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Category: Building Profiles

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Parcours Gouin Welcome Pavilion

A passive-active design brings urban beautification

By Maryse Laberge

Designed both as a visitor centre and as a showcase for environmental education, the Parcours Gouin Welcome pavilion integrates sustainable design  strategies, such as site preservation, potable water conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, local materials, and health and wellbeing. The Net-Zero project is certified LEED Gold.

The two-storey, 460m² building is located in the wooded Basile-Routhier Park, Montreal’s only riverside park accessible by Metro. The ground floor includes a community room that can accommodate various events, while the upper floor includes a large multi-purpose room, an office area for community organizations, the mechanical room and access to an exterior deck.

The site offers a variety of accessible services and facilities promoting outdoor activities, nature interpretation and healthy lifestyles, whether through nutrition or physical activity. The sustainable strategies used in the construction and operation of the building are demonstrated and explained to visitors. In addition, the biophilic design approach and the connection to the surrounding landscape are apparent throughout the building and contribute to the enjoyment well-being of the users.

Energy and Water

The ambition to achieve a Net Zero building is realized through a combination of strategies which include a high-performance building envelope, high-efficiency mechanical and electrical systems, and an array of 120 photovoltaic panels capable of generating 31.8 kilowatts of renewable energy.

Thermal comfort is achieved by minimizing thermal bridging through the highly insulated envelope, and the use of a radiant heating system embedded in the concrete slab. A ventilation and air conditioning system, controlled by occupancy sensors, also ensures excellent air quality and comfort. Operable triple-pane windows allow for natural ventilation when the weather is mild.

Water-saving appliances are used to reduce primary consumption. The domestic hot water is preheated by a solar collector on the roof (in which a heat transfer fluid circulates) before going into a holding tank. Rainwater management includes a rainwater collection tank for watering the gardens. Various stormwater management measures are integrated, such as permeable paving, bio-retention basins and rain gardens, and all are designed to fit harmoniously within the overall aesthetic of the building and its surroundings.

The energy-efficient curtain wall by Unicel Architectural contains triple-glazed sealed units, low-E film and interior wood mullions.

Maryse Laberge is Senior Principal at Beirtz Bastien Beaudoin Laforest (Groupe Provencher Roy).

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Zibi Complexe O

One Planet Living project one step in reclaiming former industrial site

By Figurr Architects Collective

Located in both Ottawa and Gatineau, the Zibi development aims to be transformative physically, environmentally and socially. The only One Planet Living endorsed community in Canada, Zibi occupies formerly contaminated industrial lands, and is transforming them into one of Canada’s most sustainable communities. Incorporating public spaces and parks, as well as commercial, retail, and residential uses, Zibi will be an integrated, carbon neutral mixed-use community, one that’ll help reinvigorate the downtown cores of both Ottawa and Gatineau.

Complexe O, located on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River, is Zibi’s first mixed-use building. It arose from the desire to create a socially responsible project that would set a precedent for future development.  The project takes its name from the word ‘eau’ (water) as it offers residents a panoramic view of the Ottawa River and the Chaudière Falls. The six-storey Complexe O building includes a range of housing from studios to two-storey mezzanine units, as well as commercial space on the first floor.

The location is significant; as under the ownership of Domtar (whose paper mill closed in 2007) the land had been inaccessible to the public for nearly 200 years. Now cleaned up and revitalized, the riverbank is once again available to the residents, not only of Complexe O, but all of Gatineau.

The architectural program is based on the ten principles of One Planet Living, one of the broadest frameworks for sustainable development, which sets a range of measurable goals. The fundamental principles guiding the construction of Complexe O are the use of carbon-neutral heating and cooling and sustainable water management. The project has achieved LEED Silver certification.

Carbon neutral energy is supplied from the Zibi Community Utility, a district energy system relying on energy recovery from effluents of the nearby Kruger Products Gatineau Plant for heating, and the Ottawa River for cooling. All the apartments in Complexe O are fitted with Energy Star certified appliances; LED lighting has been used throughout the entire building, including first floor commercial units and amenity spaces; and generous glazing reduces the need for artificial light.

The commercial space on the first floor is leased primarily to local and socially-responsible businesses, enabling residents to shop for essentials without having to rely on transportation. n addition, the central location in the heart of Gatineau is served by numerous bus lines from both Gatineau and Ottawa offering hundreds of trips per day.

This connectivity contributes to the Zibi development goal of a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide associated with transportation as measured by the car-to-household ratio. While the rest of the province has a 1.45 car to household ratio, the residents of Complex O have reduced this to 1:1. In addition all parking spaces are designed to accommodate electric charging units.

The project is located right on the Zibi Plaza, in fact forming one wall of the plaza, which offers residents a quiet and relaxing outdoor space that is closed to vehicular traffic but crossed by a bicycle path. Art exhibits are held in the vicinity to support local artists and artisans. Complexe O also provides residents with 15 garden boxes; gardening being an effective way to foster community.

PROJECT CREDITS

  • Architect  Figurr Architects Collective
  • Owner/ Developer  DREAM / Theia Partners
  • General Contractor  Eddy Lands Construction Corp.
  • Landscape Architect  Projet Paysage / CSW Landscape Architects
  • Civil engineer  Quadrivium
  • Electrical Engineer  Drycore 2002 Inc. / WSP Canada Inc.
  • Mechanical Engineer  Alliance Engineering / Goodkey Weedmark & Associate Ltd.
  • Structural Engineer Douglas Consultants Inc.
  • Other consultants  BuildGreen Solutions, Morrison Hershfield
  • Photos  David Boyer

ONE PLANET LIVING

One Planet Living is based on a simple framework which enables everyone – from the general public to professionals – to collaborate on a sustainability strategy drawing on everyone’s insights, skills and experience. It is based on ten guiding principles of sustainability which are used to create holistic solutions.

• Encouraging active, social, meaningful lives to promote good health and wellbeing.

• Creating safe, equitable places to live and work which support local prosperity and international fair trade.

• Nurturing local identity and heritage, empowering communities and promoting a culture of sustainable living.

• Protecting and restoring land for the benefit of people and wildlife.

• Using water efficiently, protecting local water resources and reducing flooding and drought.

• Promoting sustainable humane farming and healthy diets high in local, seasonal organic food and vegetable protein.

• Reducing the need to travel, encouraging walking, cycling and low carbon transport.

• Using materials from sustainable sources and promoting products which help people reduce consumption; promoting reuse and recycling.

• Making buildings and manufacturing energy efficient and supplying all energy with renewable.

FIGURR ARCHITECTS COLLECTIVE HAS OFFICES IN OTTAWA & MONTREAL.

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PH-1 Lonsdale Avenue

Restaurant/office realized with design collaboration and prefabrication

By John Hemsworth

PH-1 is a small restaurant and office infill project in the Lower Lonsdale district of North Vancouver that employed virtual design and construction (VDC) and off-site prefabrication to meet challenges of access and constructability. VDC also made possible the installation of a prefabricated Passive House-compliant building envelope, including a zero-lot line wall adjacent to an existing building.

Originally an area of waterfront warehouses and marine service facilities, the neighbourhood has been transformed over time to a high density, mixed-use community centred on the Lonsdale Quay Market and Seabus Terminal. The consolidation of land required by the introduction of higher density zoning had left lots like this exceptionally difficult to develop.

As a family that had owned the property for three generations, the client was waiting for the right opportunity to do something special on the site. The idea of combining Passive House performance with modern mass timber construction was enthusiastically received, despite the many challenges and uncertainties it presented.

A waiver of the on-site parking requirement made it possible to design a three-storey building (with a ground floor restaurant and two storeys of offices above) that would achieve the full 2.53 FSR permitted by the zoning. The building made use of exemptions (applicable to the extra thick walls used in Passive House construction) to achieve a three-storey building, however, the 92% site coverage eliminated the possibility of an on-site staging area for materials and equipment, typically required for site construction.

Architecturally, the concept was to use the traditional warehouse vocabulary of an exposed heavy timber structure with brick cladding, but to interpret it in a contemporary way. This strategy has translated into an exposed glulam post and beam structure with cross laminated timber (CLT) floors, stair and elevator shafts.

The non-loadbearing brick cladding at the southeast corner of the building is ‘eroded’ away and replaced with large areas of glazing, providing restaurant patrons and office workers with an oblique view to the harbour.  The remainder of the south façade includes extensive glazing at ground level, with a staggered pattern of vertical windows, coordinated with glulam bracing elements, on the upper floors.

While the Code permitted the three exterior walls facing the streets and lane to be of combustible construction, it required the north wall abutting the adjacent property to be non-combustible. Such walls are typically built block by block in concrete masonry, a method incompatible with Passive House performance. A more sophisticated solution was clearly required, one in which the continuous exterior insulation and vapour barrier essential for Passive House performance could be installed without accessing the outer face of the wall in the field.

Using a VDC process involving the architect, structural engineer, building envelope consultant, contractor, and the mass wood fabricator and installer, a prefabricated and pre-insulated wall system was devised, then alternative detailing, assembly and installation strategies explored and optimized.

PROJECT CREDITS

  • Owner  Babco Equities Ltd.
  • Architect  Hemsworth Architecture
  • Structural Engineer  Equilibrium Consulting Inc.
  • Electrical/ Mechanical Engineer  MCW Consultants Ltd.
  • Civil Engineer  Vector Engineering Services Ltd.
  • Geotechnical  GVH Consulting Ltd.
  • Building Code Consultant  LMDG
  • Passive House consultant  Peel Passive House Consulting Ltd.
  • Landscape Architect  Prospect & Refuge
  • General Contractor  Naikoon Contracting Ltd.
  • Photos  Ema Peter

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Eco Flats 1.0

Upgrade preserves existing building while supporting low carbon living

By Carla Crawford

Eco Flats 1.0 is a conversion of an aged Toronto rowhouse into an energy-efficient, all-electric triplex. The ambitions for this project were: to increase urban density; provide quality housing during a housing crisis; create homes for multiple tenants that support a carbon-free lifestyle; and make it a super energy-efficient, all-electric building.

With the Ontario power grid being 94% renewable, it was not only possible to do this, but also to disconnect the original gas supply to the building. With greatly improved airtightness and super insulation, the overall energy intensity of the renovated building is 108 kWh/m2/year, an 89% reduction compared to the original.

With a walk score of 93, transit score of 99, and bike score of 100, this property was the perfect choice. The nearest intersection has two streetcar lines and one bus line, two of which connect to the subway in just a few minutes. The intersection is also a hub for the West Toronto Railpath, which connects pedestrians and cyclists to The Junction neighbourhood, and is slated for expansion that will eventually connect to downtown. In addition, the local area is well serviced with grocery stores, schools, daycares, walk-in clinics, a hospital, a YMCA, and more. Everything is accessible without reliance on a car.

The design optimizes daylighting, as well as passive heat gain and cooling. This does not always mean more glazing: large third floor windows required shading to reduce overheating. Each of the three apartments are equipped with their own independent Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV), which reduces energy consumption by transferring heat and moisture from outgoing air to fresh incoming air.

The apartment layouts are designed to accommodate a variety of tenant types: individuals, families and roommates. Each apartment has its own unique entrance directly from the outside, with the upper unit entering from the front sidewalk, and the main and lower apartments entering via a communal patio space in the rear.

PROJECT PERFORMANCE

  • Energy intensity (building and process energy) = 108KWhr/m2/year
  • Energy intensity reduction relative to reference building under MNECB 1997 = 89%
  • Water consumption from municipal sources = 16,060 litres/occupant/year
  • Reduction in water consumption relative to reference building under LEED = 45%
  • PROJECT CREDITS
  • Owner/Developer/General Contractor Lolley Knezic Projects Inc.
  • Architect  Solares Architecture Inc.
  • Mechanical Engineer  ReNü Engineering Inc.
  • Structural Engineer  Kattakar Engineering Associates Inc.
  • Commissioning Agent/Envelope Testing  Blue Green Consulting Group
  • Grey Water Systems  Greyter Water Systems
  • Photos  Solares Architecture Inc.
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Lumenpulse Headquarters

New workplace mirrors client’s attention to design, and cuts energy use

By Jim Taggart

Located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across from Montreal, Longueuil has long been a preferred location for leading high-tech industries including aerospace and renewable energy.

These have now been joined by Lumenpulse, an international lighting solutions company that designs, develops, manufactures and sells a wide range of high-performance, sustainable LED lighting solutions for commercial, institutional and urban environments. Together with its affiliate companies, it has successfully completed major installations in North America and Europe, including offices for Microsoft in Seattle and H&M in Florence, Italy.

The company wanted to create a head office that would embody its values of innovation, collaboration, communication and transparency, as well as serving the needs of its employees and its business operations. The site, one of many considered, was chosen for its location close to residential areas, arterial roads and transit routes for employees; and to the Montreal St. Hubert airport and Highway 10 leading to the US, to serve the needs of the company’s export business.

On the outskirts of a long-established business park, the site had been abandoned for many years.  The land was remediated in preparation for the new building, now encircled by native landscaping overlooked by patios and terraces. Existing concrete slabs were crushed for use in landscaping and existing service infrastructure was reused wherever possible.

Through its design and program organization, the new building captures and communicates the history and culture of Lumenpulse, providing the company an architectural identity that reinforces its corporate brand. Montreal-based Lemay provided transdisciplinary services in architecture, interior design, graphic design and urban planning.

The complex houses a production space, laboratory, design and engineering, offices and an experiential space, supported by robust security and electrical systems. As a whole, it is characterized by the quantity and quality of natural light and the creative use of low energy LED lighting throughout the building.

Together with a high-performance building envelope, a low-albedo white roof to reduce the heat island effect, high-efficiency mechanical systems and heat recovery ventilation, overall energy consumption is 42% less than the ASHRAE 90.1 benchmark.  Two-thirds of primary energy is renewable with fossil fuel energy used only when the systems are in heating mode.

PROJECT PERFORMANCE

  • Energy intensity (building and process energy) = 177KWhr/m²/year
  • Energy intensity reduction relative to reference building under MNECB 1997 = 42.4%
  • Water consumption from municipal sources = 3,154 litres/occupant/year
  • Reduction in water consumption relative to reference building under LEED = 46.5%
  • Recycled material content by value = 12.7%
  • Regional materials (800km radius) by value = 37.5%
  • Construction waste diverted from landfill = 78.2%

PROJECT CREDITS

  • Owner/Developer  9341-0983 Quebec Inc. 
  • Architecture/Structure/Interior Design  Lemay
  • General Contractor  Groupe Montoni (1995) Division Construction Inc.
  • Landscape Architect  Beaupre et Ass.
  • Civil Engineer Les consultants MESC
  • Electrical Engineer  Dupres Ledoux
  • Mechanical Engineer  Dupres Ledoux
  • Photos  Stephen Bruger

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UBC Okanagan, Skeena Residence

Multi-unit residential building design takes care in detailing

By Brian Wakelin

The new UBCO Skeena Residence at the Okanagan Campus of the University of British Columbia comprises approximately 72,600 gross square feet over six storeys and has been designed to Passive House standards. The ground floor includes common housing amenities and building service spaces while the upper five storeys include accommodation for 220 students together with associated social spaces. Skeena completes an ensemble of residence buildings encircling the central green space on campus – known as Commons Field. The project focuses on student life and support services while meshing seamlessly with the existing campus. 

The five identical residential floors include shared bathrooms flanked by two bedrooms. This layout allows space for quiet study when required. Additionally, each floor contains both a study lounge and a house lounge with views of the surrounding mountains, the lounge being equipped with a kitchenette, dining table and couches. Locating these spaces at opposite ends of the floor ensures that quiet study is not interrupted by noise from the social home lounge.

On the first level, the Skeena Residence has a large laundry room located adjacent to the student lounge. Separated by a glass wall, the relationship between the two spaces encourages chance meetings and spontaneous gatherings. Moreover, the transparency offers passive surveillance, or visibility that promotes a sense of security. In short, the design of the building supports community life. 

The design of the Skeena residence was driven largely by the requirements of the building program and by the successful layout of the neighbouring student residence. The two bedrooms with shared bathroom module uses an optimal length and width, which also optimizes the number of floors required to accommodate the building requirements – the objective being to minimize the amount of energy required to heat and cool the building. 

This Passive House goal of minimal energy use for heating and cooling also informed other design choices. Given that irregular building forms with multiple indentations and corners, or projections such as steps, overhangs, or canopies create challenges for insulation, airtightness and the elimination of thermal bridging, a simple and efficient planar volume performs most optimally. Mechanical systems also work best within a narrow, contiguous box. This limits aesthetic parameters to material, colour, pattern, and texture. Thus, the simpler the building, the more important material choices and detailing become.

The exterior is clad in a combination of brightly coloured fibre cement panels and darker metal panels. A feeling of depth is created by bringing the fibre cement panels forward of the metal, emphasizing the depth of the window reveals.  This gives articulation to the simple form, without introducing complexity that would compromise energy performance.

Design decisions are also swayed by other practicalities such as standard and locally-available materials and techniques. The building is a wood frame with some concrete on the ground floor. A wood structure was chosen for its inherent insulative properties as well as its ready availability and ease of construction. 
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Eco Habitat S1600

 

Low life cycle carbon footprint guides compact design

By Emmanuel Cosgrove

This prefabricated kit home (the first out of the factory) of 180 m² was originally assembled for a 2019 home show at the Montreal Olympic stadium, before being disassembled and moved to its permanent location outside the town of Wakefield. Now functioning as a family home, the operating energy consumption will be monitored and recalculated after 12 months of use.

The design objective was to create a housing option with a low ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle carbon footprint, through compact design, careful material choices, and other strategies that would further contribute to low operating energy and GHG emissions.

While new construction in both residential and commercial sectors is showing incremental reduction in operating energy and related emissions in response to higher energy efficiency standards, the ‘elephant in the room’ is ‘grey energy’ – that associated with the extraction, transportation, fabrication and installation of construction materials. Given the current average life cycle and energy performance of buildings, only about half of the energy expended over the life of a building is from the operations phase, the other half is from the construction phase.

To demonstrate the importance of calculating embodied energy, Ecohome’s Quebec-based affiliate Ecohabitation did a carbon calculation of the Eco-Habitat S1600 prefab kit house using the Athena Impact Estimator for buildings software, which assesses the environmental impact of each building component. Doing this analysis early in the design phase identifies where a building is scoring high, and enables designers to find alternative materials and products to lower the carbon impact of the project.

A low carbon building strategy begins with sourcing natural building materials produced as close to the site as possible, using the minimum amount of energy and with few if any chemical additives.

This not only reduces emissions and pollution, but equally importantly, leads to healthier and safer indoor environments for occupants.

The single greatest consideration when reducing the carbon footprint of a building is to reduce the use of concrete as much as possible; then to reduce the impact of the concrete that must be used for structural integrity or thermal mass. Look first for locally-available sources of concrete that include recycled content, or choose a formula that has a lower carbon footprint than regular concrete. Design choices can also contribute to a reduction in concrete use; for example, a slab on grade rather than a full  basement. The Wakefield S1600 house uses a slab on grade solar air-heated radiant floor.

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Green Gables Visitor Centre

Phase II expansion respects tradition in pursuing LEED Gold

By Kendall Taylor

The Green Gables Visitors Centre is situated on 16 acres of rural land in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island that was the setting for the highly successful 1908 novel ‘Anne of Green Gables’ by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The property includes several locations familiar to readers: the main Green Gables house, the Haunted Wood trail and Lovers Lane. The property was acquired by Parks Canada in the 1930s and has become an extremely popular tourist destination for PEI.

A 2015 survey determined that the existing facilities were in need of renovation and expansion to accommodate a growing number of visitors from Canada and around the world. Parks Canada reacted by creating an extensive program which would be constructed in three distinct phases. Phase I was completed in the spring of 2017. Phase II, consisting of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Exhibition space, a main lobby atrium, a gift shop, and public washrooms, was completed in the spring of 2019.  Phase III was to decommission the temporary gift shop in Phase I and transform it into a new cafe and commercial kitchen.

The Visitors Centre acts as the main arrival point, connecting the property through a circulation axis that also frames views to the original farmhouse. A campus approach has been taken to help distribute visitors (who may number as many as 1100 at a time) across the site. Parking has been reorganized to separate bus, RV and car traffic from those who arrive by bicycle or on foot.

Parks Canada wanted a structure that would be respectful of the historic house and the vernacular buildings of the region, yet provide highly functional modern visitor facilities. Heritage restrictions apply to the Green Gables House and courtyard, but in the areas where the Visitor Centre is located are much more relaxed.  This offered the opportunity to reinterpret the wood building tradition of PEI in a contemporary way.

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Aurora Coast Cannabis Innovation Centre

Well being, energy and water conservation top the list at research station

 

 

By Heidi Nesbitt

Aurora Coast is a new cannabis research centre located in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. This unique facility provides a supportive and nurturing workplace for Aurora’s scientists to expand their genetics and breeding research, with the goal of realizing the full human benefit of the cannabis plant. 

Context 

The project aims to transform public perception of a previously illegal, underground industry, by housing it in a facility that fosters creativity and innovation. The first phase of the project consists of a mass timber building containing offices, labs, meeting rooms and support spaces for the adjacent greenhouse. A transparent network of collaborative workplace hubs was designed to encourage informal interaction and enhance the creative potential of the research team. 

As a project centred around plant health and vitality, every aspect of the building and site is designed to connect occupants to nature and to support health and well-being: an exposed, mass-timber structure was chosen for its low environmental footprint, and to provide a biophilic backdrop to what might otherwise have been a sterile laboratory environment; clerestorey windows bring natural daylight deep within the high-security, restricted-access areas; and views are provided to the restored pollinator habitat and orchard that surrounds the building. 

Cannabis facilities face unique challenges, including security, odour control and public stigma. To help gain the support of the local community, a large, environmentally degraded, industrial site at a prominent intersection was rejuvenated by providing extensive, on-site stormwater management, and by restoring the ecological integrity of several hectares of land. The larger environmental challenge was to provide cannabis plants with the steady warmth, light and water they need to thrive without creating additional strain on local resources. 

Heidi Nesbitt, Architect AIBC CP MRAIC LEED AP  ENV SP, is an associate with Local Practice architecture + Design in Vancouver.

PROJECT CREDITS

  • Owner/Developer  Aurora Cannabis
  • Architect  Local Practice Architecture + Design
  • Interiors  Albright Design
  • General Contractor  Heatherbrae Builders
  • Landscape Architect  Lanarc
  • Civil Engineer  McElhanney Consulting Services Ltd.
  • Electrical/Mechanical/Structural Engineers  Associated Engineering (B.C.) Ltd.
  • Envelope Consultant RDH
  • Passive House Consultant  Tandem Architecture Écologique
  • Greenhouse Consultant  ALPS

PROJECT PERFORMANCE

  • Energy intensity (building) = 162 KWhr/m²/year
  • Water consumption from municipal sources = 8135 litres/occupant/year
  • Reduction in water consumption relative to reference building = 5 %
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