Mixed Use Award (Sponsored by Enbridge Gas Inc.)
Invizij Architects Inc.
Jury Comments: That this underused brownfield site has been transformed into a valuable community asset including Passive House certified social housing, a new church and a food bank, is admirable and (we believe) widely replicable. The orientation of the church kitchen and café to the street, and the uplifting character of the day-lit atrium, speak to the sensitivity of program organization.
A shared vision of what makes a ‘home’ brought together the James North Church community and Indwell, a non-profit housing provider, to redevelop an under-utilized urban site in Hamilton, ON. The project remediated and transformed a run-down commercial plaza and parking lot, replacing it with a four-storey, mixed-use building, that includes space for the growing congregation with three storeys of affordable housing above. The project has quickly become a neighbourhood landmark and a social hub for the community.
The contemporary church focuses on neighbourly hospitality and sports ministries, and the new building also provides 45 affordable apartments for households, including seniors and low income families facing displacement from an area undergoing rapid gentrification.
The building is one of the largest mixed use projects in Canada designed to the Passive House standard. Its low energy requirements reduce utility costs for tenants, while the energy recovery ventilators improve indoor environmental quality through controlled supply and filtration of fresh air.
Sobotec Ltd. supplied and installed the complete rain screen wall assembly, including A/V membrane, thermally-broken sub-framing, insulation and aluminum composite panels for the project. The brick cladding was supplied by Thames Valley Brick & Tile.
An atrium cuts through the centre of the church facilities, its large Kalwall Skyroof® flooding the interior with natural light.
PROJECT CREDITS
- Architect Invizij Architects Inc.
- Owner/Developer Indwell
- General Contractor Schilthuis Construction
- Landscape Architect N.J. Sinclair
- Civil Engineer Walterfedy
- Mechanical and Electrical Engineer CK Engineering Inc.
- Structural engineer Kalos Engineering Inc.
- Passive House Standard Consultant Peel Passive House
- Photos Industryous Photography
PROJECT PERFORMANCE
- Energy intensity (building and process energy) = 45.1kwhr/m2/year
- Energy intensity reduction relative to reference building under mnecb 2015 + sb10 = 73.5 %
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