Ontario university embraces wellness-centric and sustainable design

by tanya_martins_2 | September 16, 2024 8:59 am

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The new Shawenjigewining Hall at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ont., is a 10,219 m² (110,000 sf) mixed-use student hub designed to prioritize wellness with a focus on sustainability.

Using concrete and local limestone, Montgomery Sisam Architects and Architecture Counsel designed the campus facility. It consists of spaces for student support, peer tutoring and counselling, student-run societies and clubs, study and lounge areas, research labs, classrooms, faculty offices, and food services.

The building’s facade facilitates passive lighting, shading, and heating. Four concrete panel types were arranged differently on each side of the building in deference to the solar path. Additionally, the program spaces were distributed within the campus building according to their daylighting needs.

The project is designed to minimize energy consumption requirements, as well as the consumption of high-carbon fuel sources, reduce embodied carbon emissions, and integrate opportunities for natural lighting, shading, heating, and renewable energy generation.

Some other sustainable design features include a high-performance building envelope, a 30 per cent window-to-wall ratio, high-efficiency systems for artificial heating and cooling, LED fixtures, and a heat recovery chiller to generate heat by connecting to the neighbouring geothermal field.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/ontario-university-embraces-wellness-centric-and-sustainable-design/

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