The story of Laurentian University’s Living with Lakes Centre will be the story of Greater Sudbury’s celebrated re-greening efforts.
The future home of Laurentian’s Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit is one of many highly energy efficient LEED buildings taking shape on the Sudbury campus.
When finished sometime in 2009, the $12-million project will be only the second LEED platinum building in Canada.
Rainwater splashing against the two-story research building’s white pine exterior will be treated by a lime coating applied to the wood before collecting into a bio-swale ditch of gravel and plants where impurities are filtered out. It then drains into a specially-constructed wetland.
Acting like a cistern, the stored grey water will be recycled to flush toilets or used to clean the department’s boats and nets in their field compound.
Like most LEED buildings, the centre will be long and narrow so as to occupy a small footprint on the eight-acre Lake Ramsey property. Both the main lab building and a garage for field equipment will be a combined 30,000-square-feet.
The building’s roof will be insulated by a crop of blueberries. Nearby trees will provide shade to keep the facility cool.
Geothermal heating will keep the building warm in winter.Inside, the finished floor will be terazzo-like tiles of slag,
Offices and labs will be bright, airy and open to allow in natural light and louvered windows permit outside air to freely circulate.
“I think these projects are going to become the norm rather than the exception,” says Jeff Laberge of J. L. Richards & Associates in Sudbury, one of the project’s lead designers.
Richards have partnered with Vancouver’s Busby, Perkins+Will, a leading Canadian ‘green’ architectural firms, to do the centre’s detailed design work.
The Living with Lakes facility is part of a new trend in energy-efficient building systems called LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
It’s a voluntary rating system developed by the United States Green Building Council listing standards for environmentally sustainable construction.
The architectural team and their Laurentian clients are vying for platinum certification, the highest attainable ranking.
“We’ve started to accumulate documents to help in that certification process,” says Laberge. “If you don’t do it as you go through it’s a tremendous burden at the end.”
LEED buildings are becoming more prevalent in North America as many U.S. cities are mandating more ‘green’ government buildings.
Laberge says many of the Sudbury design features are not high tech, but are very inexpensive, traditional ways that have purpose and use.
It’s simple things like taking advantage of using nearby trees for shade or installing metallic overhangs to keep sunlight out.
“We’re not talking about leading-edge technology with a big price tag. It’s relatively conventional.”
The lab building will incorporate as many of the property’s natural elements as possible.
“Almost all (LEED buildings) try to respond to the site in some way,” says Laberge.
Buildings are angled to make maximum use of the sun’s location and prevailing winds, use natural ventilation, incorporate recycled material wherever possible and try to minimize its environmental impact.
common thread in all LEED buildings is plenty of interconnected and open floor space to vent the building like a stack.
The main building will feature banks of open dry labs with flexible space to enlarge or shrink, along with a multi-media theatre.
That means less duct work and less mechanical heating and cooling equipment.
“The co-op unit is a very social place and it was important to make sure that culture stays.
“One of the goals is to create spaces that will retain the best (experts) in the world. One of our tools is to give everyone a spectacular north view of Ramsey Lake.”
The design should reduce energy costs up to 70 per cent, compared to a conventional systems.
With the final drawings expected this spring, tenders likely won’t be released until summer with groundbreaking by fall, says Laurentian scientist John Gunn, a Canadian Research Chair, who's awaiting news of capital contributions from corporations and various government agencies.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Innovation Trust have already contributed $800,000 for an aquatics lab. The total project cost is $17-million, when factoring in construction, equipment and scholarships.
“We should view this as a modest investment...because I suspect the price of energy isn’t going down in the near future,” says Gunn. He expects the building’s investment payback to be six to 10 years, with about $1 million annually in energy savings.
Laurentian has a progressive environmental policy on new building design.
Their $10 million Ben Avery Physical Education Centre addition will have LEED silver certification.
Laberge says what most excites Vancouver architect Peter Busby is the “fire-in-the-belly” enthusiasm of their science-driven clients. Many faculty are involved in side projects, including noted environmentalist Dr. David Pearson.
Laurentian researchers have mapped the university’s watershed discharging into Lake Ramsey at the future Living with Lakes Centre. They’ve inventoried all the plant and aquatic life to ensure the building is a net gain to the ecosystem.
“The Living with Lakes Centre will be the guardian of the whole watershed,” says Laberge.
Gunn expects the centre will be a landmark addition on the city’s waterfront.
It will be a “living building” that constantly evolves as emerging Smart energy efficient technologies become available.
“We also want to showcase local technologies and products throughout this building with sponsorship opportunities.”
Gunn says the department’s existing culture, combined with its new location and technology should serve as an “international hook” to attract the best scientists to Sudbury. They expect to staff up from 60 full and seasonal staff to eventually employ as many as 80.
“We really see this as a great recruiting tool, which will be at the entrance point to the university.”
