Teaching – Nycum + Associates

COVID-19 & Architecture

Admin — Fri, 15 May 2020 18:17:00 +0000

We always love the energy and ideas brought to our team by our co-op students, and this year is no exception. Our current masters-level co-op student from Dalhousie University, Hadrian Laing, has penned a great blog post for Nanuk Technologies that we think encapsulates many of the issues surrounding COVID-19 and the way the pandemic may impact how we talk about, use and design space going forward. We may be partial though, Hadrian worked hard to canvas us all for our opinions and generate debate during our weekly remote-working happy hours as he prepared his insights.

Teaching Code to Future Architects

Admin — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 18:13:48 +0000

Nycum staff Stephen Terauds and Benjie Nycum are teaching building code to undergraduate students at Dalhousie University School of Architecture. They’ve designed a course based on simulation of a code review in a professional firm’s office and are asking students to learn how to apply principles in their own design work for the semester. The course is a one week simulation module followed by specific code and accessibility requirements for the students’ final design projects.

M. Brian Mulroney Hall Project Hits Major Milestone

Admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 14:36:18 +0000

Our project with St. Francis Xavier University reached a major milestone yesterday, when the Right Honourable M. Brian Mulroney announced the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government to be housed at the university in the new Brian Mulroney Hall.

The Institute will be home to at least six endowed chairs and further enhance the renowned undergraduate experience at StFX. Mulroney Hall will become the major classroom building for the campus, supporting the excellent learning environment with new spaces that support a wide range of pedagogies. Classrooms, Institute and academic offices and displays and exhibits related to the life and government of Canada’s 18th Prime Minister will be organized around a double-height forum space – intended to become a vital gathering place in the heart of campus.

We’ve been lucky enough to work with fantastic design partners at SmithGroupJJR and an engaged and thoughtful client in St. Francis Xavier University since 2015. Next steps will be for the university to continue our work with design builders they’re looking to select soon. We’re excited to see how this all develops and look forward to assisting with the next steps.

StFX Recording of the Announcement, October 26, 2016 (Images of the project at 10:24, 14:53 and 17:23)
Globe & Mail
National Post
CBC
Local Xpress

We Present on Combining Programming and Design Phases Effectively

Admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:47:38 +0000

This year’s International Union of Architects Public Health Group Forum will be held in Toronto as part of IIDEX. Noah and Mark will be presenting the outcomes of a recent project we were engaged in where the early stages of the planning and design were condensed. Here is the overview:

Planning Solutions by Design: Reuniting Healthcare Programming and Design

Hospital planning and programming can take years, often involving a number of incremental and much politicized steps. Common pitfalls may include an underestimation of the architectural impacts the programming and planning have on the project. This often includes the building site and without architectural visualization of concepts, awareness of the inputs users are making to the program may occur too late causing delays and inappropriate compromise. For a new 200 bed expansion, Capital Health (Halifax) and the Nova Scotia department of Health and Wellness recognized the pitfalls of this traditional “program first, then plan, then design” sequence and decided to combine them into a single 7 month fast-tracked, combined and simultaneous Programming/Planning/Schematic Design process. The result was a highly iterative and interactive approach that forced to the front of the room all major internal and external conflicts that the project needed to address.

For information on the International Union of Architects’ Public Health Group (UIA/PHG), click here.

For complete UIA/PHG Forum information, click here.

We Present Design Standards at International Healthcare Architecture Forum

Admin — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 16:42:01 +0000

This year’s International Union of Architects Public Health Group Forum will be held in Toronto as part of IIDEX. We will be presenting our analysis of how innovation and design standards converged in a major three year initiative to build 1,533 new nursing home beds in Nova Scotia. We examine the surprising outcomes and their determinants in form, space and culture when a strict design standard is used. In particular we explore how innovation was handled – such as adaptations to space requirements and cost reductions – and ultimately propose a method for embracing innovation within a design standard in our presentation 44 Facilities, 1553 Beds, 3 years – A Case Study in Design Standards from Nova Scotia.

Advocacy for Health in Architecture

Admin — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:23:12 +0000

As part of Professional Practice Week at the School of Architecture, Benjie Nycum will be presenting a lecture called Advocacy for Health in Architecture on January 22nd at 10 am. Student and public lectures organized on the theme of Advocacy in Architecture take place all week.

Student Workshops with Dalhousie University

Admin — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:20:11 +0000

Every year, students from Dalhousie’s Faculty of architecture work in small groups to design and build small projects that meet a need or challenge out in the community. This year, Nycum’s Noah Epstein led a team of students to create platform and fire pit structures at Brigadoon Village as the first phase of a multi-phase development of this reflective and spirited area of the camp. These are pictures of the work in progress.

Infection Culture: Infected Culture

Admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:07:57 +0000

There is a great deal of information to be aware of with respect to current thinking on the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, like C. Difficile, in hospitals. Benjie’s presentation at this year’s CHES Atlantic Chapter’s conference examined some of the cultural implications behind current practices in design, construction, and operations of healthcare facilities when it comes to preventing the spread of infection by comparing conditions and outcomes between Canadian and Vietnamese settings.

We Present at International Environments for Aging Conference

Admin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:53:39 +0000

This year’s annual Environments for Aging conference will be held in Orlando, FL. We will be presenting our analysis of how innovation and design standards converged in a major three year initiative to build 1,533 new nursing home beds in Nova Scotia. We examine the surprising outcomes and their determinants in form, space and culture when a strict design standard is used. In particular, we explore how innovation was handled – such as adaptations to space requirements and cost reductions – and ultimately propose a method for embracing innovation within a design standard.