Original Content
This article is a re-write of Michael's original content. To view original content, please visit the following:
Better Buildings for Better Communities: An Evening with Seattle Architect Michael Eliason¶
Posted on May 16, 2023
This event has already taken place.
When:
Jun 29, 2023 at 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM MDT
Where:
Telus International Centre, University of Alberta (Room 150)
Corner of 111 St and 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3
Better Buildings for a Better City¶
On Thursday, June 29th, you are invited to a special guest lecture and Q&A with Seattle-based architect and green-building expert Michael Eliason (@holz_bau on Twitter, Architect & founder: @larch_lab, podcast: @LowCO2_city).
Michael has been a leading thinker and commentator on sustainable city planning, green building, co-housing, point access blocks, and more.
In Michael’s words, his objectives are:
Better housing. More affordable housing. Better noise protection. More blue/green infrastructure. Space for trees. Larger courtyards.
Until we start tackling those things—and layering additional aspects (hello passivhaus! hello active solar protection! hello homes that can cross ventilate! hello blocks with a diversity of housing types and tenures!)—we’re just going to see the same poorly planned status quo. Part of why Larch Lab was founded was to change that paradigm. We can’t keep going on like this: Inadequate affordable housing. Expensive market-rate housing that is sooo poorly planned. Neighborhoods that are not walkable. Zero climate adaptation in our planning processes. In the end it’s mostly geometry. But it allows for significantly more density, better urban environment, and much better public health outcomes as well.
Join us for this special event made possible by MADE Edmonton, The University of Alberta School of Urban and Regional Planning, industry partners, and more.
- Networking: 6:00 PM
- Talk: 7:00 PM
Video: Baugruppen Communal Dwelling Sans Granola – Michael Eliason¶
In Praise of Point Access Blocks – Better Architecture for Better Development¶
What if we could make our developments more livable, climate adaptive, family-friendly, community-oriented, more affordable, like other countries?
Everywhere I go, architecture and urbanist spaces are talking about Point Access Blocks. Last week, Architecture Newspaper featured an article by Michael Eliason highlighting how we’re being held back compared to Europe and other jurisdictions:
More specifically, it is the peculiar anomaly that requires multifamily buildings to include a second staircase with a connecting corridor for buildings with more than 3 stories. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, this requirement is largely non-existent. It is this regulation that causes our multifamily housing to vary dramatically from the rest of the world. It results in significantly larger buildings with units that are less livable, less climate adaptive, less family friendly, less community-oriented—and potentially much more expensive—than most other countries.
This is not a new topic and has garnered discussion in other jurisdictions, but with emerging conversations about municipal zoning and federal building-code changes on the horizon in Canada/Alberta, it makes sense to continue the conversation in Edmonton. I am working with a few partners to bring Michael up to Edmonton for a special talk about Point Access Blocks, Green Eco-Districts, Co-housing, and many other fascinating topics this June (with potentially a second event in Calgary). Reach out if you would like to engage or support this event.
Point Access Blocks, compact single-stair buildings with units centered around the stairway, are one of the most basic building forms found in post-industrial cities. They provide compact, low-carbon, and livable multifamily housing.
Additional Resources¶
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Larch Lab: Point Access Blocks Report for the City of Vancouver
Download PDF -
Second Egress – A fantastic compilation of the state of design around the world by Conrad Speckert
https://secondegress.ca/ -
The Livable Low-Carbon City Podcast – Hosted by Michael Eliason
A podcast exploring the stories, places, and people working to make our buildings and cities more sustainable, enjoyable, and humane.
The “Hey Neighbour Collective”¶
We’re building community, social connectedness, and resilience in multi-unit housing communities. Why? Because loneliness and social isolation are growing health concerns. Where better to start than right at home?
We’re a growing multi-stakeholder collective based in British Columbia, Canada. We bring together housing providers, non-profits, researchers, local and regional governments, housing associations, and health authorities. Together with residents of multi-unit housing, we experiment with and learn about ways of alleviating loneliness and social isolation while building capacity for neighbourly support and mutual aid.
Hey Neighbour Collective is testing and researching ways of building community, social connectedness, and resilience in multi-unit housing in BC, Canada.
