All posts by Giulio
evolv1
Canada’s first Zero Carbon Building – Design project
The uniquely modern evolv1 urban office building in Waterloo, Ontario, is the first-ever project to receive a Zero Carbon Building – Design certification under CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Standard. The certification means evolv1 has demonstrated design excellence and provided documentation indicating that the project has:
Modelled a zero carbon balance for future operations
Incorporated a highly efficient energy and ventilation system to meet a defined threshold for thermal energy intensity
Designed onsite renewable energy systems capable of providing a minimum of five per cent of building energy consumption
Due to be completed Summer 2018, the vision for this three-storey, 110,000 sq.ft. commercial multi-tenant office building is the realization of a collaboration between the Cora Group, Sustainable Waterloo Region, the David Johnston Research + Technology Park and anchor tenant EY. It is one of 16 participants in CaGBC’s Zero Carbon Building Pilot Program.
evolv1 received its ZCB-Design certification in April 2018. CaGBC spoke with Adrian Conrad, Chief Operating Officer of the Cora Group, about the vision for the project and how this landmark achievement as part of the Zero Carbon Building program is making a real difference in shaping a sustainable future.
A new benchmark for sustainable design
“Our original vision was to design and build a building that was net positive energy at similar costs to conventional construction – and we were determined to prove it was possible,” said Conrad. With this goal in mind, evolv1’s project team – including Stantec, which designed the building, and construction firm Melloul-Blamey – employed a highly integrated design process that incorporates both active and passive systems to optimize value against construction cost. The building’s design includes elements aimed not only at maximizing its energy efficiency, but at producing more energy than it consumes:
High-performance building envelope
Geo-exchange / variable refrigerant flow (VRF) HVAC system
Triple pane glazing
Solar wall for preheated ventilation
Combination of carport and roof-mounted photovoltaics producing 700kw of electricity for the grid
Three-storey green wall, promoting improved indoor air quality
Once complete, the building’s performance will be measured over its first 12 months of operation in order to demonstrate achievement of a zero emissions balance, which would allow it to earn a Zero Carbon Building – Performance certification.
In addition, evolv1 is targeting LEED Platinum certification, further positioning the building at the leading edge. “We are excited to be setting this new benchmark within the design and construction industry,” Conrad added.
An eye on the future of green building
For the Cora Group, the pursuit of a ZCB-Design certification for evolv1 represents both an investment in a greener future and an opportunity to underscore the company’s history as a sustainable builder for more than a decade.
“First and foremost, we want to make a difference,” Conrad said. “When we heard about the CaGBC Zero Carbon Building certification, we saw a tremendous opportunity to measure our efforts against a progressive new building standard and to pilot our project within a program that is capturing attention from across the country and indeed, around the world.”
He noted that the Cora Group’s participation in the Zero Carbon Building Pilot Program has enabled the project team to learn from others who share their vision and philosophy, as well as to contribute to broader industry knowledge about low-carbon construction.
And with its location within Waterloo’s Idea Quarter, on the doorstep of the soon-to-be-completed ION Light Rail Transit system, evolv1 is gearing up to be a hub for next-generation innovation and the millennial workforce.
The hope, Conrad said, is that the building’s ZCB-Design certification will be an important seal of approval, signalling to premier tenants that the Cora Group is a leading provider of high-quality, sustainable, green spaces, and ultimately changing the way procurement is done.
“We envision a day where zero carbon building design will be on the top of a tenant’s wish list when searching for office space,” he said.
Realizing a shared vision
Given the fact that the evolv1 project team is essentially breaking new ground with the Zero Carbon Building Program, a critical piece of the puzzle has been the utilization of the integrated design process to ensure alignment among everyone involved, from the building owner, to the architectural and engineering teams and sustainability consultants, to the contractor and sub-trades.
“Probably the biggest piece of advice we can offer is to get everyone on the same page from the very beginning,” he said, adding that the project has been a true team effort. “In the early days of the project, there was a lot of consensus-building among the parties involved to ensure our vision was properly communicated and shared.”
