SpongeG
04-29-2007, 01:14 AM
Developers lead the way to sustainability
In southeast Vancouver, environmental sustainability is both driver of, and spatial experience, at Langara College's new library and classroom building. The $39 million, three-storey concrete building is transforming the Vancouver campus from a collection of structures set in a sea of parking lots into a sequence of quality and green urban spaces that speak of higher learning.
In Tsawwassen, in a long-established neighbourhood shopping mall, a four-storey, mixed-use building will soon be ready for occupancy. This building, by local architect Peter Dandyk, looks likes a typical in-fill apartment-building, residential above and retail down. But it is much more than that.
First, the Oliva new-home project, because it is sited on land that was once part of an aging shopping mall, is helping to shape Tsawwassen's centre into a more pedestrian friendly core.
Secondly, from construction materials to landscaping to solar power, every Oliva component was designed or selected to protect the natural environment. Heat will be recovered and rainwater recycled. Carpets, paint, flooring and other materials will generate minimal toxicity and pollutants.
Developer Sean Hodgins of the Century Group has applied for silver LEED certification by the Canada Green Building Council. If he should receive certification, Oliva wouldn't be the first apartment building in B.C. to receive LEED recognition, but it would be one of a few and, probably, the first or one of the first mixed-use buildings.
At Langara, components of the new library-classroom building have invested the building with a capacity to qualify for gold LEED certification, the penultimate standard for high performance in sustainable buildings.
Environmental issues are integrated into almost every part of the design of the new building, most dramatically in the undulating shape of the concrete roof and the cantilevered floors that form a warped shape to direct and capture wind to assist with natural ventilation inside the library.
(The building is a collaboration between IBI/HB Architects of Vancouver and Teeple Architects of Toronto.)
Four towers designed as part of soaring cathedral hallways draw air through the building, replacing conventional air conditioning systems.
The high performance concrete envelope combined with a geothermal system with a ground loop that circulates through 78 bore holes drilled almost 300 feet deep around the perimeter of the campus help achieve a 71-per-cent energy saving over a building designed to meet base case standards.
The building's interior is dramatic for its creative use of natural light without being a glass structure. Students will likely find this feature most welcome on drizzly Vancouver days.
Many additional features, like re-cycled materials used in flooring, waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets installed in public washrooms, rainwater harvesting and storm water retention systems make this "green" building capable of qualifying for the gold certification.
Studies have long told builders and developers that the public pays little more than lip service to the notion of sustainability and environmental stewardship when you scratch the surface.
Public opinion poll after poll has shown varying degrees of public awareness and concern about how humans affect the planet.
Additionally, most polls also show that the vast majority of people aren't willing to make too many sacrifices to mitigate their ecological footprint. Most people certainly aren't willing to pay a premium to live in a new home or occupy a new commercial or institutional building that was designed with sustainability in mind.
So why have a few developers both in the private sector and the public world begun to embrace these ideas and change the way they build buildings? Why are a few developers beginning to look at how they can impact the environment in a more sensitive way?
Maybe it is the awareness that has suddenly engulfed the western world and captured widespread public attention on the issue of climate change and global warming. My only fear is that like most storms, this one could blow over just as quickly as it arrived.
Idealistically, I would like to believe that they are doing it because it is the right thing to do.
As our cities begin to mature, perhaps this is a time when all of those who are involved in shaping our built environment are beginning to reflect on the awesome ability they have to affect change in our society. They are beginning to understand that with that ability come a certain responsibilities.
Then again, maybe this is simply wishful thinking.
Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with CounterPoint Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer who specializes in urban land use issues. E-mail: ransford@counterpoint.ca
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoasthomes/story.html?id=b4e0eb75-3214-4fa1-8460-07d5e6e242d6
In southeast Vancouver, environmental sustainability is both driver of, and spatial experience, at Langara College's new library and classroom building. The $39 million, three-storey concrete building is transforming the Vancouver campus from a collection of structures set in a sea of parking lots into a sequence of quality and green urban spaces that speak of higher learning.
In Tsawwassen, in a long-established neighbourhood shopping mall, a four-storey, mixed-use building will soon be ready for occupancy. This building, by local architect Peter Dandyk, looks likes a typical in-fill apartment-building, residential above and retail down. But it is much more than that.
First, the Oliva new-home project, because it is sited on land that was once part of an aging shopping mall, is helping to shape Tsawwassen's centre into a more pedestrian friendly core.
Secondly, from construction materials to landscaping to solar power, every Oliva component was designed or selected to protect the natural environment. Heat will be recovered and rainwater recycled. Carpets, paint, flooring and other materials will generate minimal toxicity and pollutants.
Developer Sean Hodgins of the Century Group has applied for silver LEED certification by the Canada Green Building Council. If he should receive certification, Oliva wouldn't be the first apartment building in B.C. to receive LEED recognition, but it would be one of a few and, probably, the first or one of the first mixed-use buildings.
At Langara, components of the new library-classroom building have invested the building with a capacity to qualify for gold LEED certification, the penultimate standard for high performance in sustainable buildings.
Environmental issues are integrated into almost every part of the design of the new building, most dramatically in the undulating shape of the concrete roof and the cantilevered floors that form a warped shape to direct and capture wind to assist with natural ventilation inside the library.
(The building is a collaboration between IBI/HB Architects of Vancouver and Teeple Architects of Toronto.)
Four towers designed as part of soaring cathedral hallways draw air through the building, replacing conventional air conditioning systems.
The high performance concrete envelope combined with a geothermal system with a ground loop that circulates through 78 bore holes drilled almost 300 feet deep around the perimeter of the campus help achieve a 71-per-cent energy saving over a building designed to meet base case standards.
The building's interior is dramatic for its creative use of natural light without being a glass structure. Students will likely find this feature most welcome on drizzly Vancouver days.
Many additional features, like re-cycled materials used in flooring, waterless urinals and dual-flush toilets installed in public washrooms, rainwater harvesting and storm water retention systems make this "green" building capable of qualifying for the gold certification.
Studies have long told builders and developers that the public pays little more than lip service to the notion of sustainability and environmental stewardship when you scratch the surface.
Public opinion poll after poll has shown varying degrees of public awareness and concern about how humans affect the planet.
Additionally, most polls also show that the vast majority of people aren't willing to make too many sacrifices to mitigate their ecological footprint. Most people certainly aren't willing to pay a premium to live in a new home or occupy a new commercial or institutional building that was designed with sustainability in mind.
So why have a few developers both in the private sector and the public world begun to embrace these ideas and change the way they build buildings? Why are a few developers beginning to look at how they can impact the environment in a more sensitive way?
Maybe it is the awareness that has suddenly engulfed the western world and captured widespread public attention on the issue of climate change and global warming. My only fear is that like most storms, this one could blow over just as quickly as it arrived.
Idealistically, I would like to believe that they are doing it because it is the right thing to do.
As our cities begin to mature, perhaps this is a time when all of those who are involved in shaping our built environment are beginning to reflect on the awesome ability they have to affect change in our society. They are beginning to understand that with that ability come a certain responsibilities.
Then again, maybe this is simply wishful thinking.
Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with CounterPoint Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer who specializes in urban land use issues. E-mail: ransford@counterpoint.ca
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoasthomes/story.html?id=b4e0eb75-3214-4fa1-8460-07d5e6e242d6
