- Words Lin Stranberg Photography by Julia Logliscia
Vancouver architect Michael Green is internationally known for his inventive, enviro-forward building style香蕉视频直播攅specially when it comes to wooden buildings.
His accolades and awards are numerous, but he is not interested in lingering on past achievements. Instead, Michael appears to leap effortlessly from one passionate terrain to the next, as he amasses adventures and fulfills his creative drive through architecture and storytelling.
Michael founded in 2012 and heads up with fellow principal Natalie Telewiak, is a hive of activity, pushing the limits of mass timber construction as the firm designs projects that range from private homes to large-scale master plans.
The busy Kitsilano studio has completed some of the most significant timber buildings in the world, including T3 in Minneapolis (Timber, Technology, Transit), which was the tallest wood structure in the US at the time of completion in 2016, and the Wood Innovation and Design Centre in Prince George, the tallest modern all-timber structure in the world when it was finished in 2014.
MGA has been recognized with more than 40 international awards for design excellence, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Firm of the Year, Architizer香蕉视频直播檚 Best in North America Firm Award, four Governor General香蕉视频直播檚 Medals, two RAIC Innovation Awards, and the American Institute of Architects Innovation Award.
Most days, Michael drives over from his Kits Point home in his classic 1959 Range Rover Series II, now an electric vehicle. Converting older cars into electric vehicles is one of his latest passions, and he is enthusiastic about turning it into a new project called Adventure Green. It may have already happened. Details are blurred when he discusses the things that matter most to him: family, adventure, impact, meaning, responsibility, purpose.
香蕉视频直播淎ll these things to me are really beautiful,香蕉视频直播� he says. 香蕉视频直播淎nd service香蕉视频直播攈ow we show up and what we do when we are there.香蕉视频直播�
Recognized as a global leader in wood construction and innovation, he serves as a government policy advisor on mass timber design, and speaks internationally on the subject of mass timber and new building technology. Alongside Jim Taggart (editor of Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine), Michael co-authored the 2020 book Tall Wood Buildings: Design, Construction and Performance.
His 2013 TED talk, 香蕉视频直播淲hy We Should Build Wooden Skyscrapers,香蕉视频直播� has been viewed more than 1.4 million times. It香蕉视频直播檚 absorbing and personal, especially when he describes why wood is the material he loves the most, and not simply for its ability to sequester carbon.
香蕉视频直播淧art of the reason I love it is that every time people go into my buildings that are wood, I notice they react completely differently. I香蕉视频直播檝e never seen anybody walk into one of my buildings and hug a steel or a concrete column, but I香蕉视频直播檝e actually seen that happen in a wood building,香蕉视频直播� he says.
香蕉视频直播淚香蕉视频直播檝e actually seen how people touch the wood, and I think there香蕉视频直播檚 a reason for it. Just like snowflakes, no two pieces of wood can ever be the same anywhere on Earth. That香蕉视频直播檚 a wonderful thing. I like to think that wood gives Mother Nature fingerprints in our buildings. It香蕉视频直播檚 Mother Nature香蕉视频直播檚 fingerprints that make our buildings connect us to nature in the built environment.香蕉视频直播�
Nature and adventure are pivotal to his being.
香蕉视频直播淟ife is an adventure,香蕉视频直播� he says, speaking like someone who knows. His adventures are big香蕉视频直播攈e香蕉视频直播檚 an ice and mountain climber香蕉视频直播攁nd next fall he香蕉视频直播檚 heading to a peak in Nepal.
香蕉视频直播淢y adventures inform a lot of my choices,香蕉视频直播� he says. 香蕉视频直播淏y going into nature we find our centre香蕉视频直播攁nd that香蕉视频直播檚 a big part of the art of life.香蕉视频直播�
He was born in the northerly hamlet of Qamani香蕉视频直播檛uaq in Nunavut (formerly Baker Lake in the Northwest Territories) and grew up in Vancouver, which he considers his hometown. His family history has led him to adventure, he says.
香蕉视频直播淭he risk tolerance I香蕉视频直播檝e developed in climbing spills over into my life. It informs and inspires my architecture.香蕉视频直播�
What those risks look like, and what is inherent in them, can determine how his life unfolds. He is known for architecture, but it香蕉视频直播檚 his range of interests that form who he is as an architect. He and his son have kayaked off several continents, including Antarctica, and he writes children香蕉视频直播檚 books to 香蕉视频直播渉elp nurture deeply creative children.香蕉视频直播�
He says he has written more than 14 children香蕉视频直播檚 stories; the one he mentions frequently is Alpenglow, a story he wrote and illustrated about concentric rings of support planted for a windblown alpine flower. He wrote it in the context of designing a 72-family Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver, also modelled on a concentric support rings concept, designed specifically to foster strength of community.
Michael香蕉视频直播檚 creative process combines worlds within worlds of the things he loves香蕉视频直播攁rchitecture, art and the making of things香蕉视频直播攁ltering preconceptions and firing imaginations with his visionary analogies and shared stories.
香蕉视频直播淪torytelling remains one of the most important of the arts, and I tell my stories through buildings for community, family, climate, and to protect the world for our children and our children香蕉视频直播檚 children.香蕉视频直播�
Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
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