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Sustainability

Environmental Visitor Centre Gets a Serious Green Makeover

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By Alex Waters

For over 30 years the Kortright Centre, has been one of Canada’s leading environmental education centres. With over 120,000 visitors annually, including 70,000 students, the Kortright Centre plays a key role in educating generations of youth and adults about nature, and the environment.

In 2005 the Centre, owned and operated by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), launched a bold new vision for Kortright called “The Living City Campus” www.thelivingcitycampus.com .  This vision would see Kortright grow to become a key strategy of the TRCA’s platform to help Toronto become a more sustainable and livable city. The Campus would become an innovation centre for sustainability that would be based on state of the art demonstrations, sustainable building/technology research, and education and training centre for students, homeowners, trades and professionals.

Seven years later the Campus has become one of Canada’s largest, publicly accessible, demonstration, research and education Centres for green buildings and sustainable technologies. The Campus demonstrations include:

  1. Ontario’s first LEED platinum commercial building;
  2. The Earth Rangers 60,000 sq.ft LEED Gold building;
  3. 2 LEED Platinum houses; and
  4. The largest education demonstrations of renewable energy technologies in Canada.

In addition, within two kilometers radius from Kortright, in the City of Vaughan, you can find 3 more LEED gold buildings.

In the heart of the Campus is the Kortright Visitor Centre. The Visitors Centre is the gateway to all the natural, cultural and built wonders on the 250 hectares of pristine greenspace, along the Humber River. The Kortright Visitors Centre is, a 30,000 square foot, 3 level open concept post and beam structure, with a 140 seat theatre, 8 classrooms, café and gift shop. This visitors centre is the hub of all the educational/training/recreational programs, and activities that are featured at the Campus. The Kortright Visitors Centre also acts as a trailhead guiding visitors to either a natural adventure (hiking, skiing, orienteering, geocaching, birding and dogsleding) or lessons in the latest sustainable energy or green building demonstrations in Canada.

Although the Visitors Centre is a beautiful structure, it is quite ironic that it is the antitheses of the progressive demonstration on the property. The Visitors Centre was falling apart from the inside out, with a failing electric heating and cooling system and a roof in desperate need of repair. The Centre did not even have a ventilation system, and relied on the enormous amount of infiltration around its doors and windows to provide fresh air for the hundreds of inhabitants. In fact, before some serious weather stripping was installed years ago, visitors could see 1 ft snow drifts inside the building after a winter storm.

Considering the state of the building, the TRCA has turned this infrastructure liability into a sustainable opportunity. With the exception of the Visitor Centre, all the buildings on the property demonstrate excellent examples of commercial and residential green buildings practices for new buildings. The Kortright Visitor Centre represents an opportunity to address the largely untapped stock of existing building in the greater Toronto area.

Currently 53% of the GTA commercial building stock is over 26 years old, or older, and over 50% of the energy used in these buildings is for space heating and cooling. Commercial buildings contribute about 1/3 of the GTA GHG’s emissions and consume 37% of the electricity and 17% of the natural gas. Studies have shown that commercial retrofits could reduce building energy consumption by nearly 50%.

The Kortright Visitor Centre retrofit is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the energy, water, and resource saving opportunities for commercial retrofits, and expand the existing green infrastructure demonstrations and educational programs on site. Between the building enhancements, exhibits and programs, Kortright Visitors Centre hopes to become the beacon that demonstrates, educates and motivates other building owners to learn more about  the enormous opportunities available to the save money and reduce their carbon footprint through a green retrofit.

In 2010 Levitt Goodman Architects were hired to design a retrofit plan for the Visitors Centre with the goals to improve:

  1. The thermal efficiency and reduce energy use by min. 50%.
  2. Thermal comfort  for visitors
  3. Indoor air quality
  4. Day lighting
  5. Durability of the structure and minimize on going maintenance
  6. The indoor experience for the visitors by building creating a sense of connection with the surrounding environment.

 

The retrofit plan designed by Levitt Goodman achieves all the goals of the TRCA, as well as allowing the Visitors Centre to remain open during the entire re-construction process. The plan consists of 3 major stages and will take 3 years to implement.

  1. Upgrade the heating/cooling system and install a ventilation system
  2. Complete an entire re-skinning of the building
  3. Renewable energy installation

Heating, Cooling, Ventilation

The old HVAC system was an all-electric force air and baseboard heating system with no ventilation system. The HVAC system was the highest priority of the retrofit, as 2 of the six heating units were out of commission, with parts no longer available for purchase. Because natural gas was not readily available, the TRCA decided in 2011 to install a ground source heat pump system. The installed system has 18-525 ft vertical wells producing  625, 000 btu of heat and 677,000 btu of cooling capacity, distributed amongst 6 heat pump units. Although GSHP systems have a high upfront cost, the operating costs should reduce the Centre’s overall energy cost by 50%. The GSHP is also electrically based, which matches  the Centre’s future desire to install a 100kw photovoltaic system.

To improve the indoor air quality and thermal comfort, the building envelope would be completely re-skinned, insulated and a new Energy Recovery Ventilation System would be installed.  As the building cantilevers over the Humber Valley, the ventilation system takes advantage of the cool air in the valley to help keep the building cool during the summer shoulder seasons.

Building Re-skinning

Starting September 2012 the stage 2 re-skinning process will commence. The re-skinning will improve the durability of the external cladding, while at  the same time improving the thermal efficiency and air leakage of the walls, roof and floor, as well as  enhancing the day lighting inside the Centre. Currently the Visitors Centre has 30 year old Western Cedar cladding that is peeling off the surfaces due to the lack of ventilation behind the siding. The siding will be replaced by Eastern White Cedar, a locally grown sustainable wood. The finish will have a surface treatment that protects the wood while allowing it to gray naturally, which minimizes the operational maintenance of the cladding. While the walls, floors and ceiling are open the contractors will be able to properly seal and insulate the exterior structures. The wall insulation will go from R 12 to R30, the floor from R 8 to R 30, and the ceiling from R14 to R 33.

