Living atlas of quality
in architecture and the built environment
Carleton & CAHP Workshop on Adaptive Reuse and 50th National Trust Conference
Monday, December 4, 2023
Integrated resilienceCarleton & CAHP Co-Host a Workshop on Adaptive Reuse and Climate Action
On October 26th, Carleton and the Canadian Association for Heritage Professionals (CAHP) co-hosted a successful full-day workshop on Adaptive Reuse and Climate Action with over 40 students and professionals across disciplines in attendance, including developers, architects, engineers and planners. Organized as part of the National Trust 50th Anniversary Conference, discussions revolved around how to better mobilize the industry and position heritage and existing building conservation within climate action efforts.
The day started off with an informative and inspiring tour at one of Carleton’s case studies - the Slayte - a recently completed office-to-residential conversion in Ottawa. We were fortunate to have had the architects, LineBox Studio, and the developer, CLV Group, join us for this tour and share their challenges and successes completing this adaptive reuse project as they launch into their second office-to-residential conversion in Ottawa.
We look forward to continuing to develop this work alongside our colleagues across professions and in collaboration with CAHP.
Morning site visit at The Slayte with representatives from LineBox Studio and CLV Group (credit: Melissa Lengies, 2023).
Carleton Attends the National Trust 50th Anniversary Conference
From October 26–28, 2023, Carleton was fortunate to have its entire research team attend the National Trust 50th Anniversary Conference in Ottawa, a three-day long conference organized by the National Trust for Canada in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Heritage Professionals (CAHP) and the Indigenous Heritage Circle (IHC).
With over 700 students and professionals in attendance from across the country, we shared knowledge and tackled highly relevant issues across three key themes:
Social-Cultural Reset – Activating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Confronting Exclusion, and Transforming Heritage Practice
Environmental Reset – Championing Heritage Conservation as Climate Action
Economic Reset – Removing Systemic Barriers to Reuse & Empowering Conservation
Our team attended many insightful talks, (re)connected with like-minded friends and colleagues from across Canada, and came away pondering some very big questions for the direction of the heritage profession to be more inclusive and more sustainable.
In addition to participating in the CAHP Workroom on Adaptive Reuse and Climate Action, a collaboration between Carleton x CAHP, on the first day of the conference, Carleton’s research on adaptive reuse was more formally highlighted by Prof. Mariana Esponda as one of the panelists during a session titled Transforming the Business of Heritage. We are also proud to have had the culmination of our first year of SSHRC-funded research on Adaptive Reuse for a Sustainable Future on display in the main hall for the duration of the conference (shown below).
Carleton’s research poster displayed in the main hall of the conference (Left to right: Lia Di Giulio; Dana Mastrangelo; Melissa Lengies; Andrée-Ann Langevin; Mariana Esponda; not shown – Taylor Quibell) (credit: Dana Mastrangelo, 2023).
While there were so many interesting and important topics shared, we were especially inspired by the other panelists in our session who showed how developers in Canada are incorporating building reuse as a part of “green investing” and “social impact investing” initiatives. The session featured amazing talks by Natalie Voland of GI Quo Vadis, Graham Singh of Trinity Centres Foundation, and Graham Cubitt of Indwell.
Click below to view a few examples of their projects which demonstrate how they are integrating building reuse into an environmentally-friendly, socially-oriented and financially successful business model. We highly recommend checking out each panelist and their work!
Complexe Canal Lachine - Montreal, QC (GI Quo Vadis)
St Jax Montreal - Montreal, QC (Trinity Centres Foundation)
Harvey Woods Lofts – Woodstock, ON (Indwell)
Left to right: Complexe Canal Lachine (credit: GI Quo Vadis); St Jax Montreal (credit: St Jax); Harvey Woods Lofts (credit: Invizij).