Submission2012 karis

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn 200 words or less, describe the project program and function, building type, and context, including any special features or constraints that informed the design response. List up to five sustainable design strategies that are important to the success of the project.

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN NARRATIVEFill in each section that applies to your project. Each section of the narrative may be accompanied by up to four thumbnail graphics or tables illustrating the key sustainable principles or data. The total narrative [sections 1 - 9] should not exceed 1,000 words in length.

1. Strategic Decisions Sustainable design embraces the ecological, economic, and social circumstances of a project. Explain how these circumstances informed the design of the project, and affected its architectur-al expression, emphasizing the relationship between passive design strategies, and technological devices or systems.

2. Community Describe how the project contributes to public space and community interaction, and how the selected location reduces automobile travel. Explain how the project makes use of any alternative local or regional transportation strategies as well as any successful efforts to reduce locally man-dated parking requirements.

3. Site Ecology Describe how site design strategies work to preserve, rehabilitate and enhance the continuity of natural ecosystems including details of the approach taken to groundscape, water management, planting and habitat creation. Include a brief description of how these strategies fit within the larger scale of a neighbourhood, community or regional plan.

4. Light and Air Describe the day lighting and natural ventilation strategies, and how the building program is organized to maximize the effectiveness of both. Indicate the percentage of the occupied floor area that is within 7 metres of an operable window. Describe the devices/technologies used to reduce the energy consumption of the lighting system, and the projected annual energy consumption of the system in kwh/m2.

FORM 1PROJECT DESCRIPTION








Karis Place - a partnership between More Than A Roof Housing Society, BC Housing, and the City of Vancouver – provides supportive rental housing as part of the Provincial Homelessness Initiative. This initiative focuses on providing safe, secure and supportive housing in response to the current homelessness crisis in Vancouver.

1. Strategic Decisions

• Karis Place is part of a larger initiative by BC Housing to address both homelessness and the environment. Beyond providing badly needed supportive housing for the homeless, the design mandate was to achieve LEED Gold with a minimum of 4 energy points. In addition, the project was to achieve a maximum 10% end use energy from fossil fuels.

• With a limited social housing budget, it was clear early on in the design process that the design and the sustainability measures had to be simple and practical as possible to provide the non-profit operator with a low maintenance building.

• The design team established the sustainability strategies through a series of integrated workshops, extensive energy modeling, and costing exercises.

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The project is located on Seymour Street, adjacent to the Granville Bridge off ramp in the Downtown South District. It consists of 106 single units in a building form comprised of a stepped five and six-storey base with an eleven-storey tower component above. Restrictive zoning constraints, including a City of Vancouver view corridor, effectively limited the width, height, and configuration of the tower. The building is comprised of extensive amenity space and support services on the ground floor with residential units on the floors above.

In addition to the commitment to social sustainability the project achieves a significant level of environmental sustainability. Sustainable design strategies include:

• Ground source heat pump system.

• Energy recovery ventilation.

• In-suite heating with hot water radiant in-slab tubes.

• Solar shading on south and west facades.

• All occupied spaces have access to natural light and air.

• Continuous high insulation values for exterior envelope.








5. Water ConservationDescribe how building and site strategies conserve and manage water supplies, including mea-sures to capitalize on renewable sources such as rainwater, and reusable sources such as build-ing grey water. Indicate the technologies used for water conservation, and the projected potable water consumption per m2/occupant/annum for the building from municipal or other centralized off-site supply. What percentage improvement does this represent over the water consumption of the reference building?

6. Energy Present and FutureDescribe how the building’s mechanical, electrical and related control systems are integrated into passive design strategies including orientation, thermal mass and building cross section. Explain how these systems contribute to energy conservation, reduced pollution, improved building performance and comfort. What is the projected annual electrical energy consumption for the building in MJ/m2. Indicate what percentage of the energy consumed is from renewable sources [site installations or green power certificates], and how the building could respond to a future shortage of fossil fuels.

7. Materials and Resources Describe how the selection of materials for the building optimize concerns for occupant health and comfort, durability, building performance, resource depletion and embodied energy from production and transportation. Indicate the percentage of recycled materials used in the building, and the percentage of waste materials recycled during construction.

8. Life Cycle ConsiderationsDescribe how life cycle issues were incorporated into the design approach including: the anticipated service life of the building, the measures that have been taken to ensure flexibility in use, adaptability to other functions and demountability and recyclability of building components.

9. Education and Information SharingThe ultimate success of sustainable design will depend on transforming the cultural attitudes among building owners and users, and disseminating information among professionals to push the envelope of best practice standards. Describe how the design process and building perfor-mance address these concerns.


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2. Community

• Karis Place is located in the New Yaletown area of the Downtown South District. Although largely complete, the area is still in transition from a low scale commercial warehouse area to a high-density residential area. Karis Place contributes to the vibrancy and diversity of this emerging neighborhood.

• This urban location provides easy access to nearby services including a supermarket, café/bakery, convenience store, school, restaurants, post office, pharmacy, and medical/dental and legal services.

• A light rail station and three bus lines are located within 300m.








• Accommodation for vehicles has been limited to a single level of underground parking. Minimal car parking has been incorporated – 11 stalls for staff and residents of a 105 unit MURB. Electric vehicle charging stations and covered bike storage have been provided.

