October 26, 2016

Athena Institute Board of Directors welcomes Jim Taggart

The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jim Taggart FRAIC to the board.

Jim received his Master of Arts in Architecture from the University of Sheffield, England in 1980. For 12 years he worked in design and construction in Canada and the UK, including five years with Vancouver’s Expo ’86 World’s Fair, and three years as an Associate with Busby Bridger Architects (now Perkins+Will Canada).

Since 1992 his focus has been public and professional education and communications in the areas of architecture, urban design and sustainable development. His most notable area of specialty is the role of wood in contemporary architecture, and he has written many technical case studies and general articles on the subject for national and international publications. Jim has also delivered more than 100 professional development seminars in more than 30 cities across North America, and has been a keynote speaker at international conferences in Sweden and New Zealand.

Jim currently teaches in the architectural science degree program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, including courses in Sustainable Design and Wood Design. He is also the founding editor of Sustainable Architecture and Building magazine (SABMag). His other writing and editing credits include: ‘Busby: Learning Sustainable Design” (2007), ‘Symphony of Structure –the work of Fast + Epp’; (2010), ‘Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture’ (2011) and ‘Tall Wood Buildings – Design, Construction & Technology’ (2016).

Jim is the recipient of numerous provincial and national awards and honours including being inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (2010) and the Premier of British Columbia’s Wood Champion Award (2012).