PREFABAUS 2018 CONFERENCE REPORT
INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOCUS: KARIM KHALIFA, DIRECTOR OF BUILDING INNOVATIONS, SIDEWALK LABS KHALIFA’S PREFABAUS 2018 CONFERENCE PRESENTATION ON THE SIDEWALK TORONTO SMART CITY PROJECT PAINTED A PICTURE OF WHERE NEW BUILDING METHODS MIGHT FIT, IN A PERFECT WORLD, INTO A RE-THINK OF URBAN SPACES. BUILT OFFSITE REPORTS.
“We are the slowest moving industry out there. Young players are coming up and if you don’t move, they reinvent your world. I was in the hotel business; Airbnb showed up and ended up with a 10 billion dollar cap rate. I was with Marriott and it took them 60 years to get there. That’s what can happen to all of us in that space. We need to keep moving.”
“We are the slowest moving industry out there. Young players are coming up and if you don’t move, they reinvent your world. I was in the hotel business; Airbnb showed up and ended up with a 10 billion dollar cap rate. I was with Marriott and it took them 60 years to get there. That’s what can happen to all of us in that space. We need to keep moving.”
Karim Khalifa, Director of Building Innovations, Sidewalk Labs.
Opening his conference presentation, Kahlifa’s call to action for the construction industry packed a velvet-clad punch: an alarming vision of worst-case outcomes followed by thought-provoking ideas on how buildings and cities might be conceived and delivered.
These ideas come with some backing. Khalifa’s presentation explained how, in its initial stages, Sidewalk Toronto had harnessed the talents of Dan Doctoroff, chief executive officer of Sidewalk Labs, formerly CEO of Bloomberg LP and deputy mayor of New York City under Michael Bloomberg. It has gone on to embark on a study of every attempt to create a smart city in the world. The key team involved in this endeavour spanned technologists, architects and city planners.
Underpinned by an opportune alignment between The Canadian federal government, the provincial government and Toronto city government, the Sidewalk Toronto vision encompasses a new local economy, mixed use tenancy, sustainable, flexible building typologies designed for adaptability and re-use and, the Holy Grail of housing: affordability.
This is a moot point in Toronto, which welcomes 100,000 immigrants a year and is experiencing exploding commute times and rent burdens; Toronto’s rental prices are the second highest in North America after Vancouver.
Sidewalk Toronto’s aim is to lower the cost of living by 14 per cent and reduce greenhouse emissions by 67 per cent. It also wants to boost the local labour force in Sidewalk Toronto area, encouraging residents to work near where they live.
The project is also using new thinking in a wide range of areas:
GENERATIVE DESIGN
Sidewalk is using data including findings from community engagement to plan everything from walking and access routes to sky views, shadow and sun movement and temperature (including actual temperature and ‘sensed’ temperature.) Community members are encouraged to engage at regular meetings, where they can also directly interface with the project at a specially designed dashboard: turn a knob and “play” to discover the trade-off between your desire to have more open space and, for example the size of your dwelling.
Building typologies, services + infrastructure In line with local Passivhaus-equivalent standards, buildings will be low load and designed to interact responsively with other urban structures. One idea is that buildings could be interconnected by a thermal grid and will be able to share surplus energy outputs where applicable. So offices might send heat to residences in the evening. Waste water and heat will be collected; methane will be harnessed for future use. The scheme is looking at active water management whereby flows can be redistributed around the city via a sensor-operated system.
ADAPTABILITY + AFFORDABILITY
Buildings will be designed around adaptability so those of the present can be sustained and repurposed 50 years into future and beyond. The affordability equation is where offsite construction comes into play; and it is suggested that offsite will also play a role in the local economy – with plans slated for an offsite building facility in the locality.
Michael Green Architects for Sidewalk Labs.
NEW CODES FOR TORONTO?
With around 20 codes for Toronto stipulating conditions around different building types, from light to heavier industry, to commercial and retail, Khalifa said the scheme also presents opportunities to re-think the framework of codes.
“We might actually be able to monitor that no-one is a nuisance to anyone else; we should be able to have people co-existing side by side. We can use real time monitoring to test noise levels and other factors, which could negate the need for so many codes.”
“We might actually be able to monitor that no-one is a nuisance to anyone else; we should be able to have people co-existing side by side. We can use real time monitoring to test noise levels and other factors, which could negate the need for so many codes.” Karim Khalifa, Director of Building Innovations, Sidewalk Labs.
BUILDING TYPES
Among numerous building types proposed, a staple of the Toronto cityscape, the loft building, will be re-thought and converted to an adaptive, future proofed version that enables interior panel walls to be moved as required. Significantly, many such buildings will have parking for only 500 spaces, given the scheme’s plans for high usage of autonomous vehicles. In addition, existing parking lots will be designed to be repurposed for residential or commercial end uses. Buildings might be designed with new ideas impacting the regulatory framework. For example, south-facing buildings, which in the northern hemisphere act as light magnets, would be designed to reflect light back onto their shaded north-facing neighbours. Sidewalk has also mooted a catalogue of customisable building structures in a range of heights from four to 30 storeys. In Toronto, where high winds can be a problem for tall timber structures, bridges between high rise blocks might be used for stiffening and stability.
NEW THINKING ON MATERIALS + SERVICES
Innovative materials are part of the Sidewalk Toronto vision, and the scheme has already cast a vote in favour of mass timber, particularly given the involvement of Vancouver based timber specialist architectural practice Michael Green Associates. At the base of all of the proposed buildings are ‘stoas’ or covered walkways for retail and gatherings, featuring adjustable protection from the elements.
In other material advances, Khalifa outlined the possibility for plastering to be applied in the form of a spray-on slurry through an automated in-factory process.
In the services arena, digital electricity could enable the elimination of perforations inside walls, with Power over Ethernet (PoE) systems able to be surface mounted, a useful approach in buildings with moveable walls, enabling electrical base boards to be easily unclipped and re-clipped elsewhere. ■
