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C.K. Choi Institute for Asian Research

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Location

1855 West Mall UBC
Vancouver, BC
Canada

Content Type
  • Building
Completion date
1996
Site/Building area
Building: 3,000 m2
Budget
$4,500,000
Certifications & Awards
  • 2000: Earth Day Top Ten Award, American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment
  • 2000: Millennium Celebration of Canadian Architecture, Royal Architecture Institute of Canada
  • 1998: Award for Innovation Excellence, Architectural Institute of British Columbia
  • 1998: Lieutenant Governor of B.C. Award of Excellence, Architectural Institute of British Columbia (Matsuzaki Wright Architects)
  • 1997: Building Award of Excellence, Consulting Engineers of British Columbia
  • 1997: "Best Building," International Resource Award (awarded in Seattle)
  • 1996: British Columbia Earth Award, Building Owners and Managers Association
  • 1996: Power Smart Award of Excellence, New Institutional Building, BC Hydro
project team
  • Owner: The University of British Columbia
  • Project Manager: Brian Murfitt, John Anderson
  • Architect: Matsuzaki Wright Architects Inc.
  • Structural Engineer: Read Jones Christoffersen Ltd.
  • Mechanical Engineer: Stantec (formerly Keen Engineering)
  • Electrical Engineer: Robert Freundlich & Associates
  • Landscape Architect: Cornelia Hahn Oberlander Landscape Architects
  • General Contractor: Country West Construction

Summary

Key Sustainability Features

  • Minimal site disturbance
  • Maximum daylight penetration into building
  • Lights regulated by sensors
  • Reuse of local salvaged materials
  • Wastewater reduction strategies

When the C.K. Choi Building was opened in June 1996, it set a benchmark for green design in North America. Front-loaded with an emphasis on design, it used an integrated design process that required that engineers and architects to work together in close collaboration.

To reduce site disturbance and maintain as much of the forest as possible, the C.K. Choi building is situated on the footprint of a former parking lot. The resulting narrow floor plate allows for maximum daylight penetration. Electric light is provided by high efficiency T8 lights with electronic ballasts that are regulated by photosensors and occupancy sensors. Natural ventilation is achieved using trickle vents, operable windows, cross and stack ventilation. Double glazed, argon filled glass with a low-E finish reduces heat loss through windows. As a result of these measures the building uses 23% less energy than ASHRAE 90.1 and is run using BC Hydro Power Smart Green Power certificates. The five distinctive "sails" are oriented for solar exposure and pre-wired to facilitate the future installation of photovoltaics.

The building used finishing materials only when they were strictly needed for acoustical reasons. Paint was only used for light reflection. Seventy-five year-old timbers salvaged from an adjacent building make up 90% of the structure. The exterior cladding is made of bricks that came to Canada from Europe as ships' ballast, and then were used as road paving in Yaletown. The building's doors, toilet accessories, towel dispensers, partitions, stair handrails, and conduits for electrical wires were recycled from a demolished downtown office building. In addition, all of the drywall, steel, concrete, and metal roof panels used at the C.K. Choi include recycled material.

The C.K. Choi is probably best known for its wastewater reduction strategies. The C.K. Choi was built without a sewer connection. It is the first commercial/institutional building in North America to use composting toilets. Wastewater is managed on site using 10 Clivus composting toilets, which reduce the volume of waste by 90%. Trapless ventilated urinals save over 1,000 litres of water a day. Greywater from the lavatories and the "compost tea" (the liquid portion left over from the decomposition process) is piped into the subsurface wetland filter located on the east side of the building. This system, which is planted with irises and rushes, was devised based on research conducted by NASA. The subsurface wetland filter is so effective at removing fecal coliform that when the City of Vancouver tested the quality of the water exiting the greywater trench in 1996 the sample taker was accused of contaminating it with bleach.

Tours: The UBC Sustainability Office offers tours, call 604-827-5641

 

This post was imported from the 'Greater Vancouver Green Guide', it's part of the 'Green Guide Portal' to the Green Building Brain