In February 2023, the SBN presented the Sustainable Buildings Challenge 2023 that featured a residential building energy optimization project and drew 25 students from four universities at both undergraduate and graduate levels, with Ike Arzoumanian (Year 2 CivE), Eliany Rodriguez (Daniels Faculty of Architecture) and Javeriya Hasan (Building Science PhD candidate, TMU) taking the win.
Over the course of a little over a week, undergraduate and graduate students from across southern Ontario were tasked with developing a sustainable technical strategy and proposing a related policy plan for a residential mid-rise development in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Teams were free to include some or all of the prescribed topics in their proposed strategies and policy plans, ranging from enhancing environmental quality, optimizing building space and material use, optimizing energy use, to optimizing operational and maintenance practises, optimizing site potential, and protecting and conserving water.
A number of Q&A sessions were held throughout week to facilitate the student design process. Jamie Dabner (Introba), Priscilla Chew (Purpose Building) and Anna Dziurdzik (Pretium) attended the Industry session, and U of T CivMin’s very own Sarah Haines and Seungjae Lee assisted with the Academic session.
The much anticipated final presentations and award ceremony were held on February 12 with Jamie Fine (RWDI), Ali Shamsaldin and Stephanie Marton (Mattamy Homes), and Noah Cassidy (Purpose Building) serving as the judges, followed by a reception. After an afternoon of presentations and Q&A’s, the winner went to Ike Arzoumanian (Year 2 CivE), Eliany Rodriguez (Daniels Faculty of Architecture) and Javeriya Hasan (Building Science PhD candidate, TMU), and Lala Leung (TMU), Aleyxa Gate Julien (U of Waterloo), Julia Bains (U of T), and Charu Tyagi (U of T) took second place.
Read more about the 2023 Sustainable Buildings Network on University of Toronto Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering website.