Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/607779
DECEMBER 2015 | 87 Kahanoff Centre Expansion RENDERINGS COURTESY DIALOG Kahanoff Centre Expansion by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI T he new Kahanoff Centre expansion in Calgary has got the local commu- nity on its feet dancing . . . literally! The 12-storey addition to the current 11-storey Kahanoff Centre in down- town Calgary will be the new home to Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) – a professional dance company rooted in the history of jazz dance and music. The Kahanoff Foundation and The Calgary Foundation had a vision to extend the current facility to provide more space for charities that needed to be close to the downtown core. So when the registered charity DJD approached the foundations with the idea to include a dance studio in the new expansion, it seemed like a natural fit. Afterall, the foundations have been assisting in the future health of charities and non-prof- its for years with its one-of-a-kind facil- ity at Kahanoff Centre, which rents units to charities at 75 per cent of market. "DJD was looking for its own space and we thought having a dance studio would be advantageous to charitable organizations and to the community. As the facility is most active in the early eve- ning, it will enhance the sense of activity in the area," says Alan Moon, Kahanoff Centre Charitable Activities board chair. How they would go about extending the current facility was another matter and one that required teamwork and a visionary shoehorn. Its design focuses on DJD's initiative to "bring dance to the street and make it accessible." The Kahanoff Centre expan- sion will house seven new studios for DJD including a 200-seat performance theatre on the lower five floors and an additional six floors of contemporary office space for the Kahanoff Centre. "On a very tight site and bounded almost entirely on all edges, these vol- umes intentionally push toward the street offering multiple and varied views into the studios, theatre and pub- lic function rooms," explains Janice Liebe, principal at Dialog. "The primary volume is the second floor theatre and lobby which extends toward and into the street. At the top of the building is a two-storey lit art wall inside a final glazed volume serving as a beacon for the facility and animating the skyline." Originally the idea to build a separate tower was considered, but due to seis- mic considerations and space, an addi- tion was eventually chosen that would interweave with the existing structure. The result is two buildings that are seis- mically coupled with zero gap. "The project extends to the prop- erty line on three sides and connects to the existing building on the fourth side. To overcome working on such a tight site we secured our site accom- modation on an adjacent property and rented land to the east," explains Ian Williams, construction manager with CANA Construction. This also meant that all materials had to come in using a just-in-time delivery model. The Kahanoff Centre expansion is a cast-in-place concrete structure that features brickwork on the east elevation and glazing curtainwall. As the entire west side of the project abuts the exist- ing Kahanoff Centre and the east side was built to the lot line, Dialog included an inverted glazed bay that extends the height of the office floors to provide day- light for the office tenancies. The ground floor program, which is fully visible from the street, includes a spacious community lounge, reception and a large dance studio. A feature stair up to the theatre is located at the 12th Avenue glazing line. Having open plan dance studios on the lower levels and office spaces above posed a structural challenge. To over- come this, Read Jones Christoffersen used a post-tensioning system. "We don't commonly use that system as its more challenging to install, but it was necessary to achieve the desired effect," says Luke Groeneveld, associate at Read Jones Christoffersen. "The post- tensioned slab on level seven up to the roof was chosen to match the existing building ceiling heights of the Kahanoff Centre," adds Williams. A series of large transfer beams were integrated into the section, co-ordi- nated with sightlines within the theatre and located to support additional mez- zanine spaces. "We built a structure that spans clear across the studio and holds up the remainder of the seven storeys. While this is common for office struc- tures with parkades below, in this case the difference is that the span is much longer. So when you get a transfer in a building that is 18 metres it can be quite a challenge," adds Groeneveld. The DJD tenant space is designed to LEED CI Silver and so focus was paid on the durability of the surfaces and mate- rials; primarily exposed concrete, raw steel and glass. Lighting is LED and a low velocity stratified air system is pro- vided throughout for comfort, energy efficiency and for the acoustic benefit of a quieter HVAC system. With multiple dance and music areas, a number of acoustic solutions were required. Kinetics Noise Control, Inc. was selected to provide wall and ceiling isolators, as well as two different floor systems; the practice areas incorpo- rated a concrete pour-in-place isolation system and the main performance stu- dio received floor spring isolators. "Proper installation is key to ensure that these systems operate as designed," says Andy Strasser of Merlin Integrated Solutions. "While not difficult to install, you only get once chance to get it right before one hundred millimetres of con- crete covers the isolators." RJC was also tasked with providing a structure that would allow 12 danc- ers at the same time to be suspended off the ground. "We scratched our heads about that for a while due to the safety considerations, but in the end we based the structure on Occupational Health and Safety requirements as they apply to window cleaning to provide the high- est level of safety," adds Groeneveld. Being classified as one building posed additional challenges for Mulvey + Banani and SNC-Lavalin, as the two buildings share mechanical and electri- cal components. "We ended up design- ing one electrical room on the main f loor of the new tower and re-feed- ing the existing risers of the existing building," explains Reza Pourfarahani, senior electrical project manager at Mulvey + Banani. A new emergency generator in the new tower serves both buildings. "Re-feeding the existing emergency power distri- bution was challenging. We traced all circuits back and re-fed all existing emer- gency loads, including the fire pump," adds Pourfarahani. The DJD space also features a dis- placement ventilation air distribution system where air is introduced into the space at low level and at low velocities. "This type of air distribution is effec- tive at delivering fresh air directly to occupants and removing contaminants and heat by buoyancy forces," explains Zdenek Zitko, mechanical designer at SNC-Lavalin. "There should always be a greater amount of fresh air in the breathing zone when compared to a conventional dilution [air mixing] sys- tem. The DV system typically leads to energy savings associated with smaller fans and higher chiller efficiency." Kahanoff Centre expansion is on schedule with a completion date of February 2016. "Everyone has been really supportive and the current tenants have been very patient during construc- tion. It has been a vision of the Kahanoff Foundation to bring this vision to reality. It's the only project of its kind in Canada and is a testament to all those involved," says Moon. A LOCATION 105 – 12th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta OWNER/DEVELOPER The Kahanoff Centre for Charitable Activities PROJECT MANAGER Target Project Management Inc. ARCHITECT DIALOG CONSTRUCTION MANAGER CANA Construction STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd. MECHANICAL CONSULTANT SNC-Lavalin ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Mulvey + Banani GEOTECHNICAL CONSULTANT McIntosh Lalani Engineering Ltd. TOTAL SIZE 64,000 square feet TOTAL COST $23.9 million