VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre | Perkins&Will

Designed to exceed LEED Platinum, the Visitor Centre is pursuing the Living Building Challenge—the most stringent measurement of sustainability in the built environment. The Visitor Centre uses on-site, renewable sources—geothermal boreholes, solar photovoltaics, solar hot water tubes—to achieve net-zero energy on an annual basis. Wood is the primary building material, sequestering enough carbon to achieve carbon neutrality. Rainwater is filtered and used for the building’s greywater requirements; 100% of blackwater is treated by an on-site bioreactor and released into a new feature percolation field and garden. Natural ventilation is assisted by a solar chimney, composed of an operable glazed oculus and an aluminum heatsink, which converts the sun’s rays to convection energy. Summer sun shines on darker surfaces to enhance ventilation further. Located in the centre of the atrium, and exactly at the centre of all the building’s various radiating geometry, the solar chimney highlights the role of sustainablility by form and function. The VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre is targeting the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge, which promotes the most advanced measurement of sustainability in the built environment possible today. SUSTAINABLE SITE - The building was sited to preserve rare trees, shrubs and other plants in the garden. - The Centre reverses the trend of land degradation and invites nature’s functions into a healthier interface with built and natural systems. - The surrounding native plant landscape, including the green roof, features bilingual English-Musqueam plant labels and is perfectly adapted to the local climate. WATER EFFICIENCY - Building and landscape water use will come from captured precipitation, where permitted by building code. - Blackwater and greywater will be treated on site—for the first time in a building in Vancouver in over 45 years. ENERGY EFFICIENCY - The building is designed to be net-zero energy on an annual basis. - Solar hot water tubes (176,000 kWh), PV panels (11,000 kWh) and a geo-exchange system will be employed in the energy strategy. MATERIALS AND RESOURCES - Materials used throughout the Centre have been rigorously researched and documented for material health at all levels of their life cycle. INDOOR AIR QUALITY - The design focuses on the major conditions that must be present for a healthy interior environment to occur. BEAUTY AND INSPIRATION - This project contains design features intended solely for human delight and the celebration of culture, spirit and place appropriate to the function of the building.