Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`Geoff Gosling
`Location: Calgary, AB
`
`Award: Innovation Award
`
`Category: Industry
`
`Year: 2010
`
`Innovation:
`
`Innovation: DIRTT Connecting Wall System that facilitates
`customization of modular wall systems. Read the News
`Release and Media Backgrounder for additional information.
`
`2010 Innovation Award - Geoff Gosling
`
`News Release
`
`Calgary Industrial Designer Wins Manning Innovation Award for
`Sustainable Building Solution Creative DIRTT Modular Wall System
`Seeks to Eliminate Construction Waste
`
`CALGARY, AB - (September 7, 2010) Geoff Gosling, team lead of
`Product Design and Engineering at Calgary’s DIRTT Environmental
`Solutions, is to receive one of Canada’s most distinguished innovation
`awards, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation has announced.
`Gosling will receive a $10,000 Innovation Award for his role in creating a
`modular wall system that virtually eliminates construction waste,
`withstands the test of time and allows clients to express themselves with
`custom-made interiors.
`
`Over 3.3 million tonnes of the solid waste produced in Canada each
`year is due to construction, renovation and demolition activities. The
`DIRTT Modular Wall System, which Gosling’s team designed, extends
`the life cycle of interior walls, doors and other surfaces because of the
`components’ unique standard interface. DIRTT Walls integrate cleanly
`and seamlessly with new and existing building interiors, and are installed
`without creating any construction dust or waste. Only non-toxic, water-
`based finishes are used to prevent pollution and to keep indoor air
`quality healthy.
`
`“There is a critical need for more innovation in Canada — Canadians
`need to create and commercialize innovations to compete in the global
`economy,” says Bruce Fenwick, Executive Director of the Ernest C.
`Manning Awards Foundation. The Foundation, which is named after the
`former Alberta Premier, has provided over $4.2 million in awards,
`celebrated 225 adult and youth award winners and has had over 2,500
`
`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
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`DIRTT EXHIBIT 2006-1
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`Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
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`nominations in its 29-year history.
`
`An increasingly popular choice in offices and healthcare facilities, DIRTT
`walls are adaptable and readily integrate technology, and so reduce the
`need to replace and discard electric wiring, a source of toxic e-waste.
`The modular wall components support infinite variability and can be
`custom designed in ICE® software.
`
`Don Mah, Senior Capital Project Leader of BC’s Burnaby Hospital
`Optimization Clinic, is an admirer of the DIRTT wall system. The
`optimization clinic was designed to improve surgical patient outcomes
`with a healing environment. DIRTT walls easily met the physical needs
`of patients and staff, and with soothing wall graphics, supported their
`emotional health as well. Says Mah, “As a healthcare facility, a greater
`emphasis is required for safety, infection control, cleaning and
`maintenance measures…The DIRTT team stepped up to the plate and
`delivered a home run.” “It sets a new benchmark for hospital design,”
`Mah adds.
`
`A growing demand for sustainability and universality in construction has
`made DIRTT walls an overnight success. Founded by Mogens Smed in
`2004, DIRTT Environmental Solutions’ annual revenue rose from $20.5
`million in 2006 to $93 million in 2009. Today the company employs over
`500 people in Canada and the United States.
`
`Gosling will receive his award in Ottawa on September 17th, in front of
`an audience of Canadian innovators, elected officials, educators and
`business leaders at a gala hosted by Senator Pamela Wallin, OC,
`Preston Manning, CC, and Bernard Lord.
`
`The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation (www.manningawards.ca)
`recognizes the importance of Canadian innovation in strengthening our
`nation’s capacity to compete in the global economy. The Foundation
`annually supports and celebrates Canadians with the imagination to
`innovate and the stamina to succeed.
