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Urban Arts exhibit @ UQAM, Montreal
February to April 2010
Urban Arts is being featured in an exhibit which examines architectural process.
CITY LIMITS
Harbourfront Website
YouTube Video
Urban Arts exhibit @ Harbourfront, Toronto
September 2009 to January 2010
2009 ARCHITECT OF THE YEAR!
The Mid-Rise Project
BC Wood WORKS! 2009 Wood Design Awards
Shelley Craig, MAIBC, of Urban Arts Architecture in Vancouver won the Architect Award for ongoing support of research aimed at examining ways to increase the amount of wood used in mid-rise residential construction.
Craig recently completed a research report, Expanded Demand for Canadian Wood Products, which will fundamentally contribute to the growth of the wood industry, yielding economic, environmental and social benefits.
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UAA PARTNERS PROFILED IN THE TYEE 'In Vancouver's design community, emblematic of this new female ascent is Urban Arts Architecture. Founded by principals Jennifer Marshall and Shelley Craig, the firm is overtly and unapologetically female-dominated. "I would have partnered with her even if she had been a man," says Marshall, "but Shelley happens to be a woman."
To this day, architectural practices without a man in the house remain an oddity around here, so the two architects had to sit down and calculate if Vancouver could accept an all-female firm. "Jennifer and I talked about it for a long time beforehand," says Craig. "There was always that question: is the world ready for this? We decided that it was." They launched earlier this year with just the two of them and a male intern; since then they've hired two associate architects (one male and one female, as it turns out) and are embarking on projects like the addition to UBC's presentation centre and the visioning package of an ambitious museum of art, design and architecture for West Vancouver.'
UAA AFFECTS BUILDING CODE CHANGE!
Following on the CWC research initiative undertaken by UAA, in May of 2008, Minister Rich Coleman announced government's intention to increase the maximum height for wood-frame residential construction from four to six storeys. These new BC Building Code requirements became effective April 6, 2009.
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2008 AIBC INNOVATION AWARD
Urban Arts received the Architectural Institute of British Columbia's 2008 Innovation Award for their work on creating Expanded Demand for Canadian Wood Products.
Urban Arts worked with the Canadian Wood Council and BC Wood WORKS! to market wood products as a preferable, sustainable building choice, expanding market demand for Canadian wood products, particularly in the mid-rise sector of five- to eight-story buildings. The team researched and produced a position paper, and held expert forums in Vancouver and Toronto. Innovative ideas emerged, including hybrid towers using multiple construction materials. Next steps include creation of a mid-rise prototype, and ultimately changes to the National Building Code.
Jury comments:
"What I really like about it is that they're using design research for marketing - they're systematically developing typologies that would allow wood products to enter new markets - which I think is actually very refreshing."
AIBC Innovation Awards - recognize achievements that are not strictly 'architectural,' but that have a direct bearing on the future of architecture in areas such as sustainability, ecology, building technology, and the innovative use of materials. This award is about doing things differently, and better, helping to ensure that architecture remains vital and influential.
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