*** Welcome to piglix ***

Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability

Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) zamani
CIRS Building UBC.jpg
The CIRS building
General information
Type Offices, Lecture Hall
Address 2260 West Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z4
Construction started 2009
Completed August 2011
Cost CA$37 million
Owner University of British Columbia
Technical details
Floor count 4
Design and construction
Architect Peter Busby of Perkins+Will
Structural engineer Fast + Epp
Website
cirs.ubc.ca

The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is located at the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Point Grey Campus in Vancouver. The building is dedicated to research collaboration and outreach on urban sustainability. It was officially opened in November 2011.

The CIRS vision is to be the most innovative high performance building in North America and an internationally recognized leader in accelerating the adopt of sustainable building and urban practices.

Some key features:

It has been certified LEED Platinum by the Canada Green Building Council.

The CIRC was conceived in 2000 by Professor John Robinson and designed by Peter Busby who excelled in green building designs. Together, they organized and talked to potential partners which led to Alberto Cayuela, formally an employee of Stantec and now associate director responsible for CIRS, joining the team as program manager.

Once funding and concept was decided, the location was chosen. Originally, it was to be built on the UBC Point Grey campus, but, because CIRS was an inter-instituational project (UBC leads the project in conjunction with Simon Fraser University, BC Institute of Technology, and Emily Carr University of Art + Design) it was felt that the Great Northern Way campus would be a better position. In line with the idea of an inter-institutional project, the new position would expand its scope and breadth.

In 2008, the decision to move CIRS back to UBC Point Grey campus was made due to delays to the project timeline brought on by the complexity of building on the Great Northern Campus. Although, now only one institution (UBC) owned CIRS, other institutions continued to participate through other means.

Construction began in 2009 with excavation and foundation work for the first six months with the building being complete in August 2011.

The CIRS is constructed of wood and allows for various benefits such as reducing ecological impact, sequestering carbon, helping the mitigation of an ecological problem, bringing warmth to the building interiors, and also maximizing daylight and views.

The primary exterior material is white brick, clear glazing, wood, and neutral colored concrete. The benefits are the reduction of 'red list' materials, improvement of indoor air quality, reduction of material waste, and reduction of carbon emissions.

The CIRS achieves a net-positive energy performance and reduces UBC's overall energy consumption by over 1 million kilowatt hours per year. The energy system benefits the project by providing a comparison between energy modelling processes, allows for more opportunities for research and system testing, inspire a new approach to energy supply/consumption, reduce heat demand and carbon emissions of neighboring buildings, and provide opportunities for continued learning.


...
Wikipedia

...