An Ark for Prince Edward Island: A Report for the Federal Gouvernment of Canada. Little Pond: New Alchemy Institute, Todd, Nancy Jack and John Todd. From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1993.

8 -simplicity in materials -appropriate color palette -dynamic (emerges from the cave/draws in) -relationship with landscape (seems like it was always there) source: -no style (timelessness) -monumentality Cave Painting Museum Niaux, France (1993) Massimiliano Fuksas Rose, Anne. Prehistoric Presence. Architectural Review August 1995: Massimiliano Fuksas

9 -re-used materials (car windshields) -rammed earth base -does more with less -uplifting/beautiful source: Mason's Bend Community Center Mason's Bend, Alabama (1993) Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer. Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, Rural Studio

10 -high density using non-traditional form -landscape seeps in -self sufficient; relies on few outside sources -craftsmanship (details vs. whole) -occupants aware of surroundings/relation with nature source: author Arcosanti Cordes Junction, Arizona ( ) Paolo Soleri Arcidi, Philip. Paolo Soleri's Arcology: Updating the Prognosis. Progressive Architecture March 1991: Difar, John Morris. Job site for Utopia. Progressive Architecture April 1973: Soleri, Paolo. Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory?. Scottsdale; The Cosanti Press, Soleri, Paolo. Arcology: The City in the Image of Man. Phoenix; Bridgewood Press, ARCOSANTI: a Prototype Arcology

11 -doesn't look like traditional housing -high density using non-traditional form -visual dynamism (optical relationship between boxes) -time/seasons ever present -"pedestrian streets" provide intermediary state (not in, not out) source: author Habitat '67 Montreal, Quebec (1967) Moshe Safdie Baker, Joseph. Inhabiting Habitat. Canadian Architect August 1997: Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer. Evaluation: Habitat A Generation Later. Architecture: the AIA Journal October 1986: Safdie, Moshe. Beyond Habitat. Montreal; Tundra Books, Safdie, Moshe. For Everyone A Garden. Cambridge; The MIT Press, McGill University s Canadian Architecture Collection: The Safdie Hypermedia Archive Moshe Safdie and Associates Expo 67 Montreal World s fair

12 -totally self-contained (relies only on the Sun as an outside source - everything else in produced or absorbed within) -re-creates exterior environment within source: author Biosphere 2 Oracle, Arizona (1988) Phil Hawes Sieloff, D. A.. Biosphere 2: A World in Our Hands (1995). Columbia University Biosphere 2 Center

13 -communal living (vs. social alienation) -high density using non-traditional form -preservation of fauna/flora -shared resources (economic advantages) -gardens - food production source: Wind Song Langley, B.C. (1996) Davidson, Yuen, Simpson Architects Haden, Bruce. Cohousing. Canadian Architect September 1997: 46. Van der Ryn, Sim. Eco-villages: Toward Sustainable Architecture. Progressive Architecture March 1991: Windsong Cohousing Community Global Ecovillage Network Canadian Cohousing Network Home Page

14 -often employ re-used materials -passive strategies -earth berm provides insulation and visual link to site source: Earthships (Housing typology) Earthship Network

15 BIBLIOGRAPHY _Benyus, Janine M.. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York: William Morrow and Company Inc., _Brown, G. Z. and Mark DeKay. Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies. 2 nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., _Busby, Peter. Building Kyoto. Canadian Architect July 2002: _Carmody, John, Stephen Selkowitz and Lisa Heschong. Residential Windows: A Guide to New Technologies and Energy Performance. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Inc., [A brief survey of the evolution of windows and a study of current window technology. Recommended glazing strategies for desired results (solar heat gain, insulation, glare, etc.).] _Dayaratne, Ranjith. Learning From Tradition For An Environmentally Responsive Architecture In Sri-Lanka: A Formal Practice. Open House International September 2000: _Dean, Andrea Oppenheimer. Rural Studio: Samuel Mockbee and an Architecture of Decency. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, _Frank Lloyd Wright. dir. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Burbank, CA, _Frank Lloyd Wright: The Mike Wallace Interviews. prod. Archetype Associates. New York, _Glanville, Patricia. Green Awakening. Canadian Architect January 2002: 30. _Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York: Little, Brown and Company, _Hansell, Michael H.. Animal Architecture and Building Behavior. London: Longman Group Limited, _Joseph Jenkins. Balance Point: Searching for a Spiritual Missing Link. Grove City, PA: Jenkins Publishing, _Kesik, Ted. Perspectives on Sustainability. Canadian Architect January 2002: _Ledger, Bronwen. A Healthy House. Canadian Architect February 1997: 29-30, 37. _McDonald, Marci. The Affordable Architect. Canadian Geographic January/February 2003: 76-82, 84.

