Peter Busby

• Name — Peter Busby • Practice — Director of Perkins + Will San Francisco • Born — September 26, 1952 • Education — University of Toronto University of British Columbia • Awards — Honorary Doctorate in Science from Ryerson University 2008 RAIC Gold Medal 2014 • Significant Design — Sustainability

Busby was born in Southport, Merseyside, UK on September 26, 1952. His father was a British engineer who emigrated to Canada and worked at Nortel in Toronto and New York. Busby's wife Catherine is an occupational therapist and they have four children. Busby holds a Bachelors of Arts in Political Philosophy from the University of Toronto where he graduated in 1974 to pursue a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of British Columbia in 1977. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Ryerson University in 2008. Throughout his years studying philosophy, Busby worked summer jobs on construction sites, which included carpentry. Some notable professors included architectural historian Douglas Richardson of the University of Toronto, and UBC sustainability professor Raymond Cole.

Upon graduating, Busby apprenticed with Rhone & Iredale Architects in Vancouver, then with Norman Foster in London and Hong Kong, where he was a project architect at the age of 28. He also worked with Miller Hull. He started his own practice in Vancouver in 1984. As the sole practitioner at the time, he constructed 1216 Granville Street office, then located in a marginal neighborhood. Paul Bridger would join as partner in 1986, and the practice grew to 10 in 1992 and 45 by 2004. In 1987 Busby founded the product design firm Designlines and integrated industrial design into his architecture. His attitude towards design is defined by an industrious vision driven by a confidence that critic Adele Weder describes as necessary for making an impact in an industry of "sclerotic conventions." Weder points to the example of One Wall Centre Project, a 48-story tower which ignited conflicts between his client and the city of Vancouver, resulting in a dual-toned glass envelope. He leads his practice making architecture notably present in all contexts responding to the existing urban fabric. One of Busby's first jobs was a lab for MacMillan Bloedel, the forestry company that created parallel strand lumber (Parallam), the same material he would use for that project and further served as an inspiration for Busby to incorporate into his future projects. The practice led to the formation of Busby Bridger Architects in 1986 grew to Busby + Associates which eventually collaborated with Perkins + Will in 2002 and merged for a strategic partnership in 2004. His team consists of researchers, biologists, and staff working towards issues he believes architecture should address. Their projects have received numerous design awards including six Governor General Awards, eleven British Columbia Lieutenant Governor Awards, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Firm of the Year Award. Busby often lectures on sustainability topics and green initiatives both nationally and internationally and is a founder of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) along with being a founding member of the Canada Green Building Council.

Busby's architectural career is primarily focused on sustainability to integrate building systems to foster user experience and improve the environment which it resides. His approach to architecture considers affordability, amenities, transportation, and social issues to be worked into given project briefs, backed by scientific and economic considerations that provide a business case for sustainability. On the CIRS project, majority of the heavy timber used are pine beetle reclaimed lumber that would have otherwise been disposed of. Busby studies the embodied energy of the material and its carbon footprint to processing prior to its installation, digging deep into the numbers that contribute to published statistics, a case example educating that a reduction in carbon emissions can be a result of offshoring operations, economic recession, or a reduction in price of an alternative energy source. Busby's takes a strategic approach to delivering his sustainable strategies, working with developers and large retail chains—notably Walmart, which adopted 20 of the 34 design suggestions he made for their Vancouver store to their other stores. Busby's architectural practices include the use of reclaimed and recycled building materials that are locally sourced, reducing embodied carbon, and the majority of his projects are designed with passive sustainability moves prior to implementing active building systems such as integrated PV and geothermal heating and cooling. Through practicing and actively researching and educating along with public advocacy, Busby encourages walking, mixed use developments around transit nodes, and to reduce carbon footprint. This longstanding engagement with the complex factors contributing to sustainability as well as advocacy for the profession's role and potential in furthering sustainability goals is recounted in Busby: Learning Sustainable Design (2007).

Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) Vancouver, British Columbia Van Dusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre Vancouver, British Columbia Brentwood Station Burnaby, British Columbia • Illustration — Brentwood Station. One of the Stations along the Millennium skytrain line in Vancouver notable for its use of wood. Canada Line Stations Richmond, British Columbia Riyadh Metro Prototype Stations Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 707 Terry Seattle, Washington Canada's Earth Tower Vancouver, British Columbia Perkins & Will Atlanta Studio Atlanta, Georgia Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford Palo Alto, California Potrero Power Station San Francisco, California Ottawa Confederation Line Ottawa, Ontario Marine Gateway Vancouver, British Columbia Brighthouse Elementary School Richmond, British Columbia.

• Canadian Green Building Council • LEED Fellow • Fellow, Cascadia Green Building Council • Member, Order of Canada • Fellow, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada • Founder, board member, and chair, Canada Green Building Council