Alumni Spotlight: Samantha Menard

Meet Samantha Menard, a Toronto Met DAS Alumnus (B.ArchSc), manager with EQ Building Performance (external link) ’s energy team, is the recipient of the 2020 Emerging Green Leader Award from the Canada Green Building Council (external link)  (CaGBC).

She is passionate about Green Builds and spends much of her time post-Toronto Met, practicing, educating and advocating for green building and its potential for community development and addressing climate change. She shared some insights as to its future prospects within the AEC industry, as well as navigating a career post-graduation.

Tell us a little about your academic background at DAS and what led you to Green Building practice.

Samantha: I graduated from Toronto Met with my Bachelor of Architectural Science in 2012 with a focus on Building Science. The Building Science courses I took had an engaging and practical focus on how buildings are designed and how to approach design with a sustainability focus. While I've always loved architecture, being able to influence the performance of a building and educating others to do the same has become a passion.

You study and practice envelope energy efficiency. How would you describe this practice within the larger AEC industry as it stands now?

Samantha: The focus on building envelope is becoming much more prevalent recently in the general AEC industry. While focus on durable construction that won't fail has always been prevalent, conversations on high performance envelopes have generally been reserved for top performing buildings. With codes and standards - particularly the Toronto Green Standard - getting stricter on envelope performance, these conversations are beginning to happen on every project. For many years, only minimal thermal bridging was required to be accounted for when calculating effective performance of building envelopes resulting in overstated performance. Recently, this practice has changed and designers are beginning to understand the true performance of their designs.

Given the urgency of climate change and the contribution of the AEC industry to this issue, future leaders in green building, like yourself, are going to be key in developing and implementing the solutions.  In this regard, do you see Green Builds as the inevitable future? What are short- and long-term possibilities for communities?

Samantha: Green buildings aren't just our future, they should be considered our present as well. Incorporating sustainability and resilience into design is significantly easier than retrofitting buildings after the fact. Buildings are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases and the time for lesser environmental efforts has passed. In the short term, I think this leads to more sustainable designs and a growing focus on thermal and mental comfort in the spaces we live and work in. As some technologies become more popular (such as triple glazed windows), prices will come down allowing for broader access. In the long term, community planning and district energy will become much more popular. With larger projects, the economies of scale can be optimized to really produce some great communities.

What are some new and upcoming technologies and practices you are watching?

Samantha: Some envelope technologies that I think are growing are aerosol air barriers and some of the newer dual coated double glazed windows. Mechanically, geothermal is definitely becoming more popular, and I'm excited to see some of the new domestic hot water technologies like domestic heat pumps or sewage heat recovery. I think one of the most exciting things that is beginning to get traction is whole building air tightness testing on larger buildings. This testing is already mandated in some jurisdictions, like Seattle, and has already shown improvements in performance in just a short amount of time. 

Looking back on your time as a student, what advice or recommendations would you give to students thinking about studying and practicing Building Science?

Samantha: Something I didn't do much of as a student that I've learned to do as a professional is to network. Getting your name out there and making connections opens up so much to you. Not only will people be able to think of you for projects, but you can also learn so much from your peers. I'd also recommend following your passions. With an architecture degree there are so many different careers that you can enter - even within Building Science itself. If you find what you're passionate about, you'll have a much more enjoyable time and the path to success is a lot clearer.