`
`NOTE TO MEDIA For broadcast quality video clips and B roll of Geoff
`Gosling and DIRTT Modular Wall systems, go to
`http://rcpt.yousendit.com/942968377/88a72cb79fcfe4b7334ab519f0a9c340&rc
`
`For photos, go to
`http://rcpt.yousendit.com/940947137/228d40614454b538ee6d843c0493a2c5&
`
`For media backgrounders, go to
`http://rcpt.yousendit.com/941421787/239a72ed20a03b862231438ab9ad4d15&
`
`Contact:
`
`Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation
`
`Bruce Fenwick, Executive Director
`
`M(403-390-9148)
`
`T(403-645-8288)
`
`Bruce.Fenwick@encana.com
`--------------------------------
`
`The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation recognizes the importance of
`Canadian innovation in strengthening our nation's capacity to compete in
`the global economy. The Foundation supports and celebrates Canadians
`with the imagination to innovate and the stamina to succeed. Visit
`www.manningawards.ca for more information.
`
`DIRTT EXHIBIT 2006-2
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`Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
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`
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`Media Backgrounder
`
`$10,000 Innovation Award
`
`Geoff Gosling
`
`The Why and How of DIRTT Walls
`
`When industrial designer Geoff Gosling and his team put
`their heads together to design the DIRTT Modular Wall
`System, they sought a solution that would stand the test of
`time. What they created was a comprehensive interior wall system with
`made-on-demand custom design components that could be configured
`and re-configured in limitless ways. A growing demand for sustainability
`and universality in construction has made DIRTT walls an overnight
`success.
`
`Who?
`
`Industrial designer Geoff Gosling is the team lead of Product Design
`and Engineering at Calgary’s DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. and
`primary inventor of the DIRTT Modular Wall System.
`
`Mogens Smed is the Founder and CEO of DIRTT Environmental
`Solutions Ltd.
`
`What?
`
`Gosling has won a $10,000 Innovation Award from the Ernest C.
`Manning Awards Foundation for his role in creating the DIRTT
`Modular Wall System, a sustainable and adaptable alternative to
`standard building interiors.
`
`Where?
`
`DIRTT Environmental Solutions’ main office is in Calgary, Alberta. The
`office and two manufacturing plants in south east Calgary employ
`nearly 300 people. An additional plant is located in the United States
`in Savannah, Georgia.
`
`Sister company Ice Edge® Business Solutions Ltd. has a Calgary
`office and employees elsewhere in Canada and in the United States.
`DIRTT subsidiary Spider Agile Technology, creators of pre-
`manufactured modular and conventional power solutions, are based in
`Kelowna, British Columbia.
`
`DIRTT Environmental Solutions has Distribution Partners across
`Canada and the United States, and in Bermuda and the Cayman
`Islands. Buildings with DIRTT wall interiors include homes, hospitals,
`elementary schools, government institutions and offices.
`
`DIRTT has showrooms in Calgary, Alberta and across North America
`wherever their Distribution Partners have offices, including New York
`City and Chicago, Illinois.
`
`The DIRTT on Sustainability
`
`Imagine a world with no construction waste. No dusty renovations. No
`dry wall and electrical wiring in the landfill. This is the world that
`industrial designer Geoff Gosling envisioned when he sat down with his
`team to design the DIRTT Modular Wall System. Gosling, who has
`won a $10,000 Manning Innovation Award for his lead role
`in creating DIRTT walls, says sustainability is at the core of
`everything they do.
`
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`Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
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`Over 3 million tonnes of construction, renovation and demolition waste
`end up in municipal solid waste streams in Canada every year. And as
`landfills get closer to capacity, resources are expended to make new
`building materials that survive only until the next upgrade, retrofit or
`expansion.
`
`Says Gosling, “what we sought to do was to create a solution that was
`not around market need, but around real need.” DIRTT’s solution? To
`provide interior surfaces that can be reused and re-configured again and
`again.
`
`All of the components that make up an interior space can have an
`unlimited life cycle in the DIRTT system. The system also includes any
`division of space and any job that a wall does, such as holding cabinets
`or lights, or supporting a sliding door. DIRTT walls are not only physically
`resilient; they can be re-purposed as needed. A left-handed door could
`become a right-handed door. A table top could become part of a
`console. And if an open office space were to require glassed-in meeting
`rooms and sit-stand work stations, these changes could be made without
`creating any construction dust or waste.
`
`Recycling, Gosling says categorically, is a failure in green building
`design. Only a portion of building materials can be safely recycled.
