As Sarah Rich pointed out a few days ago, there have been many great examples of cities harnessing precipitation in order to green and to enrich their built environment. When I first met Juliette Patterson, a Montreal architect currently incorporating nature into her work, I was excited to hear about her ideas.
Recently, I spoke with Juliette about writing an entry on one of her projects, and was pleased to hear that she will be speaking on May 10 at Catalethique, about her experience of designing with nature in mind. She will be covering the important potential role for green roofs, streams and wetlands to weave nature back into our cities, with a particular focus on the construction of green roofs. She has a degree in Biology from Concordia University in addition to her architecture degree from McGill and her Masters in landscape architecture from Harvard.
Her presentation will draw from her depth of experience, having completed projects ranging from green roofing and reclamation of industrial land in Montreal, to natural wetland water management projects in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is currently developing a condominium project in Montreal that will incorporate a man made ecosystems to clean waste water before it is sent back into city flows, among other more sustainable improvements. I would encourage anyone interested in attending to read about the work of John Todd and his Living Machine system, as it may come up in the presentation.
Catalethique is a non-profit, professional networking group that meets on a regular basis within the city. It is "a space for the dissemination and exchange of best practices in corporate social responsibility and sustainable development with the aim of harnessing the power of business towards the creation of a larger community that respects all people and the environment". They feature regular speaking and cocktail events within the city that are open to non-members for $5. Talks may be in French or English, but translation is available and the question period following is conducted in both languages.
