[caption id="attachment_8176" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photograph by Martin Tessler. Image courtesy of Perkins + Will Vancouver."][/caption] [Editor's note: We are pleased to give Spacing Vancouver reader's a deeper look into Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) at the University of British Columbia - one of the most ambitious sustainable buildings built in the Lower Mainland to-date. The first part of this two-part series, written by long-time Spacing Vancouver contributor Sean Ruthen, was originally published in the March 2012 issue of Canadian Architect. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is a new state-of-the-art green building located at the University of British Columbia. This a 5,700-square-metre office building and lecture theatre is remarkable at a number of levels—for just as much as what you don’t see as what you do. Clearly, the photovoltaic arrays, geothermal heat exchanger and heat recovery unit shared with a neighbouring university building are all readily visible, as is as the green roof, the design elements promoting natural ventilation and daylighting, a wood Parallam structure sequestering 600 net tonnes of carbon, rainwater harvesting, on-site solid waste treatment and a living wall on the building’s west façade. What you don’t see however is the 10 years it took to realize the project, during which time the public opinion on climate change evolved from ignorance, to awareness, to ambivalence.

  “When have you had your most engaged life experience?” asked Janet Moore and Duane Elverum. A rapt audience sat in silence for ten seconds. “No one ever says they had their most engaged experience in a classroom, or at a computer,” Elverum said. “Typically it's when they've been connecting their passion with their work, often it's outside, they're often sharing a struggle with others, working with people to accomplish something they couldn't otherwise.” Two years ago Moore, Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue, and Elverum, Assistant Professor in design at Emily Carr University, asked this question at a Vancouver Design Nerd Jam in Vancouver. They envisioned a collaboration between the City of Vancouver and postsecondary students, allowing students to work on long-term real-world projects. The idea quickly gained traction at the City, which had just launched its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. Greenest City Planner Lindsay Cole asked Moore and Elverum to present their idea to the Mayor's panel. With strong support from the Greenest City team, CityStudio was launched in September 2011.

Imagine arriving to work at a downtown historic building, where your workspace has high ceilings, brick walls, and huge windows. You can meet with clients or have informal discussions with colleagues working in industries as diverse as software development, photography and green building; the rest of the time you work at your own desk or a hot desk space. Need to develop new marketing strategies for your fledgling business or learn strategies to foster social change? Just sign up for one of the many workshops offered at the office. HiVE Vancouver is an innovative shared workspace that fosters individuals and organizations in the sustainability and creative sectors. It’s part of a growing trend worldwide: technological developments have made working in virtual space common, and doing consulting work for multiple clients has become a widespread practice as organizations try to keep their costs down. But for small start-ups, non-profits and individual consultants, trying to find affordable office space has become increasingly difficult. Shared spaces mean shared amenities (like meeting rooms, phones and kitchens), a real plus for those that can’t spring for the overhead costs of their own offices. HiVE members have a choice of a dedicated workspace (starting at $475/month) or a hot desk space (monthly plans range from $25/month for five hours to $350/month for unlimited hours). As a non-profit, HiVE uses its member fees to lease and improve the space. But the HiVe is about more than just sharing space: members are “a community of change-makers” who thrive on collaboration, fun, diversity and social responsibility. HiVE Vancouver modeled itself after Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation, which opened in 2004 with the idea that collaboration on the complex problems facing society could produce better solutions. The Centre's founders merged the ideas of co-location (different organizations merely sharing space), community hubs (shared spaces providing direct services to their members such as job training and workshops) and social innovation. Toronto's Centre is an affiliate of the Hub Network, a social enterprise working across 30 cities and 5 continents.

Ever wonder where to find the best places to donate or recycle materials you no longer need? Metro Vancouver has launched a free iPhone app called weRecycle to help the regions residents reuse and recycle just about anything. weRecycle provides mobile access to the same database used by Metro Vancouver's award-winning website, www.MetroVancouverRecycles.org. All you do is enter a material and hit search to find convenient donation and recycling locations. What makes weRecycle unique is presenting that information in a user-friendly Google map. The searchable app includes dozens of ...

Food is intrinsically linked to place, whether it is agricultural land, rivers, or oceans. Interest in sustainable foods and food security has increased across Canada: municipalities have been integrating community gardens to allow residents to grow their own food. Towards this end, the City of Vancouver introduced several pocket farmers markets last summer to increase access to local, organic food. The David Suzuki Foundation is building on this momentum, running its first ever Sustainable Seafood Walk on Granville Island on Saturday, February 25th to introduce people to the wealth of ocean-based food choices available in Vancouver. Reinforcing the region's reliance on local seafood in one of Canada’s most popular public spaces, the self-guided walk included stops at the fishing docks (Seafood from the Source and Organic Ocean fishermen) and several shops on the island (Lobster Man, Longliner Seafoods, The Salmon Shop, and Seafood City). Cooking demonstrations, featuring sockeye salmon and pacific spot prawns, were held at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.