Design Primer for Low Carbon ConstructionPolicy, Strategy
Ha/f authored the Project Planning & Design Primer for Low-Carbon Construction, guiding Canada’s shift to net-zero buildings.
The primer outlines whole-life carbon concepts, introduces mitigation frameworks, and applies strategies across project phases—pre-design, design, construction, and occupancy—emphasizing systems thinking, phased decision-making, and life cycle assessments to reduce embodied carbon emissions.
/Read the Primer
CMHC Housing Design Catalogue /
Energy Modelling & Life Cycle Assessment, Certification, Policy
Ha/f collaborated with Acorn Sustainability and Carbon Wise to provide energy modelling, life cycle assessment, and whole life carbon assessments for the CMHC Housing Design Catalogue.
Working with LGA Architects & Planners, Dub Architects, 5468796 Architecture, Oxbow Architecture, Kanva Architecture, Abbott Brown Architects, and Taylor Architecture Group, the assessments provide a holistic view on building performance for builders and owners.
/See the Catalogue
How Heavy is a Building? Strategy
How Heavy is a Building? is a short film which explores the unseen material, cultural, and environmental weight of architecture and was originally exhibited as part of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale in 2025. The film traces the embodied carbon of three of Lisbon’s most iconic cultural institutions. Through site investigations, interviews, and visual storytelling, it examines how construction materials and systems such as concrete, steel, and HVAC embody energy, history, and labour.
YZD Reuse Audit
Strategy, Certification
In collaboration with GXN, Ha/f completed a pre-demolition audit of five large-span buildings slated for deconstruction at the former Downsview Airport site.
The audit provides a comprehensive inventory of the buildings’ structural materials - including steel, concrete, and brick - as well as interior finishes, fixtures, and furnishings and provides potential pathways for the systematic recovery, reuse, and recycling of these material resources.