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A PR IL 2018 | 67 Wood Innovation Research Laboratory – University of Northern British Columbia RENDERING COURTESY STANTEC ARCHITECTURE LTD. Wood Innovation Research Laboratory – University of Northern British Columbia by NATALIE BRUCKNER-MENCHELLI I f the Wood Innovation Research Laboratory (WIRL) in Prince George obtains the Passive House certification it is seeking, it will become the first educational/industrial facility in Canada to do so, and prove that energy efficiency doesn't have to come at a crazy cost, can be done within a very tight timeline, and in a northern climate such as Prince George. "WIRL will allow students and researchers in the Master of Engineering program to conduct unique experiments, test innova- tive theories, and discover creative uses for wood in sustainable design," says University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) president Daniel Weeks. "This outstanding new facil- ity also builds upon the work done by UNBC researchers to demonstrate how an industrial building in the North can be built to Passive House standards." Guido Wimmers, chair of the Master of Engineering program at UNBC and an expert on Passive House construc- tion, says that after moving into the Wood Innovation and Design Centre (WIDC), the department quickly real- ized that the laboratory was too small, and so after extensive research to see if Passive House certification would be possible for a new building, UNBC applied for Government funding via the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund. "It's the first building in B.C. where Passive House has been accepted for funding purposes; we've been a trail- blazer in that sense," says Wimmers. The 9,680-square-foot, over-height, single-storey structure comprises a glulam post and beam superstruc- ture over an insulated raft foundation and features an integrated strong wall and strong floor to enable destruc- tive structural testing, explains Alex Ortega at IDL Projects Inc. Located on a former parking lot and with WIDC as its neighbour, the team, which included Stantec Architecture and IDL Projects Inc., ensured that the laboratory responds to and com- plements its surrounding building forms. "The exterior of the building is basically a black box with hints of wood that offer an insight into what is happening inside," says Ray Wolfe, principal lead architect, Stantec. As a building seeking Passive House certification, the orientation and the placement of windows was integral. "Windows are a culprit for heat loss, so we kept this in mind, while making the building as visu- ally appealing as possible from the streetscape," says Wolfe. The south side of the building is a source of heat, views, and natural light for the office and seminar spaces within the building on the mezzanine level, with the windows of the facility being shaded by external devices to reduce unwanted solar gain. The building also features a large overhead door to allow trucks to back in and deliver material. David Claus, assistant director facil- ities at UNBC adds that construction of the building was a challenge because of the prefab walls. "They were delivered as soon as they were manufactured. Being at the forefront of a new way of building means the prefab sector has a ways to catch up." Inside, visitors are greeted by a high-tech lab and the massive concrete strongwall, the sheer mass of which is "incredibly impressive," says Wolfe. "As a testing facility, it has a strong floor, and a strong wall system that is 20-feet tall, one-metre thick and is made of solid concrete. It runs half the length of the facility and turns in an L shape. The concrete wall features anchors in a 16-inch square pattern on the entire wall and the floor on which it sits is equally as thick and has the same anchors. This is where the wood testing will be conducted," says Wolfe. There is also a five ton crane that will transport the equip- ment in the building. "The heating load is limited for a Passive House on a per area basis, but heat is lost through the whole envelope. This makes it particularly difficult to achieve PH for high ceiling spaces, as they have more wall area per floor area," says Andrea Frisque, associate with Stantec, certified Passive House designer and senior building perfor- mance engineer. One of the most impressive ele- ments of the building has to be the walls. "The project team came up with a very creative way to build a two- foot-thick wall with studs which are trusses that have been used vertically instead of horizontally to reduce the thermal bridge effect," says Wimmers. Marc Trudeau, certified Passive House designer with Stantec, drew on his unique experience as both a registered architect and a professional engineer in supporting the team in developing the wall concept. LOCATION 1153 4th Avenue, Prince George, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER University of Northern British Columbia ARCHITECT Stantec Architecture Ltd. GENERAL CONTRACTOR IDL Projects Inc. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT Aspect Structural Engineers MECHANICAL/ELECTRICAL/ BUILDING PERFORMANCE CONSULTANT Stantec Inc. TOTAL SIZE 9,680 square feet TOTAL COST $5.3 million The walls feature an Intello wrap air vapour barrier procured locally and Rockwool insulation. "With walls that thick moisture is a concern, so this solution helped with that," explains Ortega. These walls, alongside other design and build elements have resulted in another impressive achievement: "In terms of airtightness, Passsive House certified buildings stipulate a maxi- mum of 0.6 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals pressure; we are aiming to break the North American record of 0.05," says Wimmers. For the mechanical and electri- cal systems, Thys Fourie, electrical engineer at Stantec, says that careful placement was required, while care- fully monitoring the impact on the energy efficiency of the building. The WIRL features LED lighting through- out as well as floor heating, which means the entire heat is distributed throughout the concrete slab. To say this project was a success is an understatement. In just 20 months, the team involved has done what Wimmers rightly says was an "unimag- inable task," that couldn't have been done without being a design build proj- ect featuring a highly collaborative and passionate team "WIRL is an opportunity to educate people about what can be done. It is a milestone in our industry in how we detail window openings, insulation, and basically how we can make buildings the most energy efficient they can be. These are tools we can now apply to other buildings, regardless of Passive House certification," says Wolfe, to which Claus adds: "We are demonstrating now where the building code will be in 15 years. Most of the materials we used on the project, we already use. It's just a case of how we apply them and how much is used that is the difference." A

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