Existing Building Upgrade Award | Perkins+Will

Jury comments: This major rehabilitation and revitalization project, driven by quantitative issues of obsolete infrastructure, poor energy performance and related carbon impacts, and an outdated working environment, has been addressed with aesthetic sensitivity and restraint. Innovative structural upgrades enabled the restoration of the integrity of this 1970s office tower by Arthur Erickson, while the 1930s centre building and its immediate surroundings have been transformed into valuable new public amenities.

Located just west of Parliament Hill in Downtown Ottawa, the Bank of Canada Head Office complex comprises 79,500m² of offices and operation spaces. The original Centre Building was built in the 1930s; the twin office towers and connecting atrium being added in the 1970s. Completed in 2017, this project included the comprehensive renewal of the existing complex, including some reconfigurations and additions to the program.

A new museum invites and educates the community about the Bank’s role in the Canadian economy. The pyramidal glass entrance pavilion and the enhanced public realm that surrounds it form an abstraction of the Canadian landscape and functions as an accessible, multi-faceted public realm throughout the year.

Major drivers for renewal were the performance and infrastructure deficits of the facility, energy upgrades and carbon reductions, and modernization of the workplace. Within the towers, floor plates and waffle slab ceilings were restored to their original open plan concept.

The renovated towers were designed to be modular, allowing for a diverse range of uses so that each contains a combination of private and collaborative spaces.

The Centre Building accommodates both offices and conference facilities, while the atrium provides a variety of social spaces.

The design looked to maintain as much of the existing building infrastructure as possible, to lower both costs and negative environmental impact. Passive design strategies include revealing floorplates, allowing for deeper daylight penetration and greater access to views to the exterior and atrium.

PROJECT CREDITS

Client: Bank of Canada
Architecture/Interior Team: Perkins + Will
Civil Engineer: Novatech Engineering Consultants
Electrical/Mechanical Engineer: BPA Engineering Consultants
Structural Engineer: Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited
Project Manager: CBRE Limited/Project Management Canada
General Contractor: PCL Constructors Canada Inc.
Landscape Architect: DTAH
Food Service/Commissioning Agent: WSP
Heritage Consultant : Evoq Architecture
Building Envelope: ZEC Consulting
Building Science: CLEB
Sustainability Consulting Team: Perkins + Will
Security: LEA
A/V: Engineering Harmonics
Acoustic: HGC
Cost Consultant: Turner & Townsend
Lighting: Gabriel MacKinnon/Perkins + Will
Code & Life Safety: Morrison Hershfield
Photos: Younes Bounhar

PROJECT PERFORMANCE

Energy intensity = 183 kWh/m² /year
Energy savings relative to reference building = 44%
Water consumption = 4,645L/occupant/year (based on 250 days operation)
Water savings relative to reference building = 35%

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Commercial/Industrial [Small] Award | Public Architecture + Communication

Jury comments: We hope this project marks the beginning of a new era in which the invisible infrastructure that has long-supported urban life is brought out into the daylight. Only through making infrastructure visible can we fully grasp and understand the implications of our linear systems of production, consumption, treatment and disposal. Alongside the learning opportunities provided by this facility, the volume of waste discharged into the ocean has been reduced by 90% compared to its predecessor and the bio-nutrient by-products can be used for industry and agriculture.

The Sechelt Water Resource Centre (SWRC) rethinks traditional municipal wastewater treatment. Instead of sequestering this essential service behind a locked chain-link fence, the transparent suburban facility reveals the mechanical and biological systems that clean wastewater, replacing the traditional ‘flush and forget about it’ systems with one that encourages the public to consider their role in the hydrological cycle.

In comparison to the facility it replaced, the SWRC discharges ten times fewer waste solids into the sea, boasts double the treatment capacity and nearly half the operational costs; and, captures resources (biosolids, heat, and water) for industry, parks, and agriculture. A sewage treatment plant, botanical garden and teaching facility in turn, the centre also provides a more humane work environment where employee duties include harvesting tomatoes and pruning roses.

Wastewater is treated and reused at its source instead of being pumped back and forth from an energy intensive pipe network, effectively closing the water loop. The SWRC replaces an existing packaged extended aeration plant with the first North American installation of the Organica Fed Batch Reactor System.

This system is set apart by the inclusion of microorganisms, which live among the roots of plants grown in a greenhouse above the reactors. The plant roots create a complex environment which fosters a biologically diverse community of insects and bacteria that consume the organic matter.

What is remarkable about this system is the elimination of noise pollution and odours associated with conventional treatment as well as its reduced footprint. The entire process is housed in a single building, which integrates with the surrounding neighbourhood and nearby Sechelt Marsh Park.

PROJECT CREDITS

Owner/Developer: District Municipality of Sechelt
Architect: Public Architecture + Communication
General Contractor: Maple Reinders Group Inc.
Landscape Architect: Urban Systems
Civil Engineer: Urban Systems
Electrical Engineer: IITS Ltd.
Mechanical Engineer: HPF engineering Ltd.
Structural Engineer: CWMM Consulting Engineers Ltd.
Commissioning Agent: CES Group
Photos: Martin Tessler

PROJECT PERFORMANE

Energy intensity (process) = 584 KWhr/m²/year
Energy intensity reduction relative to reference building under ASHRAE 90.1 2007 = 22%
Water consumption from municipal sources = 12,597 litres/occupant/year
Reduction in water consumption relative to reference building under LEED = 69%
Recycled material content by value = 17%
Regional materials (800km radius) by value = 26%
Construction waste diverted from landfill = 96%