Looking at SoLo—an off-grid, all-electric, mass timber Passive House residence in the remote Soo Valley near Whistler, British Columbia—it’s hard to think prototype. Yet, as Cillian Collins, senior architect at Perkins + Will’s Vancouver office, discussed in his Happy Hour presentation, SoLo was a trial run for Delta Land Development in embracing both Passive House and mass timber. SoLo was such a success that Delta currently has two larger mass timber projects in the works: an 8‑story residential building in Bellevue and the highly anticipated Canada Earth Tower.

Delta’s Senior Vice President Kirk Robinson, who made a guest appearance, admitted he had always been a devotedly steel, glass, and concrete person. But he’s a changed man now. He praised the Passive House elements, the perceptible quality of the building, its acoustic performance, and the beauty of the wood elements. “No one has to pay a price in aesthetics to achieve this level of sustainability,” he said.

Get the complete scoop on this beautiful prototype here: