Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/687429
88 | J UNE 2016 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ARCHITECTS TILLMANN RUTH ROBINSON Ontario Hall Residence – Western University by ANGELA ALTASS W ith the construction of Ontario Hall, a new student residence at 230 Sarnia Road in London, Ontario, Western University continues to honour its guarantee of residence space for all first year students. "In 2010, the University decided to increase the size of our first year enrollment to the 5,000 range," says Boris Pertout, project manager, facilities management, Western University. "This increase put pressure on our division of housing services as about 25 per cent of residences are allocated to upper year students who act as dons, advisors and mentors. To accommodate the increase the University moved forward with this new 1,000 bed residence." The 600-bed first phase of the $74-million project was finished in 2013 and the building was fully complete by the summer of 2014. Working with a compressed timeframe was challenging, notes Tom Tillmann, principal, architects Tillmann Ruth Robinson. "Within six months of starting the project we had gone from blank paper to developing vision and goals to getting out on the street to tender," says Tillmann. Ontario Hall is the fourth student residence that architects Tillmann Ruth Robinson and Southside Construction (London) Limited have worked on for Western University. There are five wings with one, two and four bedroom suites and a bathroom in each suite. An open commercial kitchen and dining area on the second floor accommodates up to 3,000 meals per day, and the building also features a conference room, private and group study rooms, lounges, a fitness and health and wellness area, as well as active entertainment spaces. "We are very pleased with the building both architecturally and the amenities that it offers," says Chris Bumbacco, director, housing and ancillary services, Western University. "The housing department offices at the University were scattered over a couple of buildings, but we have now been able to consolidate all of our offices at Ontario Hall." The new building is the largest LEED- certified, multi-unit residential project in London. Key sustainable design elements include onsite stormwater collection and treatment, comprehensive green housekeeping and green building education plans, irrigation fed from the rainwater catchment system and electric vehicle charging stations. The dining area includes Energy Star cooking and food storage equipment. "Low-flow plumbing fixtures, dual flush toilets and ultra-low-flow urinals reduce water consumption by 40 per cent," says Anthony Pancino, senior mechanical designer, Vanderwesten Rutherford Mantecon. "Ninety-five per cent efficiency gas-fired condensing boilers are used in the building. The cooling system consists of two water- cooled high-efficiency chillers using multiple compressors equipped with frictionless oil-free magnetic bearings to reduce operating noise. All circulating pumps are equipped with VFD motors integrated to the facility management control system. Sensor operating lighting controls reduce usage during daylight hours and non-occupied times." Working on the project meant reacting quickly to resolve any issues or conflicts on site in order to keep the tight schedule on track, says Pancino. "We were very pleased to help the University in achieving LEED Silver and contributing to a building with such a strong environmental performance," says Grant Peters, manager, Green Building Services, Fluent Group Consulting Engineers Inc. "This was the first large scale LEED dormitory that we worked on. We had done several condo projects in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area but an institutional dormitory building like this one required a slightly different approach and was a good learning experience for everyone." Fitting the 34,000-square-metre building into the Western University campus was a challenge. "This is a six- storey building but it is built into the side of a hill so from street level it looks like it's four storeys," says Tillmann. The structure is a combination of cast- in-place concrete and structural steel, says Rick Stranges, VP, VanBoxmeer & Stranges Engineering Ltd. "The residential portion of the building is completed using 175 to 200-millimetre one-way continuous concrete slabs on load bearing concrete walls," says Stranges. "The residence slabs run parallel with the outside walls. The slabs bear on interior concrete walls perpendicular to the outside walls and are located between the suites." The central portion of the building, which contains the common spaces, offices and cafeteria, are constructed using structural steel beams and joists. "There were not many surprises on this project," says Stranges. "There was one unforeseen surprise where we ran into some soft soil. The steel structure in the common area was a little bit of a challenge with sloped roofs, roof projections and cantilevers. In the end it was well worth it and we were able to help the architect bring their design to life by working the steel structure." "We were able to exercise a little more of the contemporary side of architecture with this project," says Tillmann. "As you get closer to the centre of the campus, the architecture is more collegiate goth, which gave us freedom in our choice of materials. We made use of stone, brick and Prodema panel accents. The study lounges are glass and stack up on the building facing two courtyards. We put a film on the glass of a tree, following the idea of a tree of knowledge, with light filtering through it." The main challenge that influenced the landscape design was the extreme grade change from the street levels to the south entrance of the building, says Martha Berkvens, landscape architect, Ron Koudys Landscape Architects Inc. "The building was used to transition the grade change with the landscaping helping to soften this elevational drop," says Berkvens. "The vision behind the landscape architecture of this project was to create an extension of the building architecture with its horizontal lines and panels into the landscape with the use of large masses of shrubs and perennials, punctuated with trees providing vertical relief. By creating large masses of colour and structure, we were able to provide a visual impact that is pleasing. Safety was also a major influence as the user should feel comfortable and safe when using and walking through the space." Horizontal walls with benches help to direct the user and provide gradual elevation changes, allowing gentle transitions between spaces, says Berkvens. "The ground plane is divided into panels with the strategic placement of wide contrasting concrete bands," says Berkvens. "This banding also helps to visually accent the path of travel to the main and secondary entrances of the building." Drywall is used on the interior of the building and each suite has operable windows and HVAC controls. "That's one of the things we've been doing at Western," says Tillmann, "we've been successfully doing interior partitioning with drywall. We firmly believe that if you build a place like a prison, students will treat it as a prison. Students are used to drywall at home so why wouldn't we use it on a student residence?" Being LEED Silver, this project required detailed steps for design and equipment selection, notes Pancino. "The tight deadline was a challenge for both design and construction," says Pancino. "All parties involved were very experienced with this type of building, which made the entire project a success with minimal surprises." A LOCATION 230 Sarnia Road, London, Ontario OWNER Western University ARCHITECT Architects Tillmann Ruth Robinson GENERAL CONTRACTOR Southside Construction (London) Limited STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT VanBoxmeer & Stranges Engineering Ltd. MECHANICAL/ ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Vanderwesten Rutherford Mantecon LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Ron Koudys Landscape Architects Inc. LEED CONSULTANT Fluent Group Consulting Engineers Inc. TOTAL AREA 34,000 square metres TOTAL COST $74 million Ontario Hall Residence – Western University