16 _McDougall, Bruce. Going Green in the Burbs. Canadian Geographic January/February 2003: 67-72, 74. [An introduction to the concept of an "eco-village" along with list of examples of built and future eco-villages across Canada.] _Mispelblom Beyer, Bart and Indira Van t Klooster. Environmentally-Friendly Buildings As A Starting-Point For The Design. Open House International September 2000: _New Alchemy Institute. An Ark for Prince Edward Island: A Report for the Federal Gouvernment of Canada. Little Pond: New Alchemy Institute, _Pallasma, Juhani. Six themes for the next millennium. Architectural Review July 1994: _Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. New York: Bantam/Turner Books, _Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, [A reminder that various means exist to achieve the same goal. Many societies have, and still do, rely heavily on what is provided to them by nature (as opposed to conquering nature with brut industrial force).] _Ruskin, John. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. New York: The Noonday Press, _Safdie, Moshe. Beyond Habitat. Montreal; Tundra Books, _Safdie, Moshe. For Everyone A Garden. Cambridge; The MIT Press, _Soleri, Paolo. Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory?. Scottsdale; The Cosanti Press, _Soleri, Paolo. Arcology: The City in the Image of Man. Phoenix; Bridgewood Press, _Sustainable Architecture White Papers. Earth Pledge Foundation series on sustainable development. New York: Earth Pledge Foundation, _Todd, Nancy Jack and John Todd. From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, [Strategies for transforming today's city into once that in more in tune with nature. The idea that cities can become a source of food production and waste management instead of relying on externalities.] _Van der Ryn, Sim and Stuart Cowan. Ecological Design. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996.

17 _ Van der Ryn, Sim. Eco-villages: Toward Sustainable Architecture. Progressive Architecture March 1991: _Von Frisch, Karl. Animal Architecture. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., _Wackernagel, Mathis and William Rees. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, [An analysis of the human impact on the Earth expressed in terms of the amount of land used. Footprint analysis provides us with a tool to measure our environmental impact for a given course of action.] _Warson, Albert. First Totally Self-Sustaining House is Built in Toronto. Architectural Record March 1997: 28. _Warson, Albert. The Newest New Urbanism. Building May/June 2001: _Wells, Malcolm. Gentle Architecture. New York: McGraw Hill, _William McDonough Architects. The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability. New York: William McDonough and Partners, _Wines, James. Green Architecture. New York: Taschen, [A call for the development of an ecological aesthetic for architecture to accompany the evolution of technology and knowledge associated with the ecological movement.] _Wright, David and Dennis A. Andrejko. Passive Solar Architecture: Logic and Beauty 35 Outstanding Houses Across the United States. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, [Examples of passive solar homes from climatic zones showing a wide variety of strategies.] _Wright, Frank Lloyd. The Natural House. New York: Horizon Press, [A pioneering book in the field of sustainable architecture. The principles set forth can easily be integrated into today's sustainable design language. In essence, this book lists ways in which a designer can develop a language for a given site that is subordinate to nature's own language.] _World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future ( The Bruntland Report ). Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, _Zerbst, Rainer. Antoni Gaudi. New York: Taschen, 1999.

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