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OCTOBER 2015 | 69 Canalta Centre PHOTOGRAPHY & RENDERING COURTESY ARCHITECTURE49 INC. Canalta Centre by ZUZANNA WODZYNSKA E arly this fall, the City of Medicine Hat, Alberta, opened the doors to its new hockey arena and concert venue in the northwest corner of the city. Clearly visible from the Trans-Canada Highway, the Canalta Centre is targeting LEED Silver standards for its state-of-the-art, 198,000-square-foot structure. The dynamic building form has mod- ern, angular lines with distinctive red vertical stair towers. The structure con- sists of three occupied levels; the event level, the main concourse and the upper suites, as well as five distinct levels of roofs, including the stair towers. "The main entrance plaza is located on the northwest face of the building, the highest point of the site," says Albert Paquette, lead architect on the project at Architecture49 Inc. "The seating bowl is sunk into the slope so that the public enters from the high point at the concourse level, with a direct view into the arena bowl." Eliminating as many stairs as possi- ble was very important from an ease of access perspective, according to Grant MacKay, the City of Medicine Hat's proj- ect manager for the Canalta Centre. "The design for the Centre is unique, with at-grade entrances for both spectators onto the main concourse and for ath- letes and performers to access the event level," adds MacKay. "It's the best of both worlds in one design." What really makes the Canalta Centre stand out from the crowd, however, is its unconventional ice refrigeration heat recovery system. "All waste heat from the ammonia ice refrigeration system is recovered for building heating, domestic hot water, ice surfacing hot water heat- ing, rink floor under slab heating, ice melt pit and dehumidification," explains Seann Caldwell, lead mechanical engi- neer on the project at WSP. "The heat pumps are connected to the ice refrig- eration glycol storage tank that uses the low refrigeration condenser water tem- perature of 32 degrees Celsius for heat- ing rather than rejecting heat outside as seen in conventional ice arenas." These heat pumps are used through- out the facility for heating and cooling, including all heat producing rooms such as electrical, communication and mechanical to recover heat back into the system. Other mechanical energy saving mea- sures include use of variable frequency drives on pumps, direct digital controls and high efficiency condensing boilers and hot water heaters. The electrical sys- tems at Canalta Centre also contribute to minimize energy usage and reduce main- tenance costs such as the bowl lighting, which uses LED luminaires. "Compared to the metal halide lumi- naires typically used, the LED ones can save approximately 50 per cent of the energy costs, last up to five times lon- ger before needing replacement and can be instantly turned on or off without the use of mechanical baffles that trap heat and require additional wiring and controls," says Arnold Con, lead elec- trical engineer on the project at WSP. "The LED luminaires can be dimmed as well, giving greater lighting flexibil- ity, whereas metal halide ones are only either off or on." The arena is also equipped with an enhanced smoke evacuation system typically found in high rises. "Air sam- pling tubes are located throughout the concourse level," explains Con. "Upon detection of smoke or of a sprinkler head releasing water, the motorized dampers open, exhaust fans turn on, supply fans to the area shut down and the staircases become pressurized." On the event level, the smoke evacuation system is manu- ally activated. Construction of the Centre began in August of 2013, with challenges arising due to inclement weather. "Unusually cold temperatures during the first win- ter season of construction impacted onsite production of the cast-in-place foundations," recalls Greg Sheremeta, senior project manager for the centre at PCL Construction Management Inc. Over the past two years, Medicine Hat also experienced an unusually wet spring, followed by a very warm summer and some windy days too. "Throughout the project, PCL and our trade contrac- tors were able to adapt through varying weather conditions by re-sequencing a number of the construction activities while still maintaining the schedule," says Sheremeta. 10:14 AM

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