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August 2014 ANNUAL INDUSTRY FEATURE: Hardwood Flooring Book your ad space now: Dan Chapman 604.473.0316 Alexander Sugden 604.473.0358 the contours of the land creating low and high areas out of public view. This is where the physical barriers and the "back of house" support buildings are hidden. "This project was unique in that the buildings had to conform to the site, rather than the site conforming to the buildings," explains Hanna. The goal was to recreate the sparse and rugged landscape of the North, and to make the buildings �it in with that landscape. "Rock materials are promi- nent," says Hanna. "We used a lot of sculpted shotcrete, and that became cladding for the buildings as well as the edging around displays and the pool structures." Building materials included weathering Corten steel, which rusts into a Churchill-inspired patina, and smoothly �inished composite aluminum panels on the Aurora Borealis Theatre, Gateway to the Arctic and International Polar Bear Conservation Centre. In keeping with its message of con- servation, sustainability was a key ele- ment of the exhibit's design, from the materials used to build it to the mechan- ical systems that power it. To that end, Journey to Churchill is powered by an impressively large geothermal loop, connecting the Tundra Grill, the �iltra- tion building, Gateway to the Arctic and the International Polar Bear Con- servation Centre. Each building has its own heat pump system plus a backup gas-powered boiler system, and a sepa- rate pump house for the pumps for the geothermal loop itself, explains Stirling Walkes, principal at mechanical and electrical consultant SMS Engineering. "We even used a horizontal bore to drill underneath the parking lot and use that area for a geothermal heat sink as well. "To optimize the installation costs, we used some of the excavation the gen- eral contractor was doing anyway to lay some tubing down before they reburied it in creating new mounds and contour- ing the site," adds Walkes. The most challenging aspect, how- ever, was coordinating the construction schedules of four separate buildings, and getting each one up and running before the geothermal �ield was done, says Walkes. "Typically, our geothermal loops have been dedicated to a single building. It was a little more interesting doing it this way!" ■ LOCATION 2595 Roblin Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba OWNER/DEVELOPER Assiniboine Park Conservancy PRIME CONSULTANT The Portico Group ASSOCIATE ARCHITECT Number TEN Architectural Group GENERAL CONTRACTOR Stuart Olson Dominion Construction STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd. MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT SMS Engineering Ltd. CIVIL CONSULTANT KGS Group EXHIBIT CONSULTANT COST of Canada Contractors, ULC TOTAL AREA 10 acres TOTAL PROJECT COST $90 million The Polar Playground at Assiniboine Park Zoo. Journey to Churchill – Assiniboine Park Zoo 92/ JUNE 2014 p.90-93Journey to Churchill.indd 92 14-06-03 10:31 AM