The recent renovation to the Biological Sciences Complex at UBC has been honoured with a Canadian Green Building Award presented through Sustainable Architecture & Building magazine. The complex was one of only seven projects nationwide that received awards from a total of fifty-six submissions.
The complex, which was first built more than fifty years ago, contains four linked buildings, two of which — the West and South wings — were renovated in 2010–11. The work was done under the UBC Renew program, which upgrades buildings that would otherwise be replaced. UBC Renew minimizes the financial and environmental impacts of demolition and new construction and preserves heritage buildings.
The $61.8-million, 170,000-square-foot project now houses state-of- the-art laboratories, aquaria, research labs, classrooms and offices for the departments of Botany and Zoology. The all-new mechanical systems include an innovative energy-saving heating and cooling system, variable-air-volume (VAV) ventilation control for labs, natural ventilation for private offices and an aquatic life-support system. The electrical upgrades include emergency power systems to protect ongoing research and a prototype daylight-harvesting system developed at UBC that was singled out for special praise by the award jury.
A Ground-Breaking Lighting System
The Core Sunlighting System was invented in the UBC Structured Surface Physics Lab led by Dr. Lorne Whitehead, and is now being tested and commercialized by SunCentral Inc. The system collects and concentrates sunlight and then guides it inside buildings.
“There are a bunch of mirrors on the outside of the building that track the Sun and focus it into a light guide, like a channel lined with a very reflective coating,” explains Mark Ostry of Acton Ostry, the architects for the renovation. “The guide transmits sunlight deep into the building without reducing the brightness.
“It sounds futuristic — it looks like the lights are on in the middle of the building, but they’re not, and the quality of light is greater than artificial, being full spectrum.”
The technology is new and still being developed — the setup is only a prototype being tested in a small part of the renovated buildings — but the potential is huge. “So far it works well here,” says Ostry. “The sunlight is seamlessly integrated with artificial light. It only works when the Sun is shining, obviously, but it still reduces energy use substantially. This demonstration project is allowing the company to test and refine the technology, and hopefully take it to market.”
Other Sustainable Features
Research laboratories use huge quantities of energy, and the designers came up with some other innovative ways to reduce consumption. They were able to demonstrate that they could maintain safe air-quality levels in labs with only eight air changes every hour, compared to the previous UBC minimum of ten, and minimize air flows at night when the labs are unoccupied; this translates into huge energy savings. Similarly the lab fume hoods, another huge energy soak, are VAV so that researchers can minimize air flow when the hoods are not in use.
“The renovated labs are the first to implement UBC’s new energy efficiency strategy for research laboratories,” explains Orion Henderson, Director of Campus Sustainability. “During unoccupied hours ventilation rates will automatically be reduced to the minimum required for safety reasons. If the room sensors detect anyone entering the labs the lights and ventilation rates will immediately ramp up to the occupied settings.”
Contributing to Social Sustainability
The renovated buildings also have some innovative social sustainability features, many based around layouts that encourage interaction between students and faculty from different departments. Based on feedback with researchers, the designers created informal research spaces, areas next to formal labs where people can interact in a more casual environment.
“Basically, the spaces allow researchers to meet and talk over coffee,” says Ostry. “The spaces act like research lounges, with comfortable seating and numerous whiteboards for people to jot ideas down. You are not allowed to bring coffee or food into labs, so there was nowhere to informally connect with colleagues.”
“What’s delightful about the renovation is the building now contributes to its surroundings,” adds Gerry McGeough, the University’s Architect. “The old building was very closed — now it communicates to the outside community. There are plants growing on the facade, and the three new seismic buttresses include panels finished with abstracted plant and animal designs that light up at night. It’s very clear what the building is used for from Main Mall now — and all this was done on a very meager budget.”
The architects also decided to make the Botany and Zoology labs contiguous, to optimize adaptability and further encourage inter-departmental interaction. “A building that communicates to people what is going on inside, and helps people working there communicate with each other, really supports collaborative work,” says Ostry. “The informal research spaces, the use of glass, the contiguous lab spaces — all facilitate collaboration.
“That’s where a lot of education is moving — towards a much higher degree of collaboration, which diminishes the notion of the ivory tower.”