Masdar City – the Sustainable Community

Image Montage by Wo-Built: Masdar City Master Plan & Actual Masdar Institute Building in Masdar City
Images Credit/Source: Masdar - A Mubadala Company: Masdar City Image Downloads

Masdar City – the Sustainable Community is not just for Dreamers anymore.
Sadly, it’s just not for Torontonians yet either.

Let’s face it, Canadians are safe. We don’t like rocking the boat—at home or abroad—and we certainly don’t make a big deal about being the first, the best, the most, etc. Sure, we may like it when by some fortuitous accident we find ourselves on top or ahead of the curve, but we generally don’t hunger for it like some other places in the world — notaboy our neighbours to the South. And certainly, if Research in Motion (RIM) or Nortel are any indication, we are absolutely terrible at maintaining our technological edge, if ever we do acquire it.

It’s unfortunate that residents of Canada, Torontonians for instance, are nowhere nearer to living in a truly sustainable community. No, that accolade goes to Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates. A project whose mission is:
"To advance renewable energy and sustainable technologies through education, research and development, investment, commercialization and adaptation."
Source: Masdar - A Mubadala Company: About Us

The following Masdar City promotional video says it all.

YouTube.com: Welcome To Masdar City

Masdar City is the world's first sustainable city - it's taking shape in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Uploaded by Hayes Thompson on Jan 18, 2010

A List of Masdar City Values reads like the philosophy of PeapodLife Building EcoSystems & Technology:

1. Agility – The ability to switch from one technology to another but retain a sound footing based on a balance of best value and state of the art know-how.
2. Commercial Viability – To ensure the widespread adoption of any sustainability technologies, they must be made commercially viable. While some environmentalists may be anti-capitalist, we feel rewarding investors for investing in people, planet and profits is a perfectly acceptable strategy for building a better world built on social, environmental, economic values (SEE-V).
3. Sustainability – There is simply no point in embarking on a new system or course of action unless we consider all known factors—and best guesses as to what lies down the road—to ensure it will perform as needed for decades to come.
4. Grounded in Reality – Dreaming is for bedtime, science fiction and video games. Doing is for those able to ground their imagination in the roots of what is achievable today: financially, technologically, socially, environmentally, et al. Deep down we are all dreamers, but the key to being a successful dreamer is remembering Lao Tzu’s wisdom: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

So do these values translate to Canada? PeapodLife says: absolutely! As for the “vast distances” we have to travel in this country, Masdar is incorporating two ultra-modern, ultra-high-tech approaches to transit, both imported from Europe: Personal Rapid Transit for in-town personalized subterranean transport, and the Superbus (from the Netherlands), for high-speed transport between cities.

YouTube.com: Superbus visits Masdar City

Superbus, a new clean energy public transport vehicle, visited Masdar city in Abu Dhabi.

Uploaded by Masdar VideosChannel on Apr 21, 2011

It’s such a shame that Canada has seven important factors in common with UAE, but not the political will nor entrepreneurial drive to pursue our own version of Masdar.

The seven characteristics Canada and UAE have in common are as follows:

1. Canada and UAE are wealthy countries with oil revenues.
2. Canada and UAE with climatic extremes (cold and hot).
3. Canada and UAE have lots of available development land.
4. Canada and UAE seem to share a fundamental concern for the environment and long-term sustainability.
5. Canada and UAE are in close proximity (and economic relationship) with economic superpowers.
6. Canada and UAE are known around the world as a “land of possibility / opportunity”
7. Canada and UAE are both cosmopolitan nations; active destinations for both tourism and investment.

But whereas UAE is looking to the future and the impending oil crisis—and with a project like Masdar City is moving preemptively to reinvent itself for the new energy economy—what is Canada doing? Attracting direct foreign investment to develop a wealth of as-yet unexploited natural resources. For shame!

Well, we at Wo-Built and PeapodLife won’t stand for it. It may be an uphill battle ahead, but we are ready to bring our vision for sustainable buildings and indoor ecosystems to Canada and the world, and join the likes of Masdar City and others trying to not just dream or talk, but act.

Attila Lendvai
VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Attila Lendvai – VP of Strategic Development

Attila Lendvai, MBA, VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Wo-Built’s Team Is Expanding

We are happy to welcome Attila Lendvai to the Wo-Built's team.