This shared vision has also been helpful in navigating the uncertainty of working with governments, utilities and the associated red tape to figure out the details of a new initiative. Adhering to zero carbon principles requires an additional level of attention to detail at every step of the design and construction process, making it even more important to have all hands on deck, Conrad noted.
Validating the financial feasibility of zero carbon building
evolv1’s ZCB-Design certification through the CaGBC is a third-party validation of the Cora Group’s belief that it is financially possible to build within a conventional business model while using low-carbon building strategies with minimal impact on the environment, Conrad said.
“We all knew it was possible, but we’ve now proven it is absolutely, financially possible to build a Zero Carbon commercial building, and to do it solely through private capital funding,” he said. “The Cora Group is exceedingly proud to be recognized by CaGBC and to have evolv1 become the first project in Canada of its kind to be Zero Carbon Building – Design certified.”
ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS
Morpheus, a new flagship hotel for the City of Dreams resort in Macau
Asia’s most popular entertainment destination, Macau welcomed more than 32 million tourists in 2017, with visitor numbers increasing every year. Located in Cotai, Macau, City of Dreams is a leading integrated resort including casino, two theatres, shopping district, 20 restaurants and four hotels.
Informed by the fluid forms within China’s rich traditions of jade carving, the Morpheus’ design combines dramatic public spaces and generous guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion.
Conceived as a vertical extrusion of its rectangular footprint, a series of voids is carved through its centre to create an urban window connecting the hotel’s interior communal spaces with the city and generating the sculptural forms that define the hotel’s public spaces.
Linked at ground level with the surrounding three-storey podium of the City of Dreams resort, the Morpheus houses 770 guest rooms, suites and sky villas, and includes civic spaces, meeting and event facilities, gaming rooms, lobby atrium, restaurants, spa and rooftop pool, as well as extensive back-of-house areas and ancillary facilities.
The design resolves the hotel’s many complex programmes within a single cohesive envelope. Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) was commissioned to build the hotel in 2012. At that time, foundations were already in place of a condominium tower that did not progress.
ZHA designed the Morpheus as a simple extrusion of the existing abandoned foundations; using this rectangular footprint to define a 40-storey building of two internal vertical circulation cores connected at podium and roof levels where the many guest amenities were required.
This extrusion generated a monolithic block making best use its development envelope that is restricted to a 160m height by local planning codes. This block was then ‘carved’ with voids.
The underlying diagram of the hotel’s design is a pair of towers connected at ground and roof levels. The central atrium in-between these towers runs the height of the hotel and is traversed by external voids that connect the north and south facades. These voids create the urban window that links the hotel’s interior communal spaces with the city.
Three horizontal vortices generate the voids through the building and define the hotel’s dramatic internal public spaces; creating unique corner suites with spectacular views of both the atrium and the city. This arrangement maximises the number of hotel rooms with external views and guarantees an equal room distribution on either side of the building.
In-between the free-form voids that traverse the atrium, a series of bridges create unique spaces for the hotel’s restaurants, bars and guest lounges by renowned chefs including Alain Ducasse and Pierre Hermé.
The atrium’s twelve glass elevators provide guests with remarkable views of the hotel’s interior and exterior as they travel between the voids of the building.
As one of the world’s leading hotels, the Morpheus’ interior spaces necessitated a high degree of adaptability to accommodate the many varying requirements of its guest amenities. The building’s exoskeleton optimizes the interiors by creating spaces that are uninterrupted by supporting walls or columns.
The world’s first free-form high-rise exoskeleton, its rich pattern of structural members at lower levels progresses upwards to a less dense grid of lighter members at its summit.
Morpheus draws on a ZHA’s 40 years of research into the integration of interior and exterior, civic and private, solid and void, Cartesian and Einsteinian. Space is woven within structure to tie disparate programmes together and constantly make connections.
Viviana Muscettola, ZHA’s project director explains, “Morpheus combines its optimal arrangement with structural integrity and sculptural form. The design is intriguing as it makes no reference to traditional architectural typologies.
“Macau’s buildings have previously referenced architecture styles from around the world. Morpheus has evolved from its unique environment and site conditions as a new architecture expressly of this city.