3. Light and Air

• All habitable rooms in the building have access to natural light and air.

• Over 99% of occupied spaces have outside views and over 87% of occupied spaces receive at least 25 foot-candles of natural day-lighting

• LEED criteria of one operable window per 18.5 m2 is easily met

• Corridors and elevator lobbies also have operable windows for light and ventilation.

• In addition to allowance for natural ventilation, all suites are mechanically vented.

• Interior lighting levels have been reduced by maximizing daylighting potential and minimizing LPD as per ASHRAE 90.1 2007.

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FORM 1PROJECT DESCRIPTIONEXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn 200 words or less, describe the project program and function, building type, and context, including any special features or constraints that informed the design response. List up to five sustainable design strategies that are important to the success of the project.







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4. Water Conservation

• Selected toilets, showers and sinks are provided with low flow flush valves and faucets and reduce water consumption more than 46% less than standard fixtures.

• Landscape design includes drought tolerant plants complete with a layer of mulching to minimize evaporation and runoff. Permanent irrigation system was not installed.

• Anticipated annual water use for building is 3,264,660 litres per annum or 21,062 liters/occupant/year based on 155 equivalent full time occupants.

5. Energy Present and future

• A high-performance building envelope with thermal breaks and continuous high insulation values was used for the exterior rain screen walls.

• 37% glazing to solid wall ratio.

• In-floor hot water radiant heating tubes are attached to structural concrete floor slabs and provided with low temperature heating from the geothermal heat pump system.

• On site vertical geothermal loop energy source with thirty-two, 280 ft geo-exchange boreholes below parking garage.

• A central ventilation system with continuously running bathroom exhaust and outdoor air supplied directly to the suites. This system is utilizing enthalpy heat recovery wheel and mechanical cooling/heating from the geothermal heat pump system. By mechanically cooling ventilation air in summer, the residential suites are fully compliant with ASHRAE Standard 55, Thermal Comfort Conditions for Human Occupancy.

• Amenity areas are mechanically cooled / heated by utilizing ceiling mounted water-to-air geothermal heat pump units.

• Domestic hot water is pre-heated by water-to-water geothermal heat pump units.

• 8 LEED energy points / Energy savings projected as being 52% better than the reference, with a regulated energy cost savings of 56%.








• Projected annual total energy consumption (incl. process loads) of 340 MJ/M2/year, a significant reduction from the MNECB reference building and a GHG reduction of 166.3 tons of CO2 equivalent.

• Gas-fired boilers are used for backup only and under normal conditions consumption of fossil fuels has been eliminated.

• Building is provided with equipment to measure and verify energy and water performance over time.








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6. Materials and Resources

• Adhesives, Sealants, Paints, Coatings, flooring and Composite Panels were selected for minimal VOC content.

• Over 75% of construction waste was diverted from landfill and reused or recycled.

• Building materials used for construction included 16.5% recycled content.

• Durable, maintainable building components were selected under a systematic Building Durability Plan prepared in accordance with CSA Standard S4788-95.

• Over 20% building materials sourced within 500 miles or 1500 miles by rail or water.

• A bed bug sauna was designed and constructed to allow pesticide free pest control.

7. Life Cycle Considerations

• Life cycle issues were important to the client and BC Housing as the long-term lease on the land is for 60 years.

• As with many supportive housing programs, the PHI program may evolve over time, necessitating changes to the building. As such, the interiors of the building were constructed with lightweight steel framing and the units were deliberately built larger than the minimum to facilitate possible changes in use.

8. Education and Information Sharing

• BC Housing is using knowledge gained and lessons learned during the design and construction of the PHI projects to inform the development and operation of all of their projects, both existing and new.

• The PHI projects in Vancouver have had a high profile. They represent a new way to build for private sector developers in Vancouver and some of the sustainability measures taken on these projects are now being adopted by contractors and developers.

Project Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax: Architect/Firm To whom design should be credited Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax: Joint Venture or associate architect [if applicable]Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Owner/Developer Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

General Contractor Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Landscape ArchitectContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Civil Engineer Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Electrical EngineerContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Mechanical EngineerContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

FORM 3IDENTIFICATION FORM

Place this form in a plastic sleeve at the back of your binder after Form 2. Fill in the information that applies to your project[s]. Your firm, and others involved in the project, should not be identified anywhere else in your binder entry, including on photos and drawings.

PHOTOGRAPHS More Than A Roof – Karis Place

Project Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Architect/Firm To whom design should be credited Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Joint Venture or associate architect [if applicable]Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Owner/Developer Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

General Contractor Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Landscape ArchitectContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Civil Engineer Contact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Electrical EngineerContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

Mechanical EngineerContact name: Contact e-mail: Address:

Telephone: Fax:

FORM 3IDENTIFICATION FORM

Place this form in a plastic sleeve at the back of your binder after Form 2. Fill in the information that applies to your project[s]. Your firm, and others involved in the project, should not be identified anywhere else in your binder entry, including on photos and drawings.

DRAWINGSMoRe ThAn A Roof – KARis PlAce

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secTion c–c (showing geothermal ground source heat pump system)

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