For us Attila is responsible for the strategic development of existing, and new business initiatives and to explore new and exciting building’s initiatives that are in tune with our company philosophy of being the best builder while doing good. He will work closely with our existing partners and look to develop new partnerships with likeminded parties.

He is well suited for this position since he has worked alongside managers and business owners in industries ranging from textiles and designer fashions to power generation and maintenance to I.T. and the Internet. He has helped develop and manage brands, strategic communications and investor relations. Attila is incorporating his skills and training in linguistics, communication, collaboration, and presentation into what he sees as a gaping hole in the world of business. For years he has worked as a consultant developing, practicing and perfecting his simple system for strategic innovation, communication and execution.

Today, Attila applies his unique skills and experience as a Social Entrepreneur Executive Management Consultant, supporting social entrepreneurship and corporate social intrapreneurship where hearts and minds are open to crafting and executing conscious strategies that make the world a better place.

In addition to his consulting practice—Attila is also a respected public speaker, spokesperson and emcee. He is an accomplished essayist, blogger and published author, notably his contribution, “A StratCom Model for the Practice of International Competitive Intelligence” published in Competitive Intelligence and Global Business and his book entitled The Attlas Project – SEE the World in a New Light, and weblog of the same name.

All his experience and his ability to look at matters from unique angles will be of great value to Wo-Built. We look forward to a successful collaboration.

From the entire Wo-Built team - Welcome Attila!

Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Attila received Honours Bachelor degrees in English Linguistics and Dramatic Arts from the University of Guelph and his Masters of Business Administration from Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo. In addition, he has a Diploma in Television and Radio Broadcasting from The National Institute of Broadcasting, Toronto.
website: The Attlas Project
linkedin: Attila Lendvai
facebook: SEEATTLAS
blog: The Attlas Project: Raise Awareness. Awaken Consciousness.

For Wo-Built related issues contact:
Attila Lendvai, VP of Strategic Development
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build
Suite #3, 1287 St. Clair Avenue West
Toronto, ON M6E 1B8, Canada
email: attila@wobuilt.com
phone: 647. 460. 0560

Aspects of Longevity of Design: How to Design Timeless Spaces

Importance of Longevity of Design:
Bright and spacious top floor flat
with vaulted ceilings to the reception.
Two Bedrooms. Fitted Kitchen. Bathroom.
Credit: Zoopla

There are many physical, technical & operational aspects to great design and we believe longevity of design is an essential aspect of the architectural design.

Recently I found my old London flat (near Camden Town) for sale again on the Internet. Oh, first I cried when I saw the price (Maybe I should have held onto it?), but then I looked at the spaces and was amazed: it had not changed substantially within 20 years. Of course, the kitchen was updated with new cabinets and the bathroom had some alterations, but the overall design of the spaces and their modern feel did not change.

I realized, the reason I am so happy is that my ex husband Andrew and I designed and built the flat 20 odd years ago. It took us 3 years of tears, sweat, hard work, laughter, arguments and lots of stories to tell to convert it from a one bedroom place to a two bedroom one. We had no idea what we let ourselves in for and the scope of work got bigger by the minute. But we were so proud when we finally finished it.

At the time we did not think about longevity of design, we just designed it according to our own taste: the double height ceiling, the skylights, the glass shelves, the wardrobes with the blinds, the white walls and many more details I cannot see in the photos, but hope they are still there. We didn’t even think about resale value, but somehow, we managed to design spaces that proved to be timeless. It’s probably because we got the wow factor in the space design, not the finishes. We did not design it trendily, we designed it classically with twists.

This everlasting approach is also very much our philosophy at Wo-Built when designing for our clients. We try to provide spaces that play with levels, daylight, sight lines and other architectural means to achieve the timelessness of the design. The architectural composition serves as the canvass for the finishes. The finishes, such as paint, wood and tiles, often bring the trendy aspect of the space and can be changed according to tastes and with the times. But the 'bones' of the spaces will continue for a long time.

I am still so excited that the first place I ever owned still has some of Andrew’s and my ideas in it. For designers this is the best compliment.


Martina Ernst
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Illuminating with Presents from the IESNA

Screenshot: IES Illuminating Engineering Society
Credit: iesna.org

Wo-Built Got Presents Today Courtesy of IESNA

This morning I felt like a kid in a candy store, two huge boxes were delivered to the office. From the IESNA, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Since I am now a member of the Society they sent copies of the current IES Lighting Library (Hurray!), including the latest IES Lighting Handbook 10th edition, a verifiable door stopper.

