Reimagining Sustainable Design: AG Creative’s Award-Winning Ad for Soo Valley

AG Creative Group worked with Glotman•Simpson (GS), a structural engineering firm focusing on sustainable design solutions. Their mass timber engineering division has paved the way for innovative and eco-friendly building structures. To promote their expertise, they showcased the “Soo Valley” project as an example of their commitment to sustainability and innovation. The project and AG Creative’s exceptional design earned them gold awards in Graphis Advertising 2022 and Design 2023, respectively. Join us as we dive deeper into the Soo Valley project and see how AG’s creative solutions help to change the game in sustainable design.

By: Lauren MacKinnon

“Sustainable design is more important now than ever before, and the design process is the perfect opportunity to incorporate sustainable design measures. Glotman•Simpson Structural Engineering firm focuses on creative green design solutions that benefit clients, building owners, and tenants while also minimizing environmental impacts for years to come.

“By shifting their focus to greener creative designs, GS approached AG Creative to help them promote their mass timber engineering division. Mass timber has become a mainstay in modern innovative design, and GS paved the way in providing creative engineering solutions for building some truly unique and stunning structures. They wanted their capabilities highlighted and that nothing is impossible.

“Our task was quite simple. As we filtered through their current projects, I found the perfect development to highlight their expertise and knowledge. The Soo Valley project was not only spectacular in design and location, but it was engineered with innovative solutions to the challenges that were presented. With a well-thought-out heading that’s light in tone and a nod to nature, we designed an ad that showcases GS at its best when it comes to sustainability and innovation. GS was extremely pleased with the end result and couldn’t wait to place in the industry publication The Soo Valley Project:

“Nestled deep in the woods halfway between Pemberton and Whistler sits a large heavy-timber house in a remote location. Built with Passive House principles, wood was chosen as the primary structural material and is authentically expressed and exposed in its entirety throughout the home—a ‘temple to Douglas Fir.’

“The project’s location posed a structural challenge due to the valley’s extreme climate. Employing Passive House principles, the main house was encased in 2’0” thick insulation and sits independent of the large outer roof structure and the surrounding steel platform. To maintain the large north-facing window and open-concept design, our team used an innovative structural solution to eliminate the need for wood shear walls by introducing two tension-rod braced frames at each end. This allowed the frames to collect the seismic loads from the roof and enabled unobstructed views from the large feature window. The braced frames secured the roof, while the limited shear walls within were used to secure the house, creating two independent seismic systems.

“Utilizing mass timber construction methods, the team solved the challenges of the site’s remote location and seasonal construction window, as many building elements were prefabricated off-site. This allowed for a fast-tracked construction timeline and minimized disturbance in the area as fewer materials and equipment were needed on site.”

AG Creative Group

We’re a little shop of creative horrors nestled on the west coast of Canada in beautiful Metro Vancouver. Our clients tend to be small to medium size mom-and-pop businesses awakening to the new age of branding and marketing. For us creative folks, they’re a breath of fresh air in releasing our creative license, free rein to develop something special for them. So much so that we’ve managed to pick up Gold in the Graphis Advertising 2022 and Design 2023 competitions.

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To see other Advertising 2022 winners, click here. To enter our Advertising 2024 competition, click here.