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Peter Busby, Toronto Architect, Canadian Architect Early Life Peter Busby was born on September 26th 1952 in Southport, UK, but came to Canada as his father got a job in Toronto.

Education He pursued a psychology degree from the University of Toronto in 1974 and took some political science classes, some of which he says have really impacted and shaped his morals and view of the world. He was a “self-proclaimed hippie” and wanted to change the world. He ended up taking a history of architecture class while at University of Toronto which he says “opened my eyes to architecture, I thought I can take my ethical position and design buildings that are actually environmental.” He then applied to all schools in Canada and started studying architecture at UBC, graduating in 1977.

Career After finishing up school there was a recession which made it hard to find work, he decided to go work for one of the established Architects in the UK. He tried getting an interview with Norman Foster’s firm but they would not see him, he showed up every day until they gave him an interview and subsequently, a job. Him and his wife moved their whole lives to England for 2 years so he could pursue working for Norman Foster, transferring to Hong Kong for a year and then returning back to Canada to start a family.

Upon moving to Vancouver, he worked for BC Place Stadium which was the largest column free indoor space in Western Canada, later deciding to start his own practice in 1984. He opened in an impoverished area of Vancouver to give a “social intervention aspect to his practice” and it later became known as the entertainment district. He worked with Paul Bridger for 8 years starting in 1986, later continuing on his own until he merged with firm Perkins + Will in 2004. He’s been with them ever since, becoming director of the San Francisco office.

His merge with Perkins + Will was not as simple as just merging two firms together. Due to his themes / values of environmental responsibility and green architecture, Busby “would not join their firm until every single design principal and associate principal was a LEED accredited professional.” They were keen on having him join Perkins + Will, so they complied to his request and 18 months later, Busby became part of the firm and it mutually benefited both parties. He was able to work on bigger projects outside of Vancouver as the market for green architecture wasn’t booming yet there. He had a much bigger reach because of this and was able to share his knowledge and opinions with many more people, he even led a program where they got over 1000 employees LEED certified.

Design Philosophy As he was originally in school for philosophy, his classes strongly helped shape his morals and values in terms of the environment and sustainability. After being introduced to architecture through an optional class, he translated his environmentalist approach into his work and began designing simple and sustainable buildings. He is driven by his desire to make a difference and design as energy efficient as possible, many of his buildings have received LEED certification. He thought that environmental responsibility was a huge factor in designing buildings and struggled for many years to convince clients they didn’t need air conditioning. He would explain that operable windows and natural ventilation can do just as good of a job and even save money in the long run “It was the only argument we had, “we can save you money”.” As a result of his aspirations for net zero buildings, he often uses wood as a building material when he can as it stores carbon and “evokes natural warmth and humanity through the atmospheric qualities”.

Notable Current / Previous Projects Some notable projects and buildings by Peter Busby / Perkins + Will are Canada’s Earth Tower in Vancouver, British Columbia, Perkins + Will Atlanta studio in Atlanta, Georgia, and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, California.

Canada’s Earth Tower is a proposed 40 story building made mainly out of wood and concrete, which would make it the world’s tallest hybrid wood building while also being net zero carbon emissions. “This can help create meaningful connections to the environment and promote positive change.” The Perkins + Will Atlanta studio design was more of an adaptive reuse project than a new build, as they chose a preexisting building and modified it to be as sustainable as possible, it ended up being “certified LEED Platinum and even scored the most LEED points in the northern hemisphere.” The Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital was certified LEED Platinum as well and has over a quarter of the materials sourced from within 500 miles of Palo Alto. Much of the wood is reclaimed and refurbished, it was originally “salvaged from the Old Moffett Hangar 1, a 1930’s Naval hangar that towered over the nearby mountain range and Silicon Valley.” There are also solar shading devices on the patient windows to provide the most comfort as possible while reducing cost and energy consumption.

Notes

Alter, Lloyd. “Peter Busby Designs a 40 Storey Timber Tower Proposed for Vancouver.” Treehugger. Dot Dash, April 28, 2019. https://www.treehugger.com/peter-busby-designs-storey-timber-tower-proposed-vancouver-4856504.

Davis, Andrea. “Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, August 26, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/lucile-packard-childrens-hospital-stanford/.

Lam, Elsa. “Interview: Peter Busby,” June 1, 2014. https://www.canadianarchitect.com/path-to-practice/. Libby, Brian. “Q+A: Peter Busby on Architecture's New Edges.” Architect Magazine, July 27, 2015. https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/exhibits-books-etc/q-a-peter-busby-on-architectures-new-edges_o.

“Peter Busby.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, December 18, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Busby.

“The Stadium.” BC Place. Accessed March 1, 2021. https://www.bcplace.com/the-stadium.

Salado, Sally. “Our Atlanta Studio.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, June 17, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/our-atlanta-studio/.

Yeung, Karena. “Canada's Earth Tower.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, July 8, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/canadas-earth-tower/.

Figures 1.	Davis, Andrea. “Peter Busby.” Perkins&Will, June 15, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/person/peter-busby/.

2.	Yeung, Karena. “Canada's Earth Tower.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, July 8, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/canadas-earth-tower/.

3.	Salado, Sally. “Our Atlanta Studio.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, June 17, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/our-atlanta-studio/.

4.	Davis, Andrea. “Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.” Perkins&Will. Perkins & Will, August 26, 2019. https://perkinswill.com/project/lucile-packard-childrens-hospital-stanford/.