Sustainable bank design competition awards students

by mbuckstein | May 1, 2013 9:15 am

20130418_C6178_PHOTO_EN_25638 — 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.

Endnotes:

[Image]: https://www.constructioncanada.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20130418_C6178_PHOTO_EN_25638.jpg

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/sustainable-bank-design-competition-awards-students/