AV俱乐部

The new home for Halifax鈥檚 Farmers鈥� Market has been built with the environment in mind. With cool features like windmills, solar tubes, geothermal wells and a 10,000-gallon cistern, it鈥檚 not a stretch to say the Seaport Market building is Halifax鈥檚 greenest building.

But could it be Halifax鈥檚 most people-friendly building too? Haligonians turned out in droves to get their first peek at the recently opened market at Pier 20.

Philip Girard and his wife were among the shoppers on opening day, turning up at 8 a.m. with their reusable shopping bags and grocery list, eager to find their favorite venders in the new space. His review? 鈥淚t鈥檚 stunning.鈥�

鈥淭he design of the building is very striking, since as soon as you enter you can see right through to the waters of the harbour,鈥� says Dr. Girard, professor at the Schulich School of Law at AV俱乐部 and a shareholder in the Farmers Market Investment Cooperative. 鈥淚n fact it feels as if the whole building is floating on the harbour.鈥�

Architect Keith Tufts designed the Seaport Farmers' Market. (Nick Pearce Photo)

There鈥檚 definitely lots of elbow room, which is important if you ever got one in the nose while checking out the lettuce at the full-to-bursting Brewery Market (where about 70 venders have chosen to remain). At 4,050 square metres, the new is twice as large as the old. Wide aisles, and a grand staircase to the second level, provide plenty of room for checking out the scene.

鈥淚鈥檝e always thought of the market as being a little bit theatrical,鈥� says Keith Tufts, lead designer of the $12-million Halifax Seaport Farmers鈥� Market and a principal at Lydon Lynch Architects. 鈥淒id you notice that people get gussied up for the market? It鈥檚 all about seeing and being seen.鈥�

On this day, a few weeks before opening, he鈥檚 all dressed up with a hard hat and steel-toed boots as he provides folks from his alma mater 鈥� he鈥檚 a proud AV俱乐部 graduate twice over 鈥� an extensive tour. Construction workers are everywhere: hammering, drilling, asking for a few minutes of his time.

On the mezzanine level, Mr. Tufts can imagine shoppers chit-chatting and leaning back against the railing. (It鈥檚 a thought borne out at the opening, as shoppers, first-coffee-of-the-morning in hand, claimed spots along the railing, a prime people-watching zone.) The mezzanine affords a good view of the floorspace below, and so, the tour takes a pause midway between the worm room, where red wigglers turn compostable garbage into soil, and the huge rooftop garden, which keeps the building cool in the summer and collects rainwater.

Directly below is the open market where the vendors will set up their wares. Along the perimeter, four permanent storefronts will open their doors six days a week, among them the butcher, the baker, the cheese maker. Towards the back is a wide throughway where cruise ship passengers will disembark.

鈥淎ll those people will go in there and smell the cinnamon buns and will obviously want to buy them,鈥� he notes.

While the new place will never have the historic brewery鈥檚 quaintness and labyrinthine charm, it isn鈥檛 lacking in aesthetics.

The colours of the Saturday morning market. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

Massive floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with sunlight, virtually eliminating the need to switch on a single light during the daytime. But these 鈥榣anterns,鈥� along with a vivid green 鈥榖iowall,鈥� are also very beautiful, bringing the outdoors inside. Moreover, there鈥檚 a surprising amount of wood. Besides providing a warm counterpoint to the concrete, glass and steel, the neat part about the wood 鈥� elm, beech, oak 鈥� is that it was all salvaged from trees felled by Hurricane Juan.

The roof, too, promises to be a nice spot to chill with your apple spice muffin and low-fat latte. Just a few weeks after being planted with 10 different species of drought-tolerant sedums, it鈥檚 a lofty sea of flowers, butterflies and bees. And there鈥檚 no beating the panoramic view, which shows off the Halifax Harbour to full advantage. Mr. Tufts predicts the green roof will be a popular spot for weddings.

His enthusiasm is boundless. In fact, he鈥檚 so thrilled about the project that he鈥檚 staying 鈥� Lydon Lynch Architects is moving in. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty sweet place to work,鈥� he says with a smile.

The market may be new for most people, but he鈥檚 been thinking about every detail for the past five years. As an environmental designer, it鈥檚 the culmination of his career to date 鈥� a career in architecture that he came to relatively late. After a varied past that included running the late-great live music venue Club Flamingo, managing the art-house band Moxy Fruvous and serving as the regional director of Cyberplex/Webworks, he decided to take some time off to travel and clear his head. He recalls having his epiphany while visiting Frank Lloyd Wright鈥檚 winter home in the desert near Phoenix, Arizona.

鈥淚 was in his office, leaning on the desk of this great architect, when I actually felt electricity run up my backbone,鈥� says Mr. Tufts, who decided to enroll in architecture at ?AV俱乐部 then and there. 鈥淎rchitecture was what I was supposed to be doing.鈥�

From the get-go, he wanted to learn everything he could about sustainable building methods. He says AV俱乐部 gave him the freedom to pursue his interests and he found amazing mentors in Richard Kroeker and Trevor Butler, architects and teachers of international stature.

鈥淒al gives you the fundamentals but it鈥檚 really up to you to take your education where you want it to,鈥� says Mr. Tufts, who also has a commerce degree from AV俱乐部 circa 1984.
鈥淔or me, I thought, this is my chance to go against the current, to get things done ... we鈥檙e in so much trouble in this world. We鈥檙e hurtling towards the abyss. We鈥檝e got to change and we鈥檝e got to use our knowledge if we鈥檙e going to have any hope of having a good place to leave to our grandchildren.鈥