Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/109465
Gordon Smith Gallery & Education Services Centre by Heidi Castle ocated at 2121 Lonsdale in the City of North Vancouver���s upper Lonsdale corridor, the newly built Education Services Centre and Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art shines like a jewel in the city���s cultural crown. The Gordon Smith Gallery houses the Artists For Kids teaching collection of Canadian art ��� 500 pieces by 50 of Canada���s leading contemporary artists ��� collected over 20 years. Green neon tube lighting illuminates the gallery���s exterior entry, while two richly carved red and yellow old-growth cedar-panelled doors, graced with abalone shell and copper acccents, stand as gatekeepers to the gallery. At three inches thick, the two 10-foot by three-and-a-half-foot doors weigh some 200 pounds each, says First Nations artist Rick Harry (Xwalacktun). Replete with West Coast First Nations symbolism, the doors speak to community balance and the oneness of all peoples, says Xwalacktun. Designed by Grant and Sinclair Architects, the Education Services Centre is a multi-use facility owned by North Vancouver School District 44. In addition to the ground-level, climate-controlled public gallery, the LEED Gold, 60,000-square-foot, six-floor building houses the Shadbolt and Reid teaching studios, Artists For Kids Trust and school board administrative offices and public conference facilities. The project is the result of the sale of two surplus school board properties in a deal that saw the redevelopment of the former school board offices and Lonsdale Elementary School into market residential housing. ���This multi-stakeholder project assists the School District in taking a tremendous step forward in sustainability by reducing operating costs and improving facilities in a way that would otherwise have no funding,��� says John Lewis, superintendent of schools. The ESC sits on the northeastern parcel of the former elementary school site parallel to the city���s major north-south transit and commercial corridor, Lonsdale Avenue. It is off-set and buffered from Lonsdale Avenue, to the east, by a line of eight mature, 50- to 70-foot, City-designated heritage horse chestnut trees. Several more of the trees wrap around the block heading west, framing the mountain views of some of the 234 units of market housing built next door. Monies from the sale of the Lonsdale school site also contributed to the heritage upgrades of two other city schools, the redesign of Rey Sargent Park ��� the park connected to and south of the ESC ��� and the on-site Lonsdale Energy Corporation renewable energy plant. The LEC is a City-owned energy provider that collaborated with the school board to build an on-site geothermal energy system that both warms and cools the ESC and its neighbouring buildings on the LEC grid. The geo-exchange field and geothermal wells that service the LEC energy loop sit under the building. The ground loop is a vertical field with seven separate loops of 11 boreholes each. Co-ordinating the building interface with the LEC miniplant, atypically located within the building, required considerable fine-tuning, says Derek Hendry, project manager, Stantec Consulting. ���It took many meetings to co-ordinate among all parties ��� LEC, landscape architect, arborist, civil engineer, North Vancouver Parks Board ��� the final layout of Gordon Smith Gallery & Education Services Centre p84-85Gordon Smith.indd 85 lumic photo L those boreholes,��� says Hendry. ���Once the driller was on site, the installation went well.��� To satisfy both the LEC and school board building needs, the LEC heat exchangers and the DDC system programming and sequencing had strict requirements, says Hendry. On the park side, the geothermal wells are strategically placed to not disturb root systems of the Black Locust trees that remain a central feature in the redesign of Rey Sargent Park. ���The stand of Locust trees were retained as an important amenity,��� says Rod Maruyama, principal, Maruyama & Associates. ���They buffer the building, and function as a visual background when entering the park from the south entrance. They also provide a dappled shape and airy effect.��� All stormwater from the ESC roof, walkways and general landscape areas divert into a vegetated bioswale system that enters a concrete weir feature in the park. An open space plaza, doubles as an outdoor art classroom and connects the gallery and park. A granite archway, constructed of salvaged stone from the former Londsdale Elementary School archway, links the park and the plaza with the two and a half acre neighbouring development. ���It connects the historic past with the new building and surrounding area���, says Maruyama. ���The challenge in this project was to seamlessly integrate two separate but connected sites.��� The building���s red brick and granite cladding echo its ties to the 1910 built Lonsdale Elementary. Both the ESC���s roof and the oval gallery lobby roof feature reclaimed timber beams from the former school. A large air handling unit (AHU) on the roof pulls relief air from the building up through the lightwells. A coil in the AHU either reclaims heat from the building or ejects it to a piping loop that is connected to a water-to-water heat exchanger. The building has an underfloor air distribution system that enables displacement ventilation, increases energy savings and improves air quality while allowing access to cabling in the subfloor for future office space changes. It accounts for an energy savings of some 45 per cent, says Hendry. The challenge with the UFAD is that all penetrations in the subfloor plenum for wiring, conduits and cable trays need to be sealed to ensure proper airflow and temperature in each zone, says Hendry. ���Temperature sensors need to be located correctly and penetrations sealed to avoid false readings.��� Penetrations for the integrated mechanical systems through the building structure required considerable attention to detail and co-ordination, says Clint Low, principal with Bush, Bohlman & Partners Structural Engineers. The openness of the lightwells provide a bird���s eye view of activity on each floor from the floors above creating a dynamic interplay among the floors. ���The extensive amount of glazing, from the lobby to the feature roof also meant that the building���s structure was exposed and expressed as part of the architecture. The structural elements weren���t bulky or messy but detailed and highly visible,��� says Low. A public amenity, the school board rents the building���s top floor for conferences, meetings, weddings, special events and gala celebrations. Retractable interior walls allow for multiple space configurations while solar sun shades retract to expose a near 360-degree view. ��� LOCATION 2121 Lonsdale Avenue North Vancouver, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER School District No. 44 North Vancouver ARCHITECT Grant + Sinclair Architects Ltd. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Heatherbrae Builders Co. Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Bush, Bohlman & Partners MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Stantec Consulting ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Jarvis Engineering Consultants LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Maruyama & Associates TOTAL AREA 60,000 square feet TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST $32.1 million february 2013��� ��� /85 13-01-22 3:49 PM