News

Engineering 5, designed by Perkins+Will of Toronto, has won a 2011 Global Excellence Award Best of Category in the Cultural/Institutional/Educational Category, by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). Winners of the competition were chosen from 92 international design firms from 32 countries judged on representation of outstanding originality, and excellence in the creation of international interior design and architecture projects. Awards will be presented at the Maison & Objet Show in Paris in mid January.

Jackie Rehkopf, who graduated from civil engineering with both her BASc and PhD, has had her book “Automotive Carbon Fiber Composites: From Evolution to Implementation” published by SAE International. Rehkopf is a senior researcher at Plasan Carbon Composites, a Tier 1 producer of carbon fiber composites for the U.S. automotive industry. She is also a principal investigator of a three-year project on predictive modeling of carbon fiber composites in automotive crash applications.

Stephen Teeple, a School of Architecture graduate, is piloting an award-winning architecture firm called Teeple Architects, which specializes in a broad range of institutional, commercial and residential projects, including community and recreation centres, libraries, schools and university buildings. The current mix includes The Stephen Hawking Centre (a major expansion of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo) where Mr.

Geoff Christou (BArch ’10) has teamed up with a childhood friend to create Our Paper Life, a company that sells an environmentally-friendly shelf and a desk made from paper. The adult-size desk and shelf, each costing $19.99, are ideal for university students because they can be easily assembled and recycled when they’re no longer needed.

Zero emissions, no noise was the promise of the ZENN Low Speed Vehicle (LSV), produced by the ZENN Motor Company of Toronto between 2006 and 2010. A rare pre-production model is on display to the public in the Engineering 5 lobby until mid-January. It was brought to the university by Mehrdad Kazerani, a Waterloo professor of electrical and computer engineering, whose research team will be using the vehicle after the exhibition ends. The ZENN is a fully functional, two passenger, front wheel drive, electric vehicle that was produced at an assembly plant in Saint-Jerome, Quebec.

Lola Sheppard, a Waterloo School of Architecture professor, is concerned with how processed foods are threatening hunting traditions and the health of Inuit people in Canada’s North. Sheppard and her partner, Mason White, recently won a $100,000 Holcim Award for an infrastructure project they developed that seeks to reaffirm hunting and fishing traditions among the people of Baffin Island in the territory of Nunavut. The project’s goal is to create a network of shelters along snowmobile paths connecting 11,000 people who live in disconnected communities across Baffin Island.

Industry representatives, students and the public had a first-hand look at Waterloo Engineering’s innovative engineering research at this year’s We Innovate held in Engineering 5 on December 7. The research on display ranged from work on quieter wind turbines, flood resistant housing and fire-retardant material to crashworthy auto parts, anti-icing agents for concrete and 3D scanners that could help surgeons and dentists.

School of Architecture professor John McMinn and his partner architect Melana Janzen of McMinn + Janzen Studio have pulled it off for a professional couple living in south Mississauga — they designed an urban loft on a quiet street lined with 1970s suburban ranch houses. The home, with radiant concrete floors inside and custom stainless steel wire mesh screens, provides a downtown urban feel while meeting the needs of a growing family leaning towards a suburban lifestyle. But success didn’t come easy, says McMinn. The first contractor couldn’t mix oil and water and was let go.

The Women’s Studies Society and the Women’s Centre at the University of Waterloo are hosting a December 6th Remembrance Ceremony to commemorate the lives of the women killed at Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989 and to raise awareness of the continued need to prevent violence and abuse against women. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, December 6 in the Student Life Centre, Multi-Purpose Room (attached to the Great Hall) from 12 noon-1 pm. All are welcome. White ribbons can be picked up at the Women’s Centre in the SLC for those unable to attend the event.