The four-storey North Bay Courthouse building in Ontario was retrofitted with a new lateral force-resisting system (LFRS). The interior steel framing and slab connections were structurally strengthened to transfer seismic loading to 13 full-height, reinforced precast concrete shear walls around the building perimeter. Further, cracked masonry joints were repointed, damaged masonry units were replaced, and an elastomeric coating was applied over the entire wall surface.
The Building NX retrofit at Humber College, Toronto, has been awarded the Zero Carbon Building—Design certification by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). It is the first retrofit in the country to achieve this certification.
The Ken Soble Tower Transformation project by ERA Architects will rehabilitate a post-war apartment in Hamilton to Passive House standards. It also aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 94 per cent and lay the groundwork for industry-wide, ultra-low energy retrofits across the country.
The Senate of Canada will move into the Government Conference Centre while Parliament’s Centre Block is rehabilitated. In early 2015, the architectural plans for the Senate’s temporary home called for three new committee rooms at the revamped Government Conference Centre. The only problem was the resulting bare walls.
Several factors influenced the design of the new Arc’teryx flagship store in Vancouver, but all led to the prominent use of zinc on the exterior. The retail chain, founded by local climbers in 1989, offers high-performance outdoor equipment and clothing. Custom titanium zinc panels, installed on a diagonal façade along with granite to symbolize the nearby mountain horizon, highlight the retailer’s largest Canadian store.
Construction has commenced on a $95-million innovation centre at the Red River College Exchange District campus in Winnipeg. This project positions architectural innovation to inspire and support a culture of advanced learning and knowledge transfer.
Low-iron jumbo glass with low-emissivity (low-e) coating was used during the retrofit of the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa. High-performance glass brings in abundant natural light and controls solar heat gain, thereby contributing to energy management while ensuring the open spaces at the NAC do not overheat.
Earlier this year, Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) released a detailed roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large buildings (e.g. office towers, recreation centres, hospitals, arenas, and schools) across the country.
In London, Ont., a multi-residential apartment building built in 1970 was beginning to show significant signs of wear and tear on its exterior clay through-the-wall (TTW) brick, and owners had to develop a plan. Having already undertaken smaller localized repairs in the past, new water penetration issues on the upper, west-facing floors where the building is susceptible to driving rains, were cause to go in another direction.
Driven by the principles of high-performance energy (HPE) buildings through government, energy codes, and the green building movement, building energy designs across Canada and around the world strive to improve. The increasing focus on the implementation of energy-efficiency requirements, for both new construction and deep energy retrofits for commercial and public buildings, begins with envelope-first energy efficiency, reduced energy demand loads, and related greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions.