When visitors walk into the existing building they see beautiful 60 ft exposed Douglas Fir vaulted ceilings. Unfortunately it’s relatively dark and cuts the visitor off from the enormous 100 ft plus maple trees which surround the building. To help reconnect the visitor to the outdoors, and provide some natural lighting, the architects increased the amount of windows and skylights on the forest valley side of the building. To maintain comfort all the windows will be triple pane, low e, argon filled windows with a max.U value of .29 and a maximum SHGC of 0.27

Renewable Energy System:

The last stage of the retrofit will see the renewable energy system installed in 2013. Ontario is fortunate to have a progressive green energy policy which uses a Feed In Tariff or FIT program to incent both commercial and residential owners to install photovoltaic (PV) solar systems to provide electricity to the central grid. The incentive is a 20 year contract to sell photovoltaic generated electricity back to the grid at a preferred rate of 54.9 cents/kwhr.  In 2013 Kortright will be installing a 100kw photovoltaic system as part of its solar demonstrations and PV research. This system will generate approx. $60,000 per year and will offset all the electric bills for the Centre. The system will pay for itself in eight years and have an ROI (return of investment) of 11%. Although the system is not energy neutral, it is certainly cost neutral.

Conclusion

The retrofit of the Kortright Visitors Centre is a vibrant and vital part in moving the sustainability agenda forward in Ontario for the next thirty years. This retrofit plan will reduce energy and operation costs as well as expand the green infrastructure demonstrations and learning programs at the Living City Campus. The retrofit also will reinforce the vision of the Campus as a destination for homeowners, school groups,  trades, and professionals wanting to see and learn about innovative sustainable actions for the environment, infrastructure and lifestyle opportunities, making the Living City Campus one of Ontario’s most unique and sought after demonstrations and learning experiences.

Alex Waters is a Senior Manager at The Living City Campus at Kortright www.thelivingcitycampus.com

 

 

Trends

Sustainability Charrette for 915 Unit Development in Kitchener

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VICTORIA COMMON

Finally at large-scale, a centralized district heating and cooling system is being studied for an inspiring 915-unit residential community in Kitchener, targeting to achieve LEED® Gold certification. If finalized, it will take natural heat from the ground using ground source heat pumps; and when more heating and cooling is needed it will be supplied by a combined heat and power (CHP) system, which uses natural gas in a miserly, efficient way. It will also eliminate cooling towers, reducing the amount of water needed for AC. In addition photovoltaic solar panels will generate more electricity than needed, defraying utility costs further.

Bruno Suppa’s time has come. Thirty years ago he was talking about alternative energy systems in the homes he was building. But there were cost and technology obstacles. Since then he has done everything right, gradually incorporating green tech, learning the pros and cons, and building his company, Queensgate Development Group into a strong player. Driving change without going broke means using an engineering charrette.

CHARETTES FACILITATE CHANGE

Charrettes are for technological turning points, especially when the stakes are high and it is time to commercialize a new direction. So on a sizzling hot July morning this year, Suppa brought together a world of experience to plan Victoria Common. About a dozen engineers from across Canada and the USA, Architect Mark Zwicker, plus a visiting geothermal-CHP specialist from Italy; they all gathered in a semi-darkened meeting room in Toronto’s hipster Liberty Village to talk about the proposed green heating and cooling system. The charrette defines the current state of the sustainable buildings industry: holistically integrated and poised to go large-scale.

 

THE CONVERSATION IS CHANGING

CHP district plants now offer compelling business cases because renewable system costs are decreasing and control systems can be programmed to manage and store energy and electricity like never before. This is more important to condominium buyers because governments are no longer playing down the fact that traditional utility costs are likely to increase significantly in the near future.

Suppa describes Kitchener-Waterloo as Canada’s Silicon Valley and says this demographic appreciates walkable communities, homes that are powered by environment-friendly sustainable technology and are affordable over the long term. About half of the first building in the development was sold as soon as it was offered

The question for the charrette is what is the best combination of technology, building practices and financial models to ensure investors make money, while using green technology. The lead engineering firm is Stantec, which has probably been more innovative than most other large (conservative) engineering dynasties. Stantec has 12,000 employees.

They talk about a special spider plow, designed for farming, but now being adapted and used for cost-effective large-scale horizontal geothermal projects. They talk about an innovative recent solution in which geothermal boreholes were inserted within the structural piles holding up a WestJet building in Calgary; and a geoexchange system at UBC that replaces natural gas and saves more than $600k per year. They describe new floor mat products from Uponor and others that make production scale radiant heat installs quicker and save 60% on energy.

SAVING ON UTILITY COSTS

Sergio Giuseppini, who has used co-generation technology for five European IKEA stores, talks about a 300-unit residential project in Rome that uses CHP and geo, similar to what the charrette is considering today for Suppa’s project. He notes the importance of knowing your goals from the beginning. Suppa reinforces that he is seeking to ensure Kitchener condominium owners don’t pay as much as others for utilities. This will soon become important to homeowners all over North America. He is also wondering if Ontario’s Microfit program will mean that some solar will make sense with this project and help generate electricity and revenue.

Tom Phelps from Stantec in North Carolina reviews a comparison of levelized costs for various technology configurations such as CHP, geo, solar, natural gas condensing boilers, biomass, coal and so on. These include capital, operating, financing and other costs. He notes that generic CHP releases less pollution and now usually costs less to the end user than utility distributed generation. He says the latter leaks 67% of its heat, while CHP loses just 20%. Phelps suggests to Suppa that marketing plans which would promote CHP for backup emergency power are not as strong an argument as ongoing cost advantages.

Geothermal expert Gino Di Rezze talks about his many years of hands-on experience and some of the new drilling and heat pump technology available. He has worked on major projects in numerous locations and comments on new Ontario regulatory specifics.

WHAT TO STUDY?

After a quick lunch at a nearby sandwich hub, the group gets down to the tough decisions for the engineering feasibility budget. What should we study? They only have a month or two, because the site must be serviced in time for spring construction.

They talk about system sizes, locations, phases, configurations and engineering study trade-offs. When considering adding geothermal to the system, the plan should be that it is running at least 50% or more of the time, to make it pay. It is important to right size the CHP plant for somewhere in the middle between full energy demand and baseload; to optimize capital and operating costs borne by owners.

They talk about the most appropriate kind of CHP, heat pumps, fan coils, the costs of HRVs, direct heat to residential units or configuring it through the central plant. A traditional low enthalpy system requires a whole different set of calculations from one that assumes heat storage. They ask Zwicker, the architect, to weigh in on the idea of disguising the CHP stack within a fancy community clock tower and building the mechanical room into the underground garage.

A WORLD OF EXPERIENCE

They discuss construction process differences in the USA, Alberta, Europe and Ontario. Civil engineer Ian Robertson talks about local wellheads, the municipality’s sensitivity surrounding drinking water and the way potability standards are being applied. He mentions the drilling freeze and revision of geo well rules in Ontario, the stormwater management system for the project, and the proposal for a 2000 cubic metre tank.

LEED consultant Derek Satnik provides ongoing commentary on how each decision under consideration would impact the LEED Silver or LEED Gold certification that Suppa hopes the project will achieve. Even Satnik sticks mostly to economics. He does not feel compelled to hop up onto a soapbox and explore climate change or greenhouse gas in any depth.

Suppa is visibly energized. He’s a man in his prime, finally fulfilling a long-term vision. We’re no longer talking about a few townhouses modelling green tech. It’s now 915 units that must make sense economically. And now it can. As sustainability moves into mainstream development projects, charrettes are changing; and the engineering conversation is changing too. GB

 

Victoria Common Targets LEED® Gold certification

Designed to achieve LEED® Gold certification, Victoria Common is implementing one of Canada’s most advanced green energy systems for new home communities. With three primary components, the system will decrease the amount of fossil fuels required to heat and cool all buildings within the community’s master plan, as well as generating its own supplemental electricity. This will reduce the carbon footprint in comparison to buildings using conventional energy systems.

“Geothermal heat pumps are the most energy efficient, cost effective

and environment-friendly home heating and cooling systems available”

-David Suzuki

• Targeting LEED® Gold certification, Victoria Common’s state-of-the-art Green Energy System, provides sustainable, economical heating, cooling and electricity.

• It features a unique co-generation system with its own generators that come on when the system senses that hydro power from the city’s electrical grid is more expensive than generating the community’s own power.

• This means residents can use power at any time of day or night and not worry about being charged premium rates. It also provides emergency power during city brownouts or blackouts.

• Victoria Common’s geo-exchange system together with it’s co-generation production provides 100% of the community’s heating and cooling with very little use of natural gas, so it is virtually emission-free.

• When there is unused energy, it is stored in various locations, ready to be used when needed – nothing is wasted.

• Solar panels will also be placed on the roof of each building at Victoria Common, saving residents money by reducing the community dependence on the city’s electrical grid.

• From its energy-efficient low-E argon-filled windows to its environmentally friendly landscaping, Victoria Common’s green design thinking means significant savings and greater resale value for those who purchase a home here.

• Roof areas will be coated with highly reflective membranes in order to reduce heat gain in summer months.

• Ontario’s largest green district energy community which adds up to energy price stability over time..

• Advanced recycling system for separate recyclable materials.

• Collection of storm water for irrigation.

Architecture

Earth Mothers in Peterborough OAA AWARD FOR SUSTAINABLE CONVENT

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They may be a little older on average, but the Sisters of St. Joseph in Peterborough are not old-fashioned when it comes to the sustainability of their new Motherhouse. It is the first LEED Gold building in the Peterborough area, and it won a 2012 Ontario Association of Architects Award of Excellence.

After a long history of expansion since 1890, and then a certain amount of decline by 2000, the Sisters began to talk about upgrading their old 1930s Peterborough facility and their continuing mission. A primary focus has always been ministering to the needy. For the new convent they also made ‘a harmonious relationship with the earth’ a key goal. They sold about 44 of the property’s 50 acres and by 2009 had created a new 56,500-square-foot building with a fly-ash concrete structure and recycled steel skeleton.

Teeple Architects and Enermodal Engineering designed a highly sustainable space that includes an 80-seat chapel, main gathering area, (featuring stained glass from the old building), dining room, kitchen, library, beauty parlour, lounges, exercise room, administration offices, sister’s residences and an infirmary. The two-storey complex is built into the side of a slope as a literal expression of harmony with the earth. It is anchored on locally quarried ledge rock limestone. The upper portion is clad in white fiber-reinforced cement paneling. Its freeform rhythm and generous windows bring an airy, bright, light, heavenly glow to the proceedings.

DIVINELY INSPIRED

To mitigate solar gain the building is oriented for a north-south axis with overhangs shading the south side of the building. The roof is mostly white reflective thermoplastic, except for a small green roof near the south side. Double-pane argon-filled low-e windows also contribute to reduced heat island effect, while optimizing natural light. The thermally efficient fiberglass windows and semi-rigid insulation of basalt rock and recycled steel slag provide a contemporary, efficient envelope.

Two high-efficiency modulating, condensing boilers, a variable speed cooling tower, and distributed water source heat pumps are used for heating and cooling; with energy recovery ventilators as needed. Building managers have been trained to optimize use of the sophisticated controls system. The Sisters can also use operable windows for added ventilation. Savings are more than 4,000,000 mega joules per year and 282 tons of CO2.

Efficient 4 litre toilets, 1.9 litre/min faucets and 6 litre/min shower-heads help control water usage. Landscaping is mostly native or adaptive, drought-resistant plants. The green roof and other areas are supplied by rainwater collected from the white roof and stored in a cistern. Projected water savings are about 627,000 litres or 40% per year.

LIGHT FROM THE HEAVENS

Most spaces within the building are adequately naturally lit for daytime. Interior light systems employ occupancy sensors, cutting density to about 33% below ASHRAE standards. A local manufacturer modified lamp chandeliers to fit compact fluorescents. Exterior fixtures emit light below 90 degrees from the horizon, minimizing impact on the night sky.

The new facility features full recycling separation, low emission adhesives, sealants, paints, and coatings to improve air quality; and during construction $700,000 was saved by recycling 28 different materials. In addition 79% of construction waste was diverted from landfill and a large quantity of materials were locally sourced.

The hope is that the building will outlive its hosts and become a seniors home in the future. The adaptation should be easy. The infirmary provides 24-hour nursing care for 12, while the rest of the building offers full accessibility, railings, call buttons, resilient flooring, and contrasting color between walls and floors.

The Sisters have created a highly detailed how-to powerpoint and joined the Greening Sacred Spaces network to share their experiences. “We need to heal the planet from our excessiveness,” they say. “And to learn new sustainable practices that are harmonious with the wondrously evolving web of life.”

 

Architecture, Building Envelope, HVAC, Ideas, Sustainability, Technology, Trends

Number one with a Bullitt Seattle office building touted as greenest commercial structure in the world

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By Greg McMillan

It was a daunting task – setting new global standards for environmentally-friendly design and construction – but the powers that be at the helm of Seattle, Washington’s $30-million Bullitt Center have never looked back.

They were aiming to create the greenest, most energy-efficient commercial building in the world – a self-sufficient structure, if you will, that would firmly cement the city’s reputation as being at the forefront of the sustainable building movement.

The aspirations for the six-story, 50,000 square-foot building, due for completion in the fall of 2012, were ambitious to say the least.
The project was meant to change the way buildings are designed, built and operated to improve long-term environmental performance and promote broader implementation of energy efficiency, renewable energy and other green building technologies.

High standards indeed, however they were all part of a quest to meet the lofty demands of the Living Building Challenge (LBC), the world’s most strenuous benchmark for sustainability.

“We went into this project fully aware that it could redefine the way we work,” says Brian Court, the project architect and design lead for the Bullitt Center.
“This has to do with the notion of performance-driven design process. I have to say that it truly has changed the way we work. We developed a toolkit on this project that has already affected numerous other projects in design.”

Conceived to function entirely off the grid, a solar array will generate as much electricity as the building uses and rain will supply as much water as needed, with all wastewater treated onsite, including composting toilets.

Aiming for the sky was a necessity if they were to meet the stringent LBC requirements. Not only does LBC insist on net-zero energy and water systems, but projects must also use half the energy required to get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certification.

“There is a lot of interest in the project,” says Mr. Court, an associate with the Miller Hull Partnership. “We have gotten information requests from numerous locations world-wide, and we even had the President of Bulgaria come to Seattle for a presentation and tour.
“We have also received a fair amount of criticism as well but are comforted that so many people are paying attention – of not only sustainability, but energy, toxicity of materials and environmental footprint.”

The project originated with the Bullitt Foundation, whose mission statement reads: “To safeguard the natural environment by promoting human activities and sustainable communities in the Pacific Northwest.” It’s vision? “A future that safeguards the vitality of natural ecosystems while accommodating a sustainable human propulation in healthy, vibrant, equitable and prosperous communities.”

Miller Hull Partnership, and their collaborators, were challenged to develop a core of concrete, steel and and timbers with a life expectancy of 250 years. This is a far cry from the standard 40-year life span applied in commercial buildings’ value appraisals. Those tweaks didn’t come without added budget costs, which led to financing realities for the estimated $30-million project being subjected to some criticism and controversy.

But that did not deter the Bullitt Foundation.

And during the course of construction, Mr. Court said the team has shifted gears, adapting to a number of design discoveries made.
“Our ability to quickly analyze natural daylight levels at all stages of the design process has taken a quantum leap forward,” he says.
“Energy and water efficiency gets a lot of attention on this project, but we have been equally excited to learn more about heavy timber as a structural system; discoveries we made while conducting life-cycle analysis on various structural systems.
“Timber has so many great qualities from an aesthetic point of view that its environmental virtues are often overlooked.”

At the end of the day, they believe the end product will remain true to one of its core intentions – to create an office place where every worker has access to fresh air and daylight; to create a healthy human environment that is more pleasant and productive than most commercial buildings.
As it turns out, however, it seems Bullitt Center has actually outdone those basic objectives – and by a longshot, at that. GB

 

Architecture, Ideas, Sustainability, Trends

Canary District Developers Pull Out all the Stops to Create unique sustainable Neighbourhood

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To say no stone has been left unturned in building Toronto’s next great neighbourhood would be a grand understatement.

So remember this name – Canary District. Chances are people will be talking about this unique revitalization of the city’s West Don Lands today, tomorrow and for many years down the road.

There are, of course, many reasons for that, but the green factor cannot be ignored. When finished, the area mostly known for its industrial rail land will be transformed into a vibrant mixed-used sustainable community with a distinct urban architectural design.

It’s a mammoth challenge. However, real estate developer Dundee Kilmer Development Limited confidently feels it is up to the task.
Jason Lester, president of Dundee Kilmer, in an article published in the Globe and Mail newspaper, was quoted as saying “we’re going to create the most sustainable mixed-use development that the city has ever seen.”

Mostly, feeding off the fact that the overall design meets LEED Gold criteria, the area aims to be self-sufficient and an urban village where residents can live, work and play.
First things first, however. Commissioned by the Ontario government, Dundee Kilmer has been entrusted with the construction of housing at the 35-acre site for 10,000 athletes and coaches for the upcoming Pan American Games in 2015. And, unlike similar sports-related projects, which often experience fluctuating design and construction costs, this development is set up to avoid overruns.
When the 2015 event ends, the same buildings will be altered and sold as approximately 5,000 townhouse and condo units. Included in that will be daycares, schools and community centres.  And Dundee Kilmer is committed to inserting mid-rise, mixed-use development, a progressive public-private funding template and generous recreational spaces into the mix.


Additionally, the master site plan for Canary District shows that construction will be phased in, starting with Canary District condominiums, then moving on to a George Brown College residence, a YMCA, market condominiums and “affordable” rental housing.
The YMCA facility, by the way, to be built at the corner of Front and Cherry streets, will be the largest in Toronto. It will also serve as a training centre for athletes during the games. A full 20 per cent of the housing in the Canary District has been targeted as “affordable” and the George Brown Residence will have accommodation for 500 students.
The Canary District – which gets its name from the now-closed Canary Restaurant that operated from a 19th century Cherry Street building since the 1960s – will be known for its walkability, with an extensive pedestrian network designed by architects to maximize green spaces with laneways, courtyards and terraces. The goal – to zero in on a health and wellness motif.
But the area will not be confined in any way, shape or form. Far from it. The community will be set up with links to mesh seamlessly with the nearby Distillery District, Corktown and St. Lawrence Market. And the connections will continue with new pathways and the extension of Front Street into a pedestrian promenade augmented by improved public access to Lake Ontario and the Don River Park.
A further creative twist was added by the use of four different architecture firms – Daoust Lestage Inc., Alliance and KPMB Architects, and MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller.
This cooperative approach, involving multiple designers, put forth a fresh hybrid of architectural design ideas. They remained true to contemporary architectural mores, but were also able to bring their own special aesthetics to the table.


And the four firms wholeheartedly embraced the challenge of the core principles placed before them.  Those included:
A healthy, green community: As touched on above, key considerations were given to environmental, economic and social sustainabilty. Each design element contains those characteristics.
Increased walkability: The secondary system of pedestrian routes also follow the paths of two former CNR rail lines, with connected courtyards, laneways and paths combined to form a continuous network.
Interconnectivity: This is cutting edge – creating a connection between old and new neighbourhoods in the area, augmented by a a modern design principle. Building scales and heights have been designed with a simultaneous architectural diversity and consistency in mind. All buildings in the eight-block-long district have been designed using similar materials in different ways, while façades will be recessed and roof heights will differ, creating a one-of-a-kind architectural flow.
Urban life: Future residents will be pleased to note that care has been taken to provide an extensive network of parks and balance of private and public spaces, as well as easy access to public transportation.
Gateway features: Called gateposts, the historic CNR and Canary Restaurant/Palace Street School buildings are being restored and integrated. There will be framing views to Don River Park and Toronto’s downtown skyline. Again, these elements will help to ensure openness and flow between established local neighbourhoods and the Canary District.

The Front Street connection: Painstakingly, each block in the village was designed to connect to a Front Street extension, which will serve as the main street. Then, at the base of each building, there will be cafes and restaurants, including retails stores. To further perpetuate the sense of neighbourhood, there will accessible recreational and community services.
A tip of the hat to Jane Jacobs: The late Toronto urban planning visionary was known world-wide for her ‘eyes on the street’ mentality, which was centred on creating a safe and connected urban environment. Some of the features adapted in recognition of Jacobs include large-scale building windows and balconies, with open and transparent streetscapes. This concept provides a connection between the street bustle and residents living above. Furthermore, laneways and side streets will feature loft studios and town houses at the base to attract creative entrepreneurs and families. Interestingly, the ground floors of all Canary District buildings are pedestrian-friendly, uniformly designed to six metres in height.
In the project’s promotional video, they talk about people, not infrastructure. They talk about community. They talk about creating a lasting vitality and ways to minimize urban stress.

All in all, not bad for a former industrial backwater.
Not bad at all.

Architecture, Building Envelope, Green Energy, HVAC, Ideas, Style, Sustainability, Technology, Top Stories

BIONIC ARCH, A SUSTAINABLE TOWER TAICHUNG ECOPOLIS, TAIWAN

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Host Organization: Secretariat: Taichung City Government

Sponsor: Urban Development Bureau, Taichung City Government

Project Title: Taiwan Tower Planning, Design and Construction Supervision Service Project

Contract Performance Location: Xitun District, Taichung City

Construction budget : NT$ 6.588.000.000

Delivery: December 2016

For the hundredth birthday of the creation of “Taiwan R.O.C.”, the main aim of the Taichung City Government is to honour the local building traditions and symbolize the new Taiwan dynamics into economic, political, social and cultural achievements.

International model of the green building of the 21st century, the innovative and pioneering design of the Bionic Arch is part of the new master plan “Taichung Gateway – Active Gateway City”, the future urban oasis for lifestyle, innovation, culture and biodiversity in the heart of Central Taiwan.

The green tower combines and surpasses the nine major indicators defining a green building by law, and intensifies the relation between the building site and the surrounding Taichung Gateway Park, including an environmental integration of the park and the green land, the integration of green vertical platforms, sky gardens and living façades, interaction between human and natural environments. It actively contributes to the development of the use of new sustainable energies (solar and wind generated power, coupled with botanical and bio-technologies), emphasizes cohabitation and respectful attitude in order to reach even higher standards than regular green buildings.

Raising awareness of climate changes and the need for environmental protection, Taiwan Tower will become the new landmark of sustainability, 100% self-sufficient with CO2 zero-emission, therefore contributing to the government’s policies in terms of energy saving and carbon emission reduction

1. THE SITE

The Project site is included in the Taichung Gateway City. The site area stretches from east : Road 30M-83, to west : Park Avenue 3, and is extended from north to south along the border of the Cultural Business District, south to the north border of Green Space 4, and extends on the east side the enclosed park 139. The site area is approximately 4.4 hectares but the footprint of the Bionic Arch does not exceed one hectare and respects the oblique line for setback distance from Road 30M-83.

Taiwan Tower is centered at the intersection of the two main axis of the new master plan: “Park Avenue 3” from North to South and the pedestrian “Green Corridor” linked the two R&D districts from East to West.

The concept of the tower is the development of a vertical landscape in the continuity of the park, like a green double ogive arch, keeping the perspective views clear between the main districts.

This Bionic Arch integrates directly all sustainable technologies and its design presents an aerodynamic geometry inspired by Nature in the axis of dominant winds.

2. THE PROJECT CONTENTS

The whole room program is superposed vertically as a vertical urban forest recycling the atmosphere and the fog of Taichung. All facilities and equipments (exhibition rooms, lobby, information center, lobby elevator, shops, restaurants, observatories, laboratories and offices) will be transformed into real suspended gardens in the sky.

The three main functional entities are organized as follows :

2.1. TAIWAN TOWER

With its 380 meters above ground level (490 meters high above sea level), the Bionic Arch will become the highest building and the most important visual focus in Central Taiwan, including sightseeing and recreational functions. The observatory is higher than the Dadu Mountain in order to give to visitors a panoramic view on the Taiwan Strait and Taichung Harbour.

An environmental quality monitoring station will be set up for use by related researchers and as an R&D base hung in the sky to develop new sustainable energy sources suitable for the Shuinan area.

Beside its sightseeing functions, the tower will also embody a telecommunication base.

2.2. MUSEUM OF TAICHUNG CITY DEVELOPMENT

The Taiwan Tower experience starts from the Museum of Taichung City Development on the ground floor, which will feature exhibitions on the city’s development including history, urban and rural tug-of-war, urban design and planning, industrial development, telecommunication, sewerage, fire prevention, flood and disaster control transportation, etc.

A model of the City will also be on display to help citizens learn about the identity of the city they live in.

The museum’s operation will integrate civil participation, cultural recreation and ecological practice to exemplify the energy and dynamism of the new Taichung Ecopolis.

An environmental information center will provide the education promotions such as energy conservation, carbon reduction, and ecological city.

2.3. AFFILIATED FACILITIES – OFFICES

The Affiliated Facilities (offices, meeting rooms, archives, public facilities, etc…) are located in the lower and middle part of the structure and are accessible through four individual entrances.

3. THE SPATIAL DESIGN CRITERIAS

3.1. ELEVATORS

The vertical circulation layout is divided into four decentralized cores of staircases and elevators with air pressure control system. These four cores with exoskeleton structure planted with living green walls lead to all the twenty three decks. In the axis of the central wind turbines, two high speed elevators of 48 peoples each give direct access to the main observation posts at the top of the tower.

3.2. FIRE CONTROL

A global net of water sprinklers is used at first to extinguish the fire and all the functions are divided into various compartments with spatial separations. If the fire breaks through the partition, the upper and lower floor levels generate positive pressure. The negative pressure of the floor on fire lets the fire burn out, while at the same time people are informed to evacuate. The Bionic Arch includes two sets of fire escape ladders to evacuate downwards, and an outdoor platform at an appropriate floor level.

3.3. STRUCTURE

The structural concept “exoskeleton” and the design of the structure takes into consideration the earthquakes factors, typhoons and also reviewing the September 11 attack.

The space structure of the building itself, which has the longer lifetime period, considers the possibilities of enhancing its flexibility.

All the suspended gardens are very flexible platforms designed to evolve with time. In fact, the interior planning offers a maximal flexibility to respond to future changes in functional and spatial requirements. The double deck system also participates to this maximum potential of flexibility for the maintenance and replacement of wire/line equipment of water, electrical utilities and air conditioning in order to extend the building’s overall lifetime usage.

3.3.1. SEISMIC RESISTANCE

The Bionic Arch has the ability to resist to the largest earthquakes in the future within elastic range. The ends of the main beams are made of resin, designed with plasticization in order to prevent the building from damage.

The structural strength is assured by seismic technologies as isolator floor, visco-elastic dampers, bracing frame structure, etc.

3.3.2. WIND RESISTANCE

The bionic and aerodynamic shape of the tower is specially designed to reduce wind impact and to accelerate it in the direction of the three vertical wind turbines in order to minimize structural vibration. The design of the structure includes the addition of a damper device to prevent typhoons or strong winds from generating an uncomfortable situation similar to seasickness

4. GREEN ARCHITECTURE

In 2003, the Taiwan government began implementing the “Green Architecture Promotional Project” in conjunction with the Green Silicon Island policies, to assiduously attempt with a green architectural plan to preserve the ecological environment.

As a pre-condition to the application of the building permit, the project requires first to obtain a Certificate of Green Building Candidate. The goal is to respect and to largely exceed the nine major indexes for green architectural compliance audits in order to reach the Diamond level certification referring to the criteria of LEED: “minimization of earth resources use, to produce architecture with the least waste”.

The Bionic Arch presents pro-active objectives to answer to these nine major indexes :

  1. Planting Green : Encouraging more production of Oxygen, greater absorption of CO2, cleaning the air, achieving the homeostasis for urban climate warming effects
  1. Water Conservation : Improve the capacity of the land to store water, to provide the ground with a rich microbial environment able to support organic life and to reduce the need of drainage.
  1. Daily Energy Efficiency : Reduce the amount of energy needed by the air conditioning system and lighting, Encourage re-use applications of waste energy.
  1. Carbon Dioxide Reduction : Use the design and construction processes to achieve improvements whereby reductions in CO2 emissions result, and by lightweight minimized architecture, resiliency, and re-usability of materials to accomplish reduces CO2 emissions.
  1. Waste Reduction : Refers to the production during the construction process of Cut and fill non-Balancing Design, wasted soil, building materials waste, and easily dissipated dust particles.
  1. Water Resource : refers to the ratio of the building’s actual water use to an average water use, or the “water consumption conservation ratio”.
  1. Wastewater and garbage Improvements : establish tools to certify a hygienic environment control and improve impact assessment.
  1. Protection of the Biodiversity : Improve the ecological quality with porous environment encouraging ecological ponds, water ponds, permitting multi-scaled biodiversity, protecting native species and flora. This index is organized into 5 thematic categories : “Ecological Network”, “Microorganism Resting Place”, “Vegetation Diversity”, “Soil Ecology”, “Ecologically Symbiotic Architectural Design”.
  1. Refinement of the Interior Environment : refers to evaluating the indoor environmental quality for noise protection, ambient lighting, air flow, interior design, air quality, and environmental factors which may impact on occupant health or comfort.

Thanks to its suspended gardens, real bio-reactors for purification, the tower becomes a pro-active architecture built respecting its environment, recycling air, water and wastes and giving a new symbiotic ecosystem for the sub-tropical multi-scaled biodiversity of Taiwan. The architecture interacts completely with its context climatically, chemically, kinetically and socially to better reduce our ecological footprint in urban area.

The Bionic Arch is a didactic prototype of ecological experimentations using the most advanced technologies in terms of self-sufficient energy construction, in order to better reveal its applications in the contemporary society.

The design is based on the integration of all the renewable technologies with its crystalline glass skin made of heat insulation solar glass and photovoltaic cells, and with its three vertically superposed wind turbines. Its energetic results are positive and enable to assure not only the self-functioning of the tower but also the nocturnal lighting of the Gateway Park.

The Bionic Arch is the new icon of sustainable development in the heart of Taiwan, the new “Green Silicon Island”!

Vincent Callebaut Architect

Ideas

Savings by Design – Designing in Efficiency and Sustainability

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As Reliance Home Comfort’s “ green guy “, I am most fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a variety of green building and sustainable development organizations, contributing volunteer hours and expertise to educating and informing our builder clients, advocating on the industry’s behalf and managing Reliance’s interests in the area of developing codes and standards.

Working on projects like BILD’s Archetype Sustainable House, TRCA’s Green Home Makeover, CMHC’s Equilibrium Houses and our customers many “ Discovery Homes” has given me the opportunity to learn about new and evolving technologies, advanced building practices and policy and programs that are leading the market transformation to a more sustainable built environment.

One of the most interesting by far is one I have just begun working on in my role as Chair for Sustainable Buildings Canada (SBC) – facilitating Enbridge’s Savings by Design program.

Savings by Design is Enbridge’s latest market transformation initiative targeting new home construction. The program provides design assistance and direct to builder financial incentives for exceeding minimum energy efficiency standards within the Ontario Building Code. Rooted in the principles of Integrated Design, the program introduces the new home construction sector to the fundamentals of the Integrated Design Process (IDP).

Sustainable Buildings Canada is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing building performance through IDP.  For the past 10 years, and beginning with the Federal Government’s CBIP ( commercial buildings incentive program ) followed by the Enbridge’s High Performance New Construction (HPNC) incentive program, SBC has been educating commercial practitioners and training simulation modelers through their Integrated Design Charrettes and signature Toronto Green Building Festival.

When Enbridge was mandated to invest in Conservation and Demand Management programming in the residential sector they turned to SBC to adapt their IDP program for delivery into the low rise housing sector.

After extensive consultation with Industry stakeholders, Builders, Energy Auditors and Sustainability Consultants – and following Ontario Energy Board approval, Enbridge has launched the Savings by Design market transformation initiatives.

Qualified Builders are eligible to receive design assistance through an SBC facilitated Integrated Design Charrette workshop and are then eligible for financial incentives of $2,000.00 per home that achieve a performance verified, net energy reduction of 25% over the current Ontario Building Code requirements of SB-12, and subject to the programs terms and conditions.

Enbridge works with the existing energy performance evaluation and certification channels to streamline the application process. The same channels used for certifying homes to ENERGY STAR and EnerGuide, using the same validation tools – energy simulation software and envelope performance testing – the blower door test – to confirm the savings threshold has been achieved. Enbridge then pays the incentive, directly to the builder.

Where Enbridge’s Savings by Design program differs but supports Industry labeling like ENERGYSTAR and EnerGuide, is in their approach to acceptable measures. While NRCan approved measures are limited to the performance elements of the home and it’s systems, Enbridge’s Savings by Design program builds on their success by incorporating measures that encourage and enable the efficient operation of the home by its occupants. All off switches, in home energy displays, set back thermostats and solar ready installations, all conventional Conservation and Demand Management measures, get equal treatment by the program, allowing additional energy credits in accounting for the net energy reductions.

Additionally, Savings by Design uses a net gigajoules metric, as opposed to the EnerGuide 0 to 100 scale. This allows incremental examination of the contribution of each measure or technology to the overall net energy reduction, allowing for a more transparent cost benefit evaluation. Net Gigajoules consumed, and Gigajoules per square meter are two metrics being considered by NRCan for the next generation EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) currently scheduled for release in 2014 following public review and comment.

A secondary program benefit derives from the expertise solicited to participate in the design charrettes. Consultants and Academics are engaged by SBC to provide insight, to validate and to advise on measures and technologies as the builder is led through the process of identifying and qualifying measures from “dirt to doors” using an integrated and iterative approach. The program introduces academic researchers from the provinces leading sustainability and building science programs, drawing on professors and their students to introduce cutting edge technology while exposing the research to the rigors of real world problems in the Building and Development Industry. Leading Consultants, experts in their fields, provide insight into opportunities, costs and barriers, grounded in their experience working within the Industry today.

With the pilot program launched and several charrettes completed, the response has been outstanding with proponents returning surveys indicating their expectations were exceeded, the process deemed valuable and the targets achievable. The real test will be on uptake, and the number of Builders that go on to build homes eligible for the incentive. I expect that most of them will.

Larry Brydon is a Senior Account Executive with Reliance Home Comfort, Chair of Sustainable Buildings Canada and Chair of the Evaluator Council for EnerQuality Corporation’s Board of Directors.

Enbridge’s Savings By Design initiative is unique to the residential new construction sector in North America. The program connects builder proponents to the latest technical expertise and knowhow, and not just related to energy performance. Builders are exposed to the latest developments and techniques in low impact development including storm water management, community design and transportation alternatives. The free flowing format of the integrated design workshop allows for a creative examination of a variety of alternatives and options in a non-threatening environment. To date, the outcomes have been extremely exciting, with a number of builders finding unexpected solutions to specific challenges, demonstrating both cost savings opportunities and the potential for increased market value of their product.

 

Architecture

Vincent Callebaut Architecture – Coral Reef

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“CORAL REEF”

MATRIX AND PLUG-IN FOR 1000 PASSIVE HOUSES

Called «The Pearl of West Indies», Haiti was during a long time the most visited country of the Greater Antilles representing the occidental third of Hispaniola Island. Devastated in 2010 by an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, the country has now to be rebuilt from new innovative architectural and town-planning concepts.

The Coral Reef project plans a matrix to build a three dimensional and energy self-sufficient village from one and only standardised and prefabricated module in order to rehouse the refugees from such humanitarian catastrophes. This basic module is simply made of two passive houses (with metallic structure and tropical wood facades) interlocked in duplex around a transversal horizontal circulation linking every unit.

Inspired from a Coral reef with fluid and organic shapes, the overall project presents itself as a great living structure made of two waves dedicated to accommodate more than one thousand Haitian families. These two inhabited waves undulate along the water on an artificial pier built on seismic piles in the Caribbean Sea. From concave curves to convex curves, the housing modules are aligned and piled up by successive stratums such as a great origami. Between the two inhabited waves is created a sumptuous interior canyon in pixels with terraces and cascades of food gardens.

Actually, the laying-out in staggered rows of the plane-parallel base modules enables to superimpose the passive houses in cantilever and to multiply the vision axes towards an endless number of perspectives. Each roof of each module becomes then an organic suspended garden enabling to each Creole family to cultivate its own food and to use themselves their own wastage as compost

This canyon is a true tropical ecosystem for the local fauna and the flora. Ode to the urban biodiversity, it is also the central axis of the communitarian life of this futuristic village and respectful of its environment. Between the waves of these ecological housing, the sinuous lines of the anti-seismic basement (absorbing the vibrations in case of earthquake) integrate the public functions of the social life. Aquicultural farms welcome pisciculture pools whereas the purification plant lagoons recycle the used waters before rejecting them in the sea.

The Master Plan can evolve and extends itself according to the «plug-in» principle. The urban framework of this ecological village remains thus undetermined, flexible and develops itself continuously according to the time and the space. New extension modules, also prefabricated in factory and brought by cargo will be actually added such as a giant meccano set to correspond to the needs of inhabitants completing the basic matrix.

The visible sinuosity of this built landscape is structured by eight spine columns integrating all the vertical circulations linked together by two horizontal storeys crossing through a straight line the whole village from end to end. The whole set forms a compact orthogonal system that distributes all the flows through each module.

The project is eco-designed and integrates all the bioclimatic systems as well as the renewable energies. Actually, the sea thermal energy conversion is made in the coverage of the pier by using the difference of temperature between the superficial waters and the deep waters. The kinetic energy from marine currents is converted by hydro-turbines under the pier into electrical energy; the sinusoidal pergolas on the roof attract the solar energy by photovoltaic panels and a park of spiral wind turbines is planted in the great tropical garden that covers the logistical basis.

Taking advantage of the same natural and climatic conditions from the beginning as its neighbour island, Dominican Republic, Haiti is one of the countries that profits from one of the biggest potentials to reinvent a new sustainable urbanity and to implement the biggest challenges of reconstruction as a matter of urgency. The Coral Reef prototype project is in this context of humanitarian crisis a positive and dynamic answer fighting for the sustainable industrialised and standardised rebuilding of collective social housing of humanitarian and environmental high quality in disaster area.

 

Vincent Callebaut Architect

Sustainability

Newmarket Family Makes ‘Green’ Their Favourite Colour

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Newmarket Family Makes ‘Green’ Their Favourite Colour

Off-Grid Log Home Saves Money, Helps Form New, Energy-Friendly Habits

Hear the words “family meeting” and you might think it’s time to discuss homework, computer use or chores. But when Derek Zoldy and his wife Casey sat their two teen-aged sons down for a group discussion, there was a lot more than that on the table.

The Newmarket, Ontario, family was planning to take their new 1867 Confederation Log & Timber Frame vacation home “off-grid” and they needed to know everyone was onboard.

“You really have to have the mindset that you are going to live with the choices you make,” says Derek, a professional engineer and Canadian Ski Patrol volunteer. “A few habits had to be reformed but in the end, the savings are tremendous.”

The Zoldys’ log home is their ‘dream cottage’ at the base of Sir Sam’s Ski Hill in Haliburton, Ontario, with access to Eagle Lake. Logs were the family’s first choice of building material not only because wood blends in with the natural beauty of the land, but also because of the high level of energy efficiency of 1867 Confederation’s construction.

After visiting several construction sites and investigating a number of builders, they opted for 1867 Confederation Log and Timber Frame and designed a custom 1,400-square foot floor plan that includes vaulted ceilings on the main level, a walkout basement and a loft.

From an environmental standpoint, one of the factors that swayed the Zoldy’s in favour of Confederation is the fact the company uses carefully harvested FSC-certified logs, that are air dried on-site at the Bobcaygeon, Ontario, manufacturing facility, and that any un-used wood is recycled.

Rick Kinsman, owner of Confederation describes some of the company’s Eco Wise practices.  “Our entire Production Facility is totally Green and waste free.  Our cut offs are used as firewood, scrap logs are used for boat blocks at local marinas and even our sawdust is donated to a local farmer for animal bedding.”

Another was the fact that Confederation is one of the few log and timber frame builders in North America with experience building Energy Star-rated log and timber frame homes.  In light of these details and the fact their home was already an energy efficient and sustainable choice, taking their home off-grid seemed a logical next step, says Derek.

“I saw the potential right away,” he says. “It made a lot of financial sense right out of the gate.”

For about $30,000 – representing a $10,000 savings on the cost to clear the right of way and bring hydroelectricity to their six-acre property – the Zoldys installed a starter solar system that includes a backup propane generator. Using four roof-mounted solar panels from Sharp, they currently generate one kilowatt of energy that is stored in a DC battery bank and then converted to AC for consumption as required. This summer, they plan to add an additional four panels for a total of two kilowatts.

Primary heat during the winter months comes from a wood-burning fireplace in the great room and is supplemented by a propane stove in the basement. Water, meanwhile, is pumped from a deep rock well using a highly efficient 110-volt pump that consumes less energy on start-up than a 220-volt pump and yet supplies the same amount of water.

“Even if we were on-grid, the lower voltage pump would have made the most sense in terms of energy conservation,” notes Derek.

Other environmental considerations up for discussion and winning family approval included using LED lighting as opposed to conventional lighting, installing economical low-flush toilets, and replacing electric or gas kitchen appliances with propane appliances. The on-site septic system is gravity fed and doesn’t require a pump. And every window in the home comes from Confederation’s energy-efficient Standard Package and is wood framed to fit in with the aesthetics of the log home.

“Much like when we manufactured the first Energy Star Certified log home in Canada,” Rick states, “we didn’t have to change any component of our Standard Package or our Manufacturing Process.”

Even with the savings they are now realizing – the Zoldys only receive one bill for consumption of propane which Derek considers a clean and efficient fuel – the choice to go off-grid wasn’t necessarily an easy one.

“At first we were getting some complaints from the boys,” says Derek. “But what it really boiled down to was equipment issues.”

For example, the Zoldys have a rule at their cottage that phones and computers can’t be recharged at night or on days when there’s no sunlight. That means they need to rely on batteries and one son, who was in the habit of leaving his computer plugged in all of the time, found that he wasn’t getting enough battery life.

“He had to get in the habit of only plugging in when his battery is low, but now he’s even doing it at home in Newmarket,” says Derek.

Other new habits include making sure lights are off and that the toilets have finished their flush cycle before they leave the bathroom – a small price to pay for the satisfaction of being green.

“We’re all very comfortable with the choices we’ve made, and one of the best was our decision to work with 1867 Confederation Log & Timber Frame,” says Derek. “Even my wife is now talking about moving up here permanently as soon as she