Sustainable bank design competition awards students

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The Evolve Sustainable Design Competition’s winning team, made up of five University of Waterloo architecture and environmental engineering students, was awarded for its project, OREZ RBC Financial Bank. Image courtesy RBC.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and B+H Architects have announced the winners in their ‘green’ bank design competition for students.

Evolve Sustainable Design Competition challenged architecture and engineering students from across the country to create a net-zero energy and water-efficient bank branch facility. The submissions were reviewed by a panel of industry experts and winners were announced April 18.

Top prize went to a team of second-year students from University of Waterloo—Renee Hum-Hsiao, Elaina Poleto, Keegan Steeper, Joanne Yau, and Thomas Yuan. Their branch design includes sustainable features such as:

  • an onsite energy production source that would enable the building to create 90 per cent of its required power;
  • floors heated by a radiant geothermal system;
  • photovoltaic (PV) cells integrated on windows throughout the building to generate electricity and act as a shading device;
  • underground tanks, planters, and permeable pavement to collect and filter rainwater for indoor toilet flushing reuse; and
  • a system to distribute sunlight through fibre-optic tubing to the building’s interior.

The winning team received a $5000 prize. A second team of students from the University of Waterloo received an Honourable Mention and $2500 award.

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