Award

D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 | 79 Putman Family YWCA P H OTO G R A P H Y CO U RT E S Y C P C I ; Y WC A H A M I LTO N PUTMAN FAMILY YWCA by ROBIN BRUNET H aving been through a nine-year process of community consul- tation and funding generation, Y WCA Hamilton was skeptical about building its new Putman Family Y WCA affordable housing project to the Passive House standard. Medora Uppal, director of opera- tions and incoming CEO at Y WCA Hamilton, explains, "This would be the city's first affordable housing resi- dence for women and their children, and we were worried we couldn't afford the upfront costs, plus we had heard of operational difficulties with some sustainable elements of facilities elsewhere in Canada." But Uppal goes on to say that Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. (KMAI) "won us over with their con- cept of what our Passive House would consist of. Plus, the upfront costs turned out to be affordable, and they would eventually be absorbed by the building's energy savings." The Y WCA is a six-storey build- ing consisting of a one-storey and basement community programming podium, and a five-storey residen- tial component of 50 units. The design also includes multiple outdoor ame- nity spaces. KMAI has collectively been work- ing on Passive House projects since 2009, and because of this expertise Esther van Eeden, director of high- performance building at KMAI, says, "The capital cost uplift originally esti- mated at seven to eight percent came closer to two percent, with the build- ing expected to realize energy savings of about 70 to 80 percent and annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 25 percent." Irene Rivera, associate architect at KMAI, points out that a variety of design and construction decisions has made the Y WCA Hamilton an example of how developers can achieve a high level of sustainability. First, careful consideration was given to the mate- riality as well as thermal properties of the building envelope and orienta- tion of space to ensure optimal energy performance. In 2016, early collabora- tion with all stakeholders resulted in the incorporation of stringent Passive House insulation and air barrier spec- ification into a concrete wall system. This integrated design process enabled value engineering that achieved the best performing wall value, which would not have been possible later in the construction process. Rivera adds that KMAI determined that the facility should be constructed using modular/prefabricated meth- ods, "making this a first mid-rise full precast Passive House in Canada." This had carbon-reduction advantages of fewer trucks and trades needed on site compared to cast-in-place techniques. Also due to precast, all components were manufactured in one factory (Coreslab Structures of Hamilton) under controlled conditions. The R-value of Coreslab's panels were doubled using a European phenolic resin that hadn't been used in Canada before, sandwiched between two slabs of concrete. "Coreslab joining us, alongside the owners and the builders during the early conversations about our design was critical to the project's success," Rivera says. KMAI is known for designing spaces that delight and transform, and the architects were adamant that Passive House wouldn't compromise creative expression. "For example, we worked with Coreslab to study dif- ferent colours, textures, and reveal combinations for the facade design," Rivera says. Van Eeden adds that for the build- ing to reflect The City of Hamilton's heritage, the ground floor sandwich panels were manufactured with a red brick pattern finish, augmented with accent stones removed from the com- munity centre that was demolished to make way for the new facility. Rivera adds, "Also, the upper floors have two different colours, black and grey, with the panels of one being smooth and those of the other made in a vertical pattern, with feature colours around the windows and entrance." Residents have floor-to-ceiling windows in their units, and large windows on the sixth floor overlook the Niagara escarpment. Ground broke on the project in 2018. Schilthuis, a builder experi- enced in Passive House standards, followed Passive House principles of eliminating thermal bridges, using high-performance windows, install- ing energy recovery ventilators with heat exchangers for passive heat- ing, and creating an airtight envelope (each of the 243 precast panels had to be taped along with the triple-paned windows, some of which weighed close to 1,000 pound and required a robot to be moved into place). For her part, Uppal says the fin- ished facility "is very comforting and welcoming, which is what our pro- gramming required. And Passive House turned out to be an effective solution. There is no complicated advanced technology or expensive documentation; it is simply a high- quality building designed to last and use about 90 percent less energy than a conventional building." A LOCATION 52 Ottawa Street North, Hamilton, Ontario OWNER /DEVELOPER YWCA Hamilton ARCHITECT Kearns Mancini Architects Inc. GENER AL CONTR ACTOR Schilthuis Construction Inc. MECHANICAL /ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Integral Group L ANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Fleisher Ridout Partnership Inc. (FRP Inc.) TOTAL SIZE 54,000 square feet TOTAL COST $24.6 million

• Cover