A Model of Sustainable Development
Since its community vision first began to take shape, Spring Creek has pursued an ambitious goal: to be the most sustainable residential development in the Canadian Rockies. Its fourth multifamily building – Creekstone Mountain Lodge – is another fine example of Spring Creek’s commitment to that goal, reflecting the highest standards of sustainable development inside and out.
LOCATION
In a philosophical sense, Creekstone bears many similarities to multifamily urban in-fills, which aim to maximize density close to a city’s downtown core, where roads, services and key amenities already exist. This is far more sustainable that adding suburban sprawl to the far-flung edges of a municipality, where the cost per resident of installing and maintaining roads and services is comparatively astronomical. Just a five-minute walk from Main Street, Creekstone Mountain Lodge takes maximum advantage of the services, amenities and irresistible charm of Canmore’s well-established downtown.
FOOTPRINT
Could Spring Creek have made more money building and selling single-family homes on the Creekstone site? Probably. But increasing density increases the number of people who’ll be able enjoy the space…and creating opportunities to enjoy the beauty and serenity of such a special place is Spring Creek’s raison d’être. Higher density also creates higher intensity…people on the streets, a vibrant energy that attracts people to it. The result is a very inviting contrast: a community alive with social energy, with the solitude of the forests and the mountains just minutes away.
ORIENTATION
As with Spring Creek’s other mountain lodges, Creekstone has been oriented to take full advantage of the site’s stunning views and to maximize the amount of direct sunlight to Creekstone’s homes as well as the surrounding streets and community courtyards.
Collectively, Spring Creek’s mountain lodges are spaced far apart to ensure views of the mountains from almost every home. Many courtyards have sunny south and southwest orientations, and the views are amazing.
SITING
Consider the typical approach to multifamily housing development: take a plot of land, plunk the building right in the middle, and call the leftover land ‘community greenspace’. By contrast, Spring Creek takes the front and side faces of each building right to the sidewalk and consolidates the remaining land to create larger, more usable green spaces within the courtyards of the buildings.
GREEN SPACES
Beyond allowing more people to call Canmore home, Spring Creek’s emphasis on compact multifamily housing allows for a more intelligent, more meaningful approach to creating parks, pathways and gathering places. Rather than segmenting the land into a patchwork of small, private single-family yards, Spring Creek’s approach allows for the creation of large, contiguous parks that wind through the entire development. These parks and adjoining creekside trails are key elements in Spring Creek’s unique design. By maintaining generous distance between the buildings, the neighbourhood’s central linear space opens up view corridors and lets sunlight stream into the common areas. Spring Creek also uses green space to divide its roadways and create a narrow street feeling, which makes it easier to cross the street while encouraging traffic to slow down.
BUILDING MATERIALS
As much as possible, Spring Creek is constructed from natural materials like wood and stone – not only to be environmentally respectful but to be indigenously authentic. The mountains’ earliest settlers constructed their homes from the materials at their avail – timber, stone and little else.
As in Spring Creek, their sense of ‘home’ went far deeper than the houses they built. They understood that mountain living is about seeking, choosing and making a home in a place where you are defined and rewarded not just by what you own but by all you see. This understanding is reflected in mountain architecture’s often-seamless connections to its surroundings.
As Spring Creek sees it, the rock and wood used in building homes is on loan from the earth; and it will, in due course, return there. In the meantime, it should be used intelligently, respectfully, elegantly.
According to architect Thomas Debecki, who assisted Spring Creek in establishing its Urban Design Guidelines, “Frank Kernick is one of very few developers who combine consciousness of sustainability issues with true integrity. Many developers’ moral compasses get confused when faced with the prospect of large profits. Frank’s never has.”
