EVDS names first two research chairs

By Grady Semmens

Making buildings more eco-friendly and using cutting-edge technology to improve architecture and design are the aims of two new research chair positions at the University of Calgary.

As the first two research chairs established in the Faculty of Environmental Design, the Haworth Chair in Integrated Design and the Chair in Sustainable Building Technologies will allow EVDS students to learn and work with leaders in their respective fields.

“These chairs will expose students in EVDS to innovative learning experiences in the emerging areas of digital design and sustainable building technologies, fields that reach across the disciplines of environmental design,” says EVDS Dean Loraine Fowlow. “These chairs will contribute to further equipping students in the Faculty of Environmental Design as innovators in their fields.”

The Haworth Chair in Integrated Design will be held by incoming professor Dr. Branko Kolarevic, who is known as a world leader in computer-aided architecture and design. Originally from Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, Kolarevic earned his Masters and PhD degrees at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and has been involved in architecture and design projects in North America, Europe and Hong Kong.

The Chair in Sustainable Building Technologies will be held by EVDS professor Jim Love, an expert in the area of solar power and “green” building design who is heavily involved in the U of C’s efforts to incorporate environmentally-friendly technologies into its new buildings and capital projects.

“The new Child Development Centre is an example of a building where students have been involved in the design process and the building itself becomes a research tool,” Love said. “The opportunities for this kind of work are becoming immense here in Canada and around the world.”

Both research chair positions became effective July 1.

Dr. Rose Goldstein, the U of C’s vice-president (research), says the new research chairs in EVDS will enhance the university’s goals of strengthening research and teaching in the high-priority areas of energy and the environment and social institutions.

“Research-based creative design and technologies are key to improving our world and ensuring sustainability,” Goldstein says. “These positions will enable U of C’s continued leadership in producing the next generation of world-class architects, community planners and designers.”