This workshop, hosted by the RAIC and available to the larger community, is designed for architectural professionals (licensed architects, interns, technologists, students, etc.) who want to learn about Life Cycle Assessment and how to reduce embodied carbon in real-life projects.
Participants will leave the session with knowledge of definitions, methods, targets and standards as well as having the opportunity to practice with LCA software to implement into practice. Learn more and register today.
*Funding to support for this workshop pricing is provided by the RAIC and NRC
Workshop Outline (schedule in local time)
8:00AM | Registration |
9:00AM - 9:15AM | Welcome and Territorial Acknowledgements |
9:15AM - 10:30AM | The Why: LCA Literacy, Advocacy & Policy |
10:30AM - 10:45AM | Break |
10:45AM - 12:00PM | The What: Embodied Carbon & Life Cycle Assessment 101 |
12:00PM – 1:00PM | Lunch Break |
1:00PM – 2:00 PM | The How: LCA Walkthrough of Regional Project |
2:00PM – 3:00PM | How: Hands On Individual Exercise: LCA of a Window |
3:00PM- 3:15PM | Break |
3:15PM – 4:45PM | How: Hands On Group Exercise: LCA of a Wall Assembly |
4:45PM – 5:00PM | Wrap-Up |
RAIC Members: This event is discounted admission for RAIC members. Be sure to be logged into your RAIC account to obtain the discounted price. Want to join the RAIC, you can join here.
Each workshop has a limited number of registrations, reserve your spot today.
*Participants will need to bring their own laptop for these workshops
Workshop Locations
Ottawa, Ontario
When: September 20, 2024 | 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Where: Infinity Convention Centre | 2901 Gibford Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1V 2L9
Language: Workshop delivered in English. Live French interpretation will be available.
Toronto, Ontario
When: October 3, 2024 | 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Where: Toronto Airport Marriott Hotel | 901 Dixon Rd., Toronto, ON, M9W 1J5
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
St. Andrews, New Brunswick
When: October 8, 2024 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: The Algonquin Resort | 184 Adolphus Street, St. Andrews, NB, E5B 1T7
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Regina, Saskatchewan
When: October 11, 2024 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: TBA
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
When: October 16, 2024 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: TBA
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Vancouver, British Columbia
When: February 3, 2025 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: TBA
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Calgary, Alberta
When: February 6, 2025 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: TBA
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
When: May 22, 2025 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: TBA
Language: Workshop delivered in English.
Montreal, Quebec
When: May 31, 2025 | 9:00am - 5:00pm
Where: Hotel Bonaventure | 900 DE LA GAUCHETIÈRE WEST, MONTREAL, QUEBEC, H5A 1E4
Language: Workshop delivered in English. Live French interpretation will be available.
Details
- An automatically generated confirmation will be emailed to you upon completion of registration.
- A reminder email will be sent to all registrants no later than 2 weeks before the event.
- Attendance: Participants are required to attend at least 80% of a webinar in order to receive a certificate of participation.
Subject Matter Experts
Kelly Alvarez Doran OAA MRAIC
Kelly is a father, architect, educator, and activist. His holistic approach to the design of the built environment has been shaped by his experiences working across the world first in the resource development sector and at MASS Design Group’s East African office where led the design and implementation of several of MASS’s projects, notably the award-winning Munini District Hospital and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture. Working in these contexts brought about a profound sense of a building’s provenance and the scales of social and environmental impacts inherent to the built environment.
In 2020, Kelly established the Half Research Studio at the University of Toronto to catalyse a conversation around the embodied carbon and life cycle impacts of buildings in Canada. The graduate level studio has engaged over 20 leading offices, trained 34 students, and has published internationally acclaimed research demonstrating how and where a building’s upfront impacts reside. The Studio’s research underpinned the embodied carbon policies co-authored by Kelly that were recently adopted by the City of Toronto.
Kelly is a regular speaker, writer, and advocate for the integration of life cycle assessments into design thinking. He is a Senior Fellow of Architecture 2030, a member of the Royal Architectural Institutes of Canada’s Committee of Regenerative Environments, and a Steering Committee member of Architects Declare USA.
Juliette Cook
Juliette is an intern architect, lecturer, researcher, and new mother. She brings a lifecycle lens to design thinking across a diverse portfolio of projects - evaluating these from the perspectives of embodied carbon, operational performance, cost, reuse potential, toxicity, labour, and more. She feels strongly that a return to a deeper understanding of materials, the ways they are made, and the ways in which they go together will enable a more regenerative design.
