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The convention centre — currently undergoing a $615-million expansion — will offer a decidedly green perspective.
VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE
This artist’s rendering gives an aerial view of the centre.
Correspondent
VANCOUVER
Seeds are being sewn for a giant six-acre ‘living roof’ atop a newly-renovated Vancouver Convention Centre that is being designed as a focal-piece for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The convention centre — currently undergoing a $615-million expansion — will offer a decidedly green perspective.
Project director Russ Anthony said the convention centre is being redesigned to showcase the region’s environment.
The building, which abuts Vancouver’s Coal Harbour, is slated for completion in 2008 and will incorporate a bio-engineered aquatic habitat skirt at water’s edge, desalinization and blackwater treatment facilities, and what’s billed as one of the most ecologically sophisticated roofs in North America.
“We concluded that an ordinary roof would not be aesthetically pleasing,” Anthony said.
“We had an opportunity with that large an area to turn the roof into an urban oasis.”
Anthony said costs for the roof aren’t yet fully known, but preliminary analyses indicate the green roof will not cost significantly more than a traditional roof, particularly when lifecycle costs are factored in.
“The soil replaces some of the insulation. We satisfied ourselves there was no significant premium in order to have the type of roof we desired,” he said.
Design work started in 2003 and Anthony said things quickly began to fall into place.
“The tourism industry supported our concept. They said it would set the facility apart and create a marketing opportunity to bring delegates to the centre.”
Installation of steel framing and other structural components is set to begin later this year, but the gardening is already underway.
Bruce Hemstock of PWL Partnership, the landscape architect, said the project team has collected seeds and bulbs for nearly 400,000 plants — mostly wild grasses and grasslike vegetation native to the Pacific Northwest — and built test plots off-site more than a year ago.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount about the process of planting and the amount of mulch and water to use, and we’ve been able to fine-tune what we’ve already known.
“When we finally do the planting, we’ll be able to start from a point of knowledge as opposed to a point of discovery.”
Hemstock said the test plots have also helped identify suitable species.
“We want a diversity of grasses and plants that will flower at different times, produce different types of seed, and attract different insects and birds.”
A protective layer will keep nature outdoors, and a growing medium 15 centimetres deep will provide a base for the greenery. The sustainable design of the living roof includes drainage and recovery systems that will collect rainwater for irrigation.
A project of this magnitude has its share of challenges, and Vancouver’s wet climate is among them.
“This is a six-acre (2.4 hectare) parcel that can only be built when it’s not raining,” Hemstock said, explaining that timing has proven complicated. “We’re solving this by bringing in as many construction experts as we can that are related to the general contractor.
“We’re working very closely with them to develop scheduling that will allow portions of the roof to be built and finished within the drier season of the Lower Mainland, which is generally May through October. But it’s not a set season. It could rain the entire month of May, so we’ve needed contingency plans.”
Steven Peck, executive director of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a North American-wide proponent of green roofs, said the convention centre stands to have one of the highest-profile green roofs in the world when completed.
“They’re building out on the water,” Peck said, adding that he doesn’t know of any rival green roofs in Canada in terms of overall complexity.
“It involves different roof decks, a lot of research has been done to try to create a low-maintenance, self-sustaining system, and it’s state-of-the-art in terms of design and implementation,” Peck said.
“It will be a real showcase for the City of Vancouver and the Winter Olympics.”
Speaking of which, the convention centre will be going for a gold of its own.
The expansion project is registered with the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold-level certification.
Once the facility is completed, the project leaders must submit a detailed report and meet the required criteria for consideration.
Ian Theaker, LEED program manager for CaGBC, said gold is a popular target these days for Canadian green building proponents, so the convention centre is in good company.
He adds, however, that the building’s combined features, plus its overall scale, make it an ambitious project.
“When we finally do the planting, we’ll be able to start from a point of knowledge as opposed to a point of discovery"
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