`Furthermore, the very process of recycling uses resources. Sustainability
`must be a complete thought, he notes: It makes more sense to reduce
`and reuse.
`
`The DIRTT system works because of the universal connections between
`the components. DIRTT walls also integrate cleanly and seamlessly with
`existing buildings and other manufacturers’ products so that these
`objects can live on, too.
`
`Although DIRTT walls are modular, Gosling notes that their biggest
`competitor is standard construction material such as drywall. For large
`institutions, in particular, the flexibility to renovate quickly and cost-
`effectively is a significant benefit. DIRTT’s clientele includes, for example,
`the US General Services Administration. “
`
`I believe we’ve done the responsible thing,” says Gosling. “By taking that
`really simple approach, it’s much more straightforward for us; we serve
`our clients better; we certainly serve the environment much better,
`because nothing goes into the landfill and objects live on.”
`
`If Walls Could Talk
`
`“(DIRTT walls allow) anyone to create anything they want,” says Gosling,
`adding “we didn’t feel we should dictate the aesthetic expression.”
`
`From an elegant home to a nurturing hospital wing, clients can create
`radical custom designs from standard components. Angles don’t matter.
`Neither does ceiling height because of the horizontal connections in
`DIRTT walls. “You can literally take any two elements in our world and
`connect them,” explains Gosling. They also provide adaptors so that
`other manufacturers’ products function well in the “DIRTT world.”
`
`When devising the DIRTT wall system, Gosling’s team first studied the
`behaviour of objects in interior spaces — such as what a door jamb
`does and how it fits together with a wall — and came up with a clear set
`of rules. Like traffic signs, the rules make it possible to “go anywhere”
`with an interior design and have all the pieces function well together.
`
`“It’s really just a physical expression of language,” says Gosling. In
`designing the walls, he was inspired by the nature of LEGO®, in
`particular how the various blocks fit together regardless of the object
`being constructed. A standardized interface enables the elements to
`“talk” to each other, no matter how different the pieces are in other ways.
`
`DIRTT EXHIBIT 2006-4
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`Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
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`Thinking back, the idea for this “elastic interface” had been on his mind
`for some years — in the form of his parents’ 1940s Sunbeam toaster.
`He’d often thought about what it was that allowed this old appliance to
`live on. He realized that the toaster’s legacy was not only due to sturdy
`construction, but also because of the way that the toaster interfaced with
`the world. It had three elements that never changed: the power, the plug
`and the bread.
`
`Similarly, the universality of DIRTT wall connections will allow the
`system components to live on, come what may.
`
`With DIRTT walls, says Gosling, planning is not required. Components
`nimbly adapt to new situations and new functions, allowing for evolution,
`he explains. “We will never be finished,” Gosling adds, “…the world is
`our design team!”
`
`Healthy Environments, Inside and Out
`
`After an invigorating drive through south east Calgary’s industrial district,
`a windmill and one of the largest solar panel arrays in the city come into
`view. A fleet of Smart cars in the parking lot signals your arrival at the
`headquarters and one of two Calgary factories of DIRTT Environmental
`Solutions, Ltd.
`
`Inside the manufacturing plant, Gosling says “take a deep breath!” There
`are no toxic vapours, no headache-inducing fumes, nothing to poison the
`indoor air quality or the outside environment. Even as the paint machine
`sprays a non-toxic, water-based coating on one wall unit after another,
`people on the floor work safely without masks. Coatings are cured
`quickly, using UV light.
`
`To the side, a skilled fabricator works by hand to carefully align a strip of
`wood veneer — the only wood in DIRTT products — on a hollow
`aluminum panel.
`
`The end result will be an indoor space that people can be in as soon as
`it’s created, with no need to off-gas the area and no danger of toxic
`components entering landfill.
`
`In the adjoining offices, a team of “DIRTTbags,” as they call themselves,
`are meeting over a glass table that doubles as digital display panel.
`Here, in the DIRTT world, technology and the built environment merge.
`Plasma screens, LCD screens and digital whiteboards all blend into
`interior surfaces.
`
`Pre-manufactured modular power units make it simple to add or subtract
`electrical power or equipment anywhere in a room. Face-tiled walls
`support power, data and security cabling which are integrated into the
`walls. Instead of drilling and sawing holes in a wall to install a plug
`outlet, all that’s required is to pop out a wall tile, do the work and pop
`the tile back in place. Neat and tidy, this solution also keeps old
`electrical wiring from becoming toxic e-waste.
`
`The attributes of DIRTT walls made them a perfect “fit” for the Burnaby
`Hospital Optimization Clinic in BC. The centre of excellence in
`arthroplasty wanted to create a nurturing environment that would help
`patients to heal better and faster after joint surgery. DIRTT walls easily
`met the physical needs of patients and staff by providing handrails, easy-
`access doors, in-wall plumbing and easily-cleaned pop-out wall tiles.
`Graphical films covering the walls depict images of nature to create a
`comforting environment. To make patients feel at home, rooms have
`iPod docking stations and USB ports to display digital photos.
`
`Voted one of the top 10 innovative products by HEALTHCARE DESIGN
`Magazine, DIRTT walls are building healthy environments, inside and out.
`
`DIRTT EXHIBIT 2006-5
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`Geoff Gosling | Manning Innovation Awards
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`The Evolution of an Idea
`
`As young as 12, Gosling would spend weekends in the woods
`backpacking with friends. There, and on his uncle’s farm just outside of
`Calgary, his awareness of the natural world became part of his everyday
`consciousness. In time, the backpacker’s old adage, “take nothing but
`photos; leave nothing but footprints,” would become a driving force.
`
`Upon graduating from high school, however, “I really didn’t know what I
`wanted to do,” admits Gosling. Unlike his older brother James, the
`inventor of the Java programming language and a computer whiz from
`early on, the younger brother didn’t see a clear direction. A keen trumpet
`player, at one time he even considered being a musician.
`
`It wasn’t until he was part way through a university program that
`Gosling’s calling became clear. He had “left the nest” and was building
`himself some furniture in his dad’s workshop out in the country. A skilled
`craftsman, he had grown up making his own toys and even using a table
`saw at the age of eight. Now, blissfully sanding a table leg, he realized
`that this was what he wanted to do.
`
`He opted to study sculpture at the Alberta College of Art and Design. For
`Gosling, who approached furniture as sculpture, the experience was
`incredible. After graduation he ran a small furniture company, Freefall
`Design, for just over a year.
`
`His roommate at the time was studying industrial design. Says Gosling, “I
`didn’t realize this was a profession! I thought it was just people making
`stuff.” Having discovered the entrance to his career path, Gosling
`entered a Masters program in the University of Calgary’s Department of
`Environmental Design — a department where he would later teach.
`
`Years later, Gosling got to know DIRTT founder Mogens Smed and
`ICE® software designer Barrie Loberg while working for Evans Consoles
`(the same Calgary-based company that makes consoles used in NASA
`control rooms). The three discovered that they shared a common vision
`of sustainability and a passion for living it out.
`
`By 2004, Smed had already incorporated the DIRTT name, not knowing
`what the new company would look like or what it would do, but
`determined to be true to its motto: Doing It Right This Time. In February
`of that same year, Smed, Gosling, Loberg and a few other key players
`started the company.
`
`A 16-month “gestation” allowed the design team to come up with a clear
`and integrated design solution before hitting the market with their product
`line in 2005. Just five years later, DIRTT Environmental Solutions are the
`North American leader in the modular walls industry.
`
`Gosling is in his natural “home.” Every day, he says, “I get to build
`things. I get to solve problems.”
`
`--------------------------------
`
`The Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation
`(www.manningawards.ca) recognizes the importance of Canadian
`innovation in strengthening our nation’s capacity to compete in the global
`economy. The Foundation annually supports and celebrates Canadians
`with the imagination to innovate and the stamina to succeed.
`
`En | Fr | Welcome | About | Awards | Apply | News | Support Us | Contact Us
`© 2014 Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards | Promoting and Celebrating Canadian Innovators
`
`http://www.manningawards.ca/en/awards/winners/2010/geoff-gosling[4/25/2016 4:18:36 PM]
`
`DIRTT EXHIBIT 2006-6
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