Juliette leads a collaborative project through the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad that will showcase the economic viability and environmental necessity of deconstruction and material reuse across Ontario. She has worked with the City of Toronto on a benchmarking study on embodied carbon, helping to inform a future system of tiered targets and developing a standard reporting template for whole building life cycle assessments. Juliette has experience as a material research specialist at MASS Design Group, and as an architectural designer and sustainability consultant at White Arkitekter, where she created a palette of non-conventional, low-carbon materials for a large-scale cancer treatment centre.
Juliette’s background in geography and environmental science has informed her knowledge and interest across various scales, from urban planning down to landscape design. In rediscovering the wonders of the world through the eyes of her young son, she has a deep commitment to design and policy work that will shape a healthier future for people and the planet.
Rashmi Sirkar
Rashmi is an architectural designer and researcher. Her current research focusses on the potential for circular design through reuse at building and material scales, the expanded use of biomaterials, and the implementation of regulatory policy that encourages circular procurement. Beyond materiality, her interests lie in exploring building science solutions for climate positive design and the relationship between architecture, economics, and media-politics.
Rashmi’s Master of Architecture thesis at the University of Toronto WoodLoop investigated the creation of a circular economy of building materials through the assessment of demolition permits, the modelling and life cycle analysis of stick frame houses and the policies and practices surrounding deconstruction, salvage, and reuse. Her thesis was supported by multiple grants that enabled field research across seven North American cities and was awarded the CAGBC Scholarship for sustainable design and research by the RAIC Foundation. Subsequently she has worked as a research associate with Rehousing.ca where she explored systems electrification, low carbon retrofits and multiplex creation through the lens of affordability and engagement with citizen developers. Rashmi is a member at Toronto Circularity Network and the Dutch Canadian Circularity Alliance, working towards a wider advocacy and adoption of reuse policy and practices in Toronto.
Rashmi’s work today is informed by her experience as a designer and social entrepreneur in India where her practice emerged at the intersection of sustainability, design, and development. She co-founded Mana Organics in 2011, a women led organization that worked with collectivizing small farmers in rural India to facilitate organic farming at scale. She also served as managing director at Pitara Designs and Textiles (2015-2018) - a clothing design studio and manufacturing facility in New Delhi that worked extensively with natural materials and craft communities across India.
Ryan Bruer
Ryan is an architect and artist. He is committed to a future of building with renewable and circular materials. A graduate of the University of Toronto, his thesis proposed a reinvestment in skilled labour education with natural and bio-based materials as a critical building block of a low-carbon transition for the construction industry.
Ryan’s experience on multi-unit residential projects informs an understanding of existing approaches to construction in Canada. His recent work with BDP Quadrangle delivered Low-Carbon Now which aims to address the urgency of immediate carbon reduction opportunities across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. He continues to lead training workshops for designers to accelerate Life Cycle Assessment literacy and alignment of best practice across Ontario’s architecture and engineering firms.
Ryan brings a passion for communal stories that are bonded to materials. Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts his first solo exhibition received multiple grants through Canada Council of the Arts. The show demonstrated a printmaking practice dependent on material circularity through repair and exchange. Before his interest in buildings, Ryan ran a community bicycle shop that focused on educational events to train riders and young mechanics.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this workshop participants will be able to describe:
- How the built environment contributes to climate change
- The critical need for sustainability
- The regulations associated with Life Cycle Assessment
- The scale of the opportunity to reduce embodied carbon within the built environment.
- What is whole-life-carbon
- Why balancing embodied carbon with operational carbon is necessary
- Core concepts of Life Cycle Assessment
- Building life cycle stages
- What is an environmental impact assessment
- What data is required to perform a Life Cycle Assessment
- The environmental impact of building parts (e.g. structures, envelope, finishes, etc.)
- What resources available to address whole-life-carbon in projects
- Two different types of Life Cycle Assessment software
- How to choose and access LCA software
- How to set up a project from the start
- How to model materials and energy
- How to check results
- How to perform a whole building Life Cycle Assessment at different design stages
- Building life cycle and circularity
- Where to find key resources to support climate-resilient design foundations
Cancellation Policy
- Within 20 business days: Full refund less 10% administration fee
- Within 10 business days: 50% refund
- Less than 10 business days: No refund