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Institutional (Small) Award

Neil Campbell Rowing Centre – St. Catharines, ON

Jury Comment: “A very elegant solution that achieves high standards of environmental performance without compromising aesthetics. The form is simple and the material palette robust. The thought processes required to resolve the detailing of the mass timber roof and to ensure there was no thermal bridging through the envelope were thoroughly and convincingly documented.” 

This project demonstrates how simple, elemental, and respectful design can support a broad spectrum of uses and enhance the identity of a venerable place, while achieving both Net-Zero Energy and Zero-Carbon Emission benchmarks.

The NCRC was a key venue for the 2022 Canada Summer Games and will host the 2024 World Rowing Championships. Beyond this, it will provide year-round fitness and rowing training for Canadian athletes, continuing the site’s rich history of competition that began in 1903.

The form of the building is generated by the roof, which is designed with an innovative mass timber system utilizing Canadian glue laminated and cross-laminated timber products, and is held aloft by a light steel column structure and a centralized CLT shear core. The asymmetrical overhanging timber roof, operable doors, and concrete steps down to Martindale Pond further reinforce the connection to the water and create a strong identity for the club.

The building includes a simple and robust material palette; a high-performance building envelope; passive sun control and low-energy mechanical and electrical systems in order to enhance environmental sustainability and reduce ongoing operating and maintenance costs.

The NCRC is situated on a man-made extension to Henley Island, which lies at the approximate mid-point of the race course. The building is configured to provide shade on an otherwise open site and to make a strong connection to the water for athletes and spectators. This conection was facilitated by clearing weeds and debris from the water’s edge and creating long concrete steps that also serve as spectator seating.

Siting the building north of the asphalt staging area completes a courtyard already bounded by the sheds to the west, rising topography to the south, and Martindale Pond to the east. The sense of enclosure raises the excitement by focusing attention on race preparations.

Project Credits

  • Owner/Developer  Canadian Henley Rowing Corp
  • Architect  MJMA Architecture & Design
  • Joint Venture Architect  Raimondo + Associates Architects
  • General Contractor  Aquicon Construction
  • Landscape Architect  MJMA Architecture & Design
  • Civil Engineer  Upper Canada Consultants
  • Mechanical and Electrical Engineer  Smith + Andersen
  • Structural Engineer  Blackwell
  • Environmental Graphics  MJMA Architecture & Design
  • Photos  Scott Norsworthy

Project Performance

  • Energy Intensity: 0 KWhr/m2/year (83 KWhr/m2/year which is offset by PV array)
  • Reduction in Energy Intensity: 38% (Based on NECB 2017)
  • Water Consumption from municipal source: 33.5 litres/occupant/year
  • Reduction in Water Consumption: 21%
  • The building was just recently “CaGBC Zero Carbon Design Certified”.

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Mixed Use Award

LOBLAW’S GROCETERIA WAREHOUSE ADAPTIVE REUSE  – Toronto, ON

Jury Comment: “After standing idle for a decade, the adaptive reuse of this 1928 heritage structure is worthy of recognition. Within the context of the large mixed-use development that occupies the remainder of the site, it has catalyzed the revitalization of a section of Toronto’s waterfront. Conserving the embodied carbon in existing buildings is an increasingly important strategy in combating climate change.”

The 1928 Loblaws Groceteria warehouse was listed on the Toronto Register of Heritage Properties in 2001, but sat abandoned for over a decade. The 2020 restoration and adaptive re-use has preserved a remarkable example of Toronto’s waterfront industrial heritage, while introducing healthy food options, local retail and community services into a neighbourhood experiencing rapid intensification.

Perched on the south edge of a site bisected by the Gardiner Expressway, the warehouse was commercially unviable due to its small footprint, lack of services and structural deterioration. The architect devised a masterplan inserting high-rise residential towers at the north end of the site, with below-grade servicing and parking. The land value unlocked by this strategy financed the restoration and expansion of the Groceteria warehouse, which is reborn as a centre for food, retail, local services and employment in the Fort York neighbourhood.

A four-storey Class AAA office ‘pavilion’ sits lightly atop the 1928 structure, clad in glass and steel brises soleil and set back from existing exterior walls to allow a clear reading of historic and new elements. The renovated and expanded warehouse is fully accessible, and certified LEED Gold.

Preserving an historical building is an act of environmental responsibility. The architects retained the original footprint, and reinforced its structure to accommodate a modest but effective density increase.

The warehouse typology is highly adaptable to a range of programming. A ground floor ‘galleria’ of small shops is convenient for pedestrians stopping quickly as they go about their day. The entire second floor is occupied by a flagship Loblaw grocery store, offering groceries and freshly prepared meals for office workers and local residents. The new rooftop pavilion has space for 1,100 Loblaw’s digital economy workers.

The building is fully accessible. All entrances are flush with grade. A barrier-free lift at the south entrance enables visitors to negotiate an internal grade change on the ground floor.

 

Sloan products, supplied by Dobbin Sales, used in the project include: Designer Series Sink Systems, Touchless soap dispensers, high efficiency faucets and flushometers for water closets and urinals.

Project Credits

  • Architect  architects-Alliance
  • Associate Architect  ERA Architecture
  • Owner  Choice Properties Construction & Development
  • Developer  Wittington Properties
  • General Contractor (Heritage Building and Towers) 
  • EllisDon Ledcor PAAV Inc
  • General Contractor (Under Gardiner Plaza) 
  • Rochon Building Corp
  • Landscape Architect  NAK Design Strategies
  • Civil Engineer  LEA Consulting Ltd
  • Mechanical/Electrical Engineer  MCW Consultants
  • Structural Engineer  Read Jones Christoffersen [RJC]
  • Project Manager CD Capital
  • Heritage Contractor/Consultant  Historic Restoration Inc
  • Wayfinding/Signage Entro
  • Photos  Michael Muraz Photography, A-Frame Studio

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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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