“The expertise of all members of the Morpheus team has created new possibilities for architecture,” continued Muscettola. “The comprehensive parametric model combined all of the hotel’s aesthetic, structural and fabrication requirements and will radically change how our built environment is planned and constructed.”
Lawrence Ho, chairman and CEO of Melco Resorts said, “From the very beginning, we shared ZHA’s vision and determination to push boundaries. Morpheus offers a journey of the imagination. From the curved exterior to the dramatic interior spaces, it pleases the eye and excites the senses: a contemporary masterpiece to be enjoyed by many generations to come.”
Morpheus Hotel: Environmental Engineering
Solar gain is minimised by the use of high performance glazing. The building’s exoskeleton provides additional screening from the sun. The atrium’s middle areas are not served by air conditioning, only zones used by guests and staff – such as lobbies, bridges and restaurants – are air conditioned.
Melco Resorts has applied long-life specification throughout the Morpheus Hotel to strictly limit requirements for maintenance and replacement. All the hotel’s exterior panel fabrication was procured locally to the highest international standards, reducing unnecessary transportation and making full use of local expertise and equipment.
Additional active solutions have been implemented to increase energy efficiencies including the air handling units with high efficiency variable speed water-cooled chillers and thermal wheel energy exchangers to recover energy
International Living Future Institute certifies Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre the first Living Building Challenge project in Canada
York Region’s Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre has been awarded Living Building Challenge certification by the International Living Future Institute; the most rigorous sustainability standard in the world.
“A truly inspirational example of forest stewardship and regenerative building construction, the Bill Fisch Forest and Stewardship Education Centre integrates with the local ecology and becomes one with its forest neighbors,” said Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the International Living Future Institute. “The Centre is a model example of humanity’s ability to reconcile our relationship with nature.” From the beginning, The Regional Municipality of York conveyed to DIALOG that they wanted the new 370 sq m (4000 sq ft) building to be “the greenest education centre ever built”. To achieve this goal, DIALOG brought together an interdisciplinary team that included architects, engineers, and interior designers, as well as forest education experts, arborists and ecologists to design a building that would be net-zero energy, net-zero water and offer an inspired place of learning with a projected 90-year life-cycle.
Targeting the Living Building Challenge (LBC) was a natural fit for the project since the ideals of the certification closely aligned with both York Region and DIALOG’s own beliefs.
“When we learned about this project we said to ourselves – what a great opportunity! We can bring all of our understanding, our ideals, our integrated design methodology, and our passion together in one symbolic project”, says Craig Applegath, DIALOG Principal in Charge.
According to the International Living Future Institute, “Living buildings give more than they take, creating a positive impact on the human and natural systems that interact with them.” Successful projects demonstrate excellence in seven performance areas called petals over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy.
Place – Restoring a healthy interrelationship with nature.
Water – Creating developments that operate within the water balance of a given place and climate.
Energy – Relying only on current solar income.
Health & Happiness – Creating environments that optimize physical and psychological health.
Materials – Endorsing products that are safe for all species through time.
Equity – Supporting a just and equitable world.
Beauty – Celebrating design that uplifts the human spirit.
Meeting the red-list requirements for a Living Building under the Materials petal was the most challenging aspect of achieving this certification. This required the complete elimination of 20 chemicals of concern which include carcinogens, toxinogens, mutagens, persistent bio accumulative chemicals, and hormone disruptors. A materials advocacy letter was issued to approximately 10,000 suppliers to request health product declarations and environmental product declarations for all products.
The use of wood in the design was integral to the building’s performance and appropriate to its function as a Forest Education Centre. The structure was built almost entirely of laminated and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), all of which was FSC sustainably harvested or recycled wood, and was designed to be easily disassembled and recycled in the future when BFFSEC comes to the end of its useful life—like the project’s exterior wood cladding, which was salvaged and repurposed from the old Cascades warehouse in Toronto at the end of its life.
“Opportunities of this sort don’t come along very often. We knew if we wanted to do a LBC building, this was our chance. It’s a nice flat site, incorporates natural storm water management, natural infiltration, and at the same time this site demands that you do something special”, say Charles Marshall, Sustainability Consultant at DIALOG.
The resulting building has met all seven petals of the LBC, and was granted its certification on May 17, 2018. BFFSEC is the first LBC certified project in Canada, the second outside of the US, and one of only 21 buildings achieving full LBC certification worldwide.
uberAIR Skyport
Humphreys & Partners Architects, L.P. (HPA) unveiled a series of Skyport and Mega-Skyport architecture plans, renderings and ideas at the 2018 Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles, CA.
Uber challenged several firms to design an infrastructure that will support an uberAIR Skyport platform to safely and efficiently transport people via Electric Vertical Take-off and Landings (eVTOLs). HPA met the challenge and was selected as one of six design finalists.
VP of Design, Walter Hughes conceptualized two distinctive ports for eVTOL aircrafts that would serve 5,400 passengers per hour with 180 landings/takeoffs per hour. Hughes proposed constructing the façade using a combination of innovative self-healing bio-concrete and foliage; this will not only add an eco-friendly element to the project but helps reduce noise and pollution.
Hughes explained, “When designing the Skyport and Mega-Skyport, it was important to think about concepts that fit present-day technology and existing developments, but can also adapt with shifting trends…Uber Elevate offers a viable solution. We focused on a design that can easily be replicated. Add retail, office and more and we’ve expanded the meaning of a multi-use space.”
In October 2016, Uber launched its Elevate program and since then it has entered into partnerships with experienced aircraft manufacturers who are developing eVTOL vehicles. Helping make the partnership a reality, HPA was honored to be one of six design finalists to bring uberAIR to fruition.
Spring 2018
Virtual Event Market Forecast 2018-2023
According to Market Research Media the virtual event market will grow from $14 Billion in 2018 to $18 Billion in 2023, with growth rate of 5%, reflecting maturity and commoditization of the virtual event marketplace.
Trade shows are an expensive but necessary part of doing business.
With the cost of your booth rental and all of that extra promotion you could easily spend up to $100,000 per show. I’ve seen a lot of large stands with major corporates with overall bills approaching the seven-figure mark.
And in many ways, beyond the financial implications, a virtual show has much more going for it. A physical trade show can be a hassle for a large corporation and a major logistical nightmare for small and medium players. At a physical convention, hundreds of vendors and thousands of attendees are jammed into a cramped, noisy space. It’s really hard to know who’s worth talking to.
Often, the “little guy” gets dwarfed by the “big boys,” armed with substantial war chests, premium advertising and booth space, as well as high-profile keynote presentation exposure.
Now, thanks to computer technology, the playing field is level.
Imagine a trade show with no costs for transportation, shipping, hotels, hospitality, or booths, and just a minimal cost for exhibit space. That’s a virtual trade show. With travel costs rising and travel budgets falling, more industries are turning to virtual trade shows as a less expensive way to showcase their wares.
Imagine attending a conference or trade show without leaving the comfort of your office. Thanks to the emergence of virtual events, you can attend sessions, meet vendors, and mingle with attendees from the comfort of your desk chair.
Interact with Canada’s most active green building professionals, peruse the newest products and technologies with the click of the mouse and download valuable information to your computer.
Connect with industry peers by interacting through text, audio and video capabilities.
Companies, traditionally, participate in trade shows to generate new sales leads. People attended conferences for content and networking. The same results, as it turns out, can be attained by becoming involved in virtual alternatives such as the Green Building Expo.
“The traditional conference and trade show market will gradually move the way of virtual events, and will continue to adopt virtual technology to either replace physical events where attendance is lagging or complement physical events. It is just a matter of time before the virtual events world and the trade show world merge to create the next generation of events – a hybrid of the old and the new”. (Market Research Media)
For additional information on how to become a Green Building virtual Expo sponsor or exhibitor please call 416-250-0664 or e-mail to greeenbuildingexpomarketing@gmail.com
Pier 2, Apartment of the Future Makes Waves
Humphreys & Partners presented a future vision of multifamily design at the 2018 International Builders’ Show in Orlando. Vice President of Design Walter Hughes revealed a high-rise concept that portrayed renderings of two towers on the Manhattan waterfront.
Pier 2 is the innovative solution to the growing changes in people’s lifestyle and inclusion of technology. It is a new form of dwelling that can improve quality of life and create a greater connection to nature.
The 100 percent sustainable project is designed with modular and micro units, co-working spaces and every amenity a futuristic apartment dweller needs to thrive: artificial intelligence, drones, home automation, autonomous vehicles and a variety of activity and wellness centers.
Starting from the ground up this concept includes: ground level retail space outfitted with smart shopping capabilities, photovoltaic glass, wind turbines, green walls, Tesla energy via Powerwall, vertical farming and park and recreational areas that will have facial recognition technology and other carbon footprint reducing features.
Forward thinking and integrating the latest technology into multifamily projects is Humphreys & Partners’ priority. Pier 2 not only defies conventional multifamily design, but represents the future of multifamily design.
Leading companies in sustainable housing recognized for their contributions and advancements in Ontario’s Green Building category
Ontario’s best Green Builders were celebrated at the EnerQuality Awards Gala (EQ Awards), taking place at the Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. Hosted by Breakfast Television’s Kevin Frankish, more than 200 industry peers gathered to share concepts and accolades as together they help to move towards a more energy conscious future.
“Advancing energy-efficient techniques and tools are huge priorities in the building sector to continue to improve healthy living conditions, fight climate change and minimize unnecessary spending,” says Corey McBurney, President of EnerQuality. “The EnerQuality Housing Innovation Forum & Awards help to connect builders with the innovation they need to meet their design goals as well as spotlight the change-makers who are effecting policies and driving standards towards a shared goal of Net Zero housing.”
The EQ Awards were enjoyed by all and featured special designations to highlight the outstanding contributions of industry leaders including:
2017 Hall of Fame Nominee – Larry Brydon, VP Business Development with Cricket Energy
Larry has been in the HVAC distribution and energy services market for more than 25 years. A past chair of Sustainable Buildings Canada and the Toronto Chapter of the Canada Green Building Council, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Efficiency Alliance, the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE), Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC), and EnerQuality. Among his many achievements, Larry led the Enbridge and Union Gas’s Savings by Design program. This initiative has participated in over two hundred low-rise, and fifty high rise developer design charrettes where they shared energy-efficient design alternatives resulting in 15-25% energy improvement over the Ontario Building Code.
2017 Leader of the Year – Doug Tarry, Doug Tarry Custom Homes Ltd.
2017 was a banner year for Doug Tarry, of Doug Tarry Custom Homes. Fresh off winning the inaugural Net Zero Builder Award from the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, his Project Hope, a fundraising event that was the first time a Net Zero home was built in just three days, raised funds for the family of the late Johnny Nooren, a building inspector from St. Thomas. The project won the 2017 Prestige Award from the Ontario Home Builders’ Association for project of the year – low rise, and the trailer for the accompanying documentary was seen by more than 10,000 in movie theatres in Ontario. Doug Tarry led his team of builders to receive the 2016 EQ Builder Achievement Award and now holds the 2017 title of Leader of the Year for propelling the company’s holistic Net Zero housing concepts with simple controls designed to allow homeowners to save money while living in a healthy environment.
Impact Award – Arista Homes Ltd.
Arista Homes Ltd was awarded the honor of the 2017 Impact Award – an award introduced in 2016 to recognize a builder’s significant voluntary progress in reducing carbon emission and outstanding achievements through energy efficient and sustainability practices. “Green initiatives and ENERGY STAR participation have become staples of our building practices and we remain committed to continuing to improve our building practices and to lead by example,” says Franco Crispino, V.P. of Sales and Marketing. Arista Homes has proudly enrolled more than 1,200 ENERGY STAR® homes since the construction of its first multi-phase ENERGY STAR community in 2009.
2017 EQ Award Winners:
Partner Award
Enbridge Gas Distribution
Union Gas
Owens Corning
Enbridge Savings By Design Award
Remington Homes
Building Innovation Low-Rise
Great Gulf Homes Ltd
Building Innovation Mid/High-Rise
Times Group Corporation
ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year
(Small volume)
sean.ca (Sean Mason Homes)
ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year (Mid-volume)
Remington Homes
ENERGY STAR® for New Homes Builder of the Year
(Large volume)
The Minto Group
ENERGY STAR® Champion of the Year
Jacqueline Collier, Tamarack Homes
Best Green Marketing Campaign
Doug Tarry Custom Homes Ltd
R-2000 Home Builder of the Year
RND Construction
Net Zero Home Builder of the Year
Reid’s Heritage Homes
Evaluator of the Year
Angela Bustamante, Building Knowledge
Builder Achievement Award
Shaun Joffe, Great Gulf Homes Ltd.
Ontario Green Builder of the Year
Sifton Properties Ltd.
About EnerQuality
EnerQuality (www.enerquality.ca) is Canada’s #1 certifier of energy efficient homes and the market leader in delivering award-winning residential green building programs. Founded in 1998 by the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) and the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA), EnerQuality’s mission is to accelerate housing innovation to improve building performance.
Superkül
Active House: a model of sustainable suburban development
By Sarah Hicks
Communications Cordinator Ontario WoodWORKS!
Active House has a vision for the future. It’s one where buildings create healthier and more comfortable lives for occupants, without negative impact on the climate, moving us towards a cleaner, healthier, and safer world. The Active House label is a world-wide quality stamp for comfortable and sustainable buildings. Its metrics emphasize energy efficiency, low environmental impact, and superior occupant comfort.
Active House – Centennial Park is a model for modern, suburban development that sets a new standard of sustainable design for the thousands of new homes built in Canada every year. Wood and panelized wood construction were central in achieving the home’s high level of performance, so the project was a natural standout in the Environmental Award category at the Ontario Wood WORKS! Wood Design Awards.
Marianne Berube, Executive Director of the Ontario Wood WORKS! program that hosts the awards, remarked on the use of wood in contemporary construction. “Today’s wood products and systems are technologically advanced. Project teams are using these high-performance building materials in exciting ways, actively and imaginatively exploring wood’s expanding potential. Design professionals who understand the need for sustainable development are increasingly specifying wood products for innovative, environmentally responsible construction.”
Active House – Centennial Park is a prefabricated, panelized wood structure. The wall, floor and roof panels were factory built, flat packed, and brought by truck to the site for assembly. This efficient construction strategy reduced both construction waste and the duration of onsite construction; the frame of the entire house was erected in just a few days.
The innovative structural wood roof and wall system has an integrated air barrier that streamlined the weatherization process and vastly simplified and accelerated the assembly of the exterior walls. The system employs an integrated 3-ply exterior sheathing material (rigid Insulation, OSB sheathing and house wrap all in one). Fabrication in a factory setting, using computer generated cuts, optimized material use resulting in minimal waste.
Great Gulf’s H+ME Technology system — an advanced indoor automated manufacturing plant that allows roof, wall and floor assemblies to be built as integrated panels in a controlled environment — was essential to the project’s success. The H+ME Technology facility is supported by construction visualization, prototyping and fabricating technologies that reduce environmental waste and increase energy performance through the manufacture of tight-fitting building components. The system even provides the opportunity to build full-scale mock-ups to verify a project’s energy efficiency.
Wood’s environmental credentials and superior thermal comfort over other materials made it the obvious choice on this project. Its low embodied-energy and ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon is unlike any other building product – making it a natural choice for building sustainable, comfortable, high-performance homes.
The house occupies a modest footprint, but enjoys a greater feeling of expansiveness from the amount of natural daylight filtering in through the generous and strategically placed windows and skylights. This strategy also increases the potential for cross-breezes which naturally ventilate the house while decreasing reliance on air conditioning.
An open-plan configuration with double-height spaces connects all areas of the house without sacrificing privacy, removing visual barriers while creating a greater sense of engagement between family members. Consequently, the home feels far more spacious than its 2,900 square feet. Light and nature is brought further into the house through the provision of a small C-shaped courtyard, with views from all three sides outside to the surrounding flora and fauna.
Specific energy-saving and environmentally conscious features such as interior and exterior LED lighting systems, triple-glazing, low-flow water fixtures, low-VOC finishes and energy-performance monitoring systems complement the primary design strategy of maximizing opportunities for natural daylight and ventilation, ultimately achieving a greater sense of health and well-being for the occupants.