Looking back to my roots transforming spaces through light and my love for lighting design, this is going to be such a treat reading about the latest technologies and processes. The Lighting Library is a huge step towards Wo-Built’s goal to become more involved in large scale lighting and non-residential interior renovations. It brings the most up to date knowledge at our disposal to be able to add to our comprehensive experience about lighting. We are no strangers to large scale lighting projects having worked in the past with the Metro Toronto region school boards and on the Singapore MRT expansion.

One of the Publications caught my eye immediately: A Guide to Designing Quality Lighting for People and Buildings. As designers and contractors, we at Wo-Built are always pushing for quality design of spaces through our design processes. Therefore I wanted to see what the Society had to say.

Quoting a paragraph under the architecture section: "A successful lighting design supports the architect’s artistic intent. Lighting can be used to "paint" a space with light to meet the architect’s goals of inspiration, spaciousness, interest, etc." to highlight a fact it looks completely like my sentiments. In March 2011 I wrote a post Architectural Lighting Design as a Work of Art: Painting with Light where I compared the processes of painting and lighting design using a local artist’s painting for illustration.

Daylight design is an important aspect for our projects and I was pleased to see that the Society is putting emphasis on this topic. Our philosophy of light design was well presented in the description of a development of one of our addition project where we introduced skylights over the staircase. We achieved two effects: making the staircase a feature in the room and allowing plenty of daylight to penetrate to the lower open concept level as the staircase has a very open design. Further, we like daylight because it allows energy savings, but more importantly it enhances living and working comfort.

Looking forward now to attending meeting of the local Toronto Chapter, renewing old friendships and making new ones.

Martina Ernst, proud member of IESNA
President/CEO
Wo-Built Inc. - Innovative Design and Build

Wo-Built's Second Floor Addition Project
"...allowing plenty of daylight to penetrate to the lower level as the staircase has a very open design."
Photo © 2008-2011 Wo-Built Inc.

links:
iestoronto.ca: Illuminating Engineering Society Toronto
iesna.org: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America
The IES seeks to improve the lighted environment by bringing together those with lighting knowledge and by translating that knowledge into actions that benefit the public.
Illuminating Engineering Society:
twitter: @IllumEngSoc
hashtag: #IESNA
linkedin: IESNA
facebook: IES Community

wobuilt.com/blog: Light – the Music of Architecture
wobuilt.com/blog: The Development of an Addition Project: Part 1
wobuilt.com/blog: Lighting with LEDs – The Benefits
wobuilt.com/blog: Kitchen Lighting Trends

Reminder: Wo-Built's Home Design Workshop Tonight!

Screenshot: Twitter Reminder: Wo-Built's Home Design Workshop Tonight

As a reminder, Wo-Built's workshop on colours, materials & textures applying our design philosophy tonight @ 7pm @ Wise Daughters http://tinyurl.com/cjntmq

See you there!

we tweet @ twitter

Wo-Built's Design & Build Philosophy

Notes from the Desk of Martina Ernst:
1) Thank Ari Berman for his contribution to the Information Forum
2) Write about Wo-Built's Design & Build Philosophy

• Design & Build Part 1: Is the Design and Build Process Better Than the Traditional Construction One?
• Design & Build Part 2: So, Is Design and Build the Solution?
• Design & Build Part 3: How will we know if a Design and Build contractor is pricing accurately?
• Design & Build Part 4: Some more thoughts on Design and Build

Ari Berman’s editorial comments on traditional construction projects versus Design & Build projects reflect some of the reasons why we wanted to be a Design & Build contractor. My heartfelt thanks for your contribution Ari.

Our values are very much anchored in professionalism and customer service and we felt we could best serve our customers by providing a total Design & Build experience. Both Elida Huignard and I have architectural backgrounds and we know the importance of upfront planning and communication between designer and contractor. Combining the two functions under one roof enables faster and better communications, hence making design changes less likely during the construction phase.

The upfront involvement also allows for better planning of necessary resources, both labour and material. Better planning usually results in more efficient use of these resources, reducing delays and last minute high cost purchases. Quality generally is higher with upfront planning and expectations are managed on all sides. Often the most important aspect of a good renovation or construction project is knowing what comes next and what to expect next.

Both Elida and I have worked on large projects in the past and we know the importance of budget restraints, cost planning, adherence to deadlines and the importance of great quality work. The design and build process gives us the confidence to be able to deliver a great quality product and leave a client happy.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc

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