C. K. Choi Building
Encyclopedia
The C. K. Choi Building is an award-winning building recognized for its leading-edge sustainable design features. It is the University of British Columbia
's "flagship environmental building" in what is calls its ‘living laboratory’, the campus used to showcase "innovative approaches to conserving energy, water and materials, while striving to make positive impacts on the environment."
Located in the northwest quadrant of the UBC campus, the building is named after Dr. Cheung-Kok Choi, a businessman and philanthropist in China, Hong Kong and Canada, and a major donor to UBC.
The C.K. Choi Building was purpose-built as a university office building to house UBC's Institute of Asian Research
's five research centres. These focus on China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and India and South Asia. The "daringly innovative architecture" integrates cultural expression, interior and exterior architectural presence, together with environmental features and functions. The five identical curved roof forms reflect the Institute's Asian focus, providing an identifiable focus for each research centre without giving predominance to one culture or centre over another, and provide natural light and natural ventilation to interior spaces.
Principal-in-Charge: Eva Matsuzaki, Project Architect: Joanne Perdue
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Elizabeth Whitelaw
Principal-in-Charge: Gilbert Raynard, Project Engineer: Diana Klein
Principal-in-Charge: Kevin Hydes, Project Engineer: Jeanette Frost
Principal-in-Charge: Robert Freundlich, Project Designer: Andy Arink
Owner: University of British Columbia, Freda Pagani, Campus Planning and Development
Owner's Sustainability Advisor: Bob Berkebile, BNIM
The building received several awards, including the Earth Day 2000 Award. The building was designed with ambitious targets for minimizing energy usage but an evaluation conducted on the building's first ten years found that the performance exceeded expectations by a significant amount. The building was completed before the US and Canadian Green Building Councils' LEED Rating Systems were developed, but the building's performance compares favourably with those more recent standards.
* Site: Impact on site development was minimized by building on an existing parking lot without disturbing the large existing trees, which also provide afternoon shading, reduced heat gain, and cooling requirement.
* Building Form: The narrow form of the three storey building was derived from an early decision to minimize the site impact and to provide natural light and ventilation to each occupied space.
* Recycled Content: Approximately 50% of materials in the building are recycled or re-used, including brick cladding from early 20th century street pavers (brick "cobblestones"), approximately 65% of the heavy timber
structural frame was salvaged from the Armouries Building across the street, interior steel railings at stairs and balconies, sinks, toilet accessories, doors and frames, approximately 25% of the electrical conduit, as well as other components that used recycled materials in their fabrication.
* Sanitary System: The building is not connected to an offsite sanitary (sewage) system. Waste from composting toilets flows down stainless steel chutes into bins (in the basement) which allow liquids, or "composting tea", to flow out into a linear bioswayle or "greywater trench", designed by landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander
with mechanical engineers Keen Engineering; solids are processed by red wiggler worms into topsoil. Maintenance involves staff throwing in wood chips to aid composting and removal of topsoil for landscaping on campus. The City of Vancouver tested the discharged water and found that fecal coliform counts were less than 10 CFU per 100 milliliters (Vancouver allows swimming in water with up to 200 CFU per 100 milliliters).
* Stormwater System: Stormwater is collected in an underground vault for landscape irrigation.
* Energy Consumption:
Some of the key energy savings features include: retaining the large trees along the western edge of the building to reduce cooling loads; building forms to enhance internal stack effects to provide air change through natural ventilation and only localized fans; building forms that enhance daylighting to reduce electric lighting and cooling loads; daylight sensors and occupancy sensors to minimize unnecessary use of lights; high efficiency luminaries with lower ambient lighting levels and task lights where appropriate; higher than mandated insulation for walls, roof, and glazing; careful attention to detailing and construction methodology to minimize heat loss through thermal breaks; utilizing waste heat from existing adjacent steam vault.
* Finishes: The levels of interior finishes were reduced to minimum: exposed, polished concrete floor slabs with no carpet or linoleum; exposed roof/floor deck with no suspended ceilings; exposed or galvanized steel and metal without paint wherever technically possible.
* Indoor Air Quality: Air pollutants was reduced through sequencing of construction and material selection, such as eliminating carpet adhesives, using formaldehyde-free millwork, solvent-free finishes, and natural materials such as wool carpet. Copy machines have direct exhaust venting.
* Ventilation: There is no mechanical ventilