Terri Peters

Toronto Metropolitan University · Architectural Science

Is minimising the negative effects of human activity on people and the planet enough, or can we aim even higher? Guest-Editor Terri Peters introduces the concept of superarchitecture: architecture that is not merely sustainable, but offers positive benefits for both human wellbeing and the environment. As demonstrated by the three international cas...

Architects must synthesize broader societal concerns of climate change and resource use together with the site specific environmental concerns of architecture. Temperature, humidity, light, sound, energy, and air flow are critical issues in the design of buildings - but how do we bring these more meaningfully into the architect's studio? Whereas in...

Globally, there are significant challenges to meeting built environment performance targets. The gaps found between the predicted performance of new or retrofit buildings and their actual performance impede an understanding of how to achieve these targets. This paper points to the importance of reliable and informative building performance assessme...

The influence of environmental design on people’s wellbeing and productivity has been well studied in some settings such as offices, hospitals, and elementary schools, but salutogenic and biophilic design in urban post-secondary educational environments remains understudied and warrants closer investigation. There are unique challenges faced by the...

Purpose The COVID-19 global health crisis is undeniably a global housing crisis. Our study focuses on quality of life in urban mid- and high-rise apartment housing, the fastest growing housing types in many cities around the world. This housing typology presents unique challenges relating to connection to nature, daylight and fresh air. Design/met...

In light of COVID-19, people are increasingly anxious about indoor air quality data in places where they live and work. Access to this data using a consumer-grade air quality monitor has become a way of giving agency to building users so that they can understand the ventilation effectiveness of the spaces where they spend their time. Methods: Fourt...

This study tested a simulation workflow and evaluated design options for urban scale infill developments using environmental simulation tools. Options were evaluated for pedestrian thermal comfort in several design options for a tower in the park development in Toronto, Canada. Using Ladybug, ENVI-met, and Dragonfly, this simulation based-study com...

Recent studies have shown the importance of healthy, occupant-centric lighting in buildings, but urban apartment housing remains understudied. This project analyzed typical dwellings in apartment housing to determine how unit design parameters impacted daylight and healthy lighting. The simulation-based study compared results using two early-stage...

Several histories by prominent researchers in the field locate Canada among the early adopters and entrepreneurs of post-occupancy evaluation (‘POE’). Despite its reputation for being in use in Canada, POE has lived comfortably on the margins of the Canadian building industry for decades, taking a backseat to more prescriptive and prognostic approa...

Building performance is a widely held goal in the architecture, engineering and construction industries, driven by a shared pursuit of the triple bottom line. This research paper re-examined the term ‘performance’ and its characterization in post-occupancy evaluation (POE) literature using a semi-systematic review of 160 articles published since 20...

New requirements for living, working, and learning at home due to Covid-19 have highlighted two fundamental needs in apartment housing: (1) adaptability to fit multiple functions in a limited area; and (2) access to private outdoor space to support residents' health and wellbeing, and to provide spatial and thermal variety in small units. The two n...

The number of persons living with dementia and related cognitive disorders is predicted to increase dramatically in the coming years. As a consequence, the need is increasing for appropriately designed long-term care (LTC) environments and design guidelines for these settings. This investigation presents the findings of a broad literature review on...

In architecture, the term resilience tends to be used narrowly describe a building’s structural and environmental performance in quantitative terms—but can a building be called resilient if it fails to make inspiring spaces for people, promote well-being, or improve people’s experience? The chapter begins by exploring how the term is currently eval...

Multi-unit residential buildings (MURB) represent more than one half of the new housing built in the USA and Canada. To date, the majority of daylighting research has focused on offices, but MURB have a number of environmental performance challenges and quality of life considerations specific to their housing typology. Daylight is typically not suf...

Condominiums have become the predominant housing form in Canada, and connection to the outdoors, adequate fresh air, and appropriate levels of daylight are essential to people's quality of life. The majority of new condos have balconies, but there are no climate-specific balcony guidelines for comparing design options for multi-unit residential bui...

Access to acceptable levels of daylight are important for people’s quality of life. Multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) are known to perform poorly in terms of daylight compared to other residential building types. There are neither appropriate agreed upon metrics, nor effective methods for designing for daylight in MURBs. This paper presents...

This publication is intended to serve as a framework guiding the design of multi-unit residential buildings in a Canadian climate, specifically mid-rise and high-rise housing typologies. It is aimed primarily at practicing architects and engineers, but it can also be helpful for anyone interested in MURB design. In-depth reference materials may be...

New simulation tools for daylight have been tested on specific building types, mostly offices and schools. To date there have been very few simulation-based studies of daylighting in multi-unit residential buildings. Recent studies have shown strong connections between daylight and occupant wellbeing, not only in places where people work and study,...

While ever more architects use digital simulations of energy and daylight to inform their designs, relatively few carry out post-occupancy evaluations of their buildings. This, according to University of Toronto post-doctoral researcher Terri Peters, is a missed opportunity. Presenting recent built examples of a variety of building types by three l...

Stantec and William McDonough + Partners; University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF); Mission Bay; World Health Organization (WHO); Green Guide for Health Care; New Karolinska Solna Hospital; Stockholm; Miljobyggnad; LEED Gold; White Tengbom Team; ‘patients-first’ approach; HOK; Humber River Hospital; Toronto; ‘fully digital hosp...

Background: Increasingly, architectural and allied designers, engineers, and healthcare facility administrators are being challenged to demonstrate success in adroitly identifying and con-textualizing ever-shifting and expanding spheres of knowledge with respect to the role of energy conservation and carbon neutrality in healthcare treatment enviro...

Psychological needs and human wellbeing are aspects of sustainability that urgently need to be reconsidered in architecture. Too often, the concept of sustainability is connected to quantitative building performance, without enough consideration of how people use and enjoy spaces and how their wellbeing is influenced by their environment. This pape...

Retrofitting existing buildings can offer enormous energy savings, economic advantages, and community benefits contributing to a more sustainable built environment. Many studies have highlighted the implications of economic and environmentally focused renovations but this paper focuses on what social sustainability looks like from an architectural...

Danish social housing estates built in the 1960s and1970s are a significant part of the cultural legacy of the Welfare State. Often the prefabricated, multi-family 'etageboliger' apartments are not considered architecturally valuable or worthy of preservation, but this paper adds to the emerging sentiment that they are an important part of the Dani...

Abstract for Presentation In this short presentation I will look at the concept of Bo Miljø or ‘Living Environment’ as developed by environmental psychologist Ingrid Gehl in her 1971 design guide that advocates for psychologically healthy living environments (Gehl 1971). Bo Miljø is analyzed and contextualized in a discussion of architecturally re...

In the future, most work for architects and allied professions will involve creatively applying sus-tainable design principles and impacting existing buildings. These are not new concerns in the practice of architecture, which has always been concerned with multi-parameter optimization concerning the natural and built environments; negotiating pres...

In Denmark, environmental performance, in particular designing to exceed minimum energy standards and to meet low energy targets, is an important part of sustainable architecture. By striving for anticipated future standards, it is hoped that the building will be better prepared for future needs, that residents will enjoy lower energy costs, and th...

There is increased interest in sustainable design in architecture, although the term is contextual, contested and necessarily dependent on changing circumstances. In the case of a renovation, the concept of sustainability is typically even more difficult to pin down, as it is not possible or preferable to have one overarching definition to suit all...

This paper frames some architectural challenges of renovating 1960s and 1970s social housing in Denmark in connection to two relevant renovation and psychology theories. The paper is part of a larger research project that proposes enlarging the scope of parameters for sustainable housing relating to sustainable renovation of Modern housing in Denma...

By implication, the developmentof experimental architecture that is responsive to the local context can have sustainable benefits for the natural environment and adjacent community. Here, architect and writer Terri Peters, who has a PhD in sustainable building transformation, picks up the gauntlet and asks how the notion of localness might be able...

The sustainable transformation of existing buildings is an urgent global concern yet the precise meaning or measure of sustainability in this context is poorly understood across disciplines. Should any change that keeps a building in use be called " sustainable " ? Aside from using less energy and fewer resources than a new building, there are impo...

With a tradition of social inclusion and innovative contemporary design, Denmark leads the way internationally in its architectural provision for an older population. Architect, author and researcher Terri Peters highlights some pioneering housing schemes in Denmark that use architecture to reduce the stigma of old age in the creation of environmen...

Smartgeometry (SG) is a key influence on the architectural community who explore creative computational methods for the design of buildings. An informal international network of practitioners and researchers, the group meets annually to experiment with new technologies and collaborate to develop digital design techniques. When SG was founded in 20...

Smartgeometry (SG) is a key influence on the architectural community who explore creative computational methods for the design of buildings. An informal international network of practitioners and researchers, the group meets annually to experiment with new technologies and collaborate to develop digital design techniques. When SG was founded in 20...

As the designers of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) building in Zeist, the Netherlands a CO2-neutral, self-sufficient office complex, RAU has set the bar for sustainable research and design. Guest-editor Terri Peters visited the firm's studio in Amsterdam to talk to principal Thomas Rau. As Peters relates, Rau prefers to put the onus on the dwindling...

The potential for biomimicry lies far beyond the direct imitation of natural forms. Guest-editor Terri Peters describes how Janine Benyus, the biologist and innovation consultant, is using biomimicry to create performance metrics from natural technologies and processes for assessing aspects of ecological and sustainable design. The Genius of the Pl...

From their office in Hackney, in London's East End, Italian duo Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto, have established an international reputation as ecoLogicStudio, an innovative practice that fuses digital technologies with environmental design. As Terri Peters explains, the ethos and approach of the studio extends beyond that of finding technologi...