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FEBRUARY 2015 | 61 The Nest – Student Union Building at UBC PHOTOGRAPHY BRETT HITCHINS / COURTESY DIALOG The Nest – Student Union Building at UBC BY ZUZANNA WODZYNSKA V ancouver's University of British Columbia (UBC) has a new Student Union Building (SUB) sitting at the heart of its campus. The Nest, as it has been named, came about as a result of an intensive Integrated Design Process (IDP) that involved input from UBC stu- dents and various stakeholders, which plans to serve as a model for future devel- opments at UBC. This modern, five-storey, mixed-use building exhibits and promotes sus- tainable life through many elements of its structure, features and functions. Its distinctive form and character picks up on, and is responsive to, that of the adja- cent buildings. "The form of the eastern zinc cowl roof is ref lective of the sloped cop- per roof of the old SUB roof, while the southerly Great Hall speaks to the form of the historic War Memorial Gym to the east," explains Joost Bakker, lead archi- tect from DIALOG that joined forces with B+H Architects for this project. "The strong vertical treatment of win- dows and Taktl panelling on the Nest creates a character sympathetic to both the strong verticality of the concrete- buttressed existing SUB and the refined vertical frit glass patterning of the new Alumni Building to the south." The five-storey west atrium features a sawtooth roof of glulam trusses and CLT panels. Exposed wood, breathtaking views and the Nest Lounge characterize this space. The lounge is open air and stands on three slender steel columns that make it appear to be floating in the mid- dle of the space. The east atrium provides a quiet escape with a beautiful glass staircase and four-storey high, boomerang- shaped glulam columns. Strategically placed on the south side of the building, the great hall plaza sits between existing and future bus loops and can provide shelter for transit users on rainy days. The Nest also hosts the governing Alma Mater Society (AMS) and its services, various club rooms, rentable spaces, offices, a theatre, an art gallery, a daycare and broadcast facilities. Cast-in-place concrete was utilized for the U-shaped structural floor plates, while FSC-sourced wood and structural steel were used and left exposed for the SUB's large open spaces. Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) was used for all concrete work – a category of cement that permits the inter-grinding of linker with up to 15 per cent of limestone. "Traditionally five per cent has been the maximum permitted," says Damien Stoneham, associate with Read Jones Christoffersen (RJC) and project engi- neer on the SUB. "PLC can be used with Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCM) and can further decrease carbon dioxide emissions by up to 10 per cent when compared to regular General Use (GU) Portland Cement." Since UBC's newest addition is tar- geting LEED Platinum, sustainabil- ity and energy efficiency are evident throughout the building's design. "The primary heating source for the building is from extracting the heat from the low temperature return con- densate system, which is the by-product of UBC's district steam system," states Alex Chou, mechanical engineer on the project from AME Consulting Group Ltd. "By drawing heat from the condensate system, the condensate water tempera- ture going back to the UBC steam plant is lower, resulting in higher efficiency." Cooling the building without the use of mechanical cooling while satisfying thermal comfort was one challenge. A cutting-edge Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model ensured that LOCATION 6133 University Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C. OWNER UBC Alma Mater Society PROJECT MANAGER UBC Properties Trust ARCHITECTS DIALOG / B+H Architects CONSTRUCTION MANAGER Bird Construction Company STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT AME Consulting Group Ltd. ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Applied Engineering Solutions Ltd. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS PWL Partnership Inc. / PFS Studio TOTAL AREA 217,000 square feet TOTAL PROJECT COST $103 million

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