CANADIAN ARCHITECT 12/21
44
AWARD OF MERIT
CUNARD STREET LIVE/WORK/GROW Halifax, Nova Scotia FBM architecture • interior design • planning
Covid-19 has radically changed work culture. Many architects will return to design studios and some will continue to work from home, but most people desire the flexibility of both worlds. The collaboration, socialization, and serendipity of a group environment, as well as the concentration enabled by solo work, are all vital to creativity—a balance that has been difficult to achieve during the past year. Halifax architecture firm FBM is taking these lessons to heart in the design of its new studio. Its post-pandemic office is shaped by multiple breakout spaces, private rooms for Zoom calls, and gathering spots both indoors and outdoors. Fresh air, daylight, and access to nature are central to the design. The project, named Live/Work/Grow, contains office space, residential units, a courtyard, and a roof garden. It is constructed on a brownfield site in the North End of Halifax, close to the city’s Commons.
The architecture aims to embody the values of the studio, as a place for “people-driven design.” Social, economic, and ecological sustainability are important to the studio’s values. Wanting to study mass timber construction, but unable to pursue it with client-based work, FBM made its office design a research project, allowing the firm to explore glulam and nail-laminated timber floor assemblies within a five-storey wood structure. Such assemblies have been used for more than a century, particularly in large-span warehouses where solid, sturdy floors were required. Beyond reducing the building’s embodied carbon, studies have shown that wood buildings increase occupant attention and productivity, while reducing stress levels and fatigue. Wood is a lighter material than steel, allowing for a simpler foundation. The use of mass timber also facilitates a shorter construction schedule, smaller laydown
ABOVE FBM’s new design studio is a mass timber building constructed on a brownfield site in the North End of Halifax. A rooftop garden provides an opportunity to grow food for—and in partnership with—the studio’s neighbour, Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.
CA Dec 21.indd 44
2021-11-17 12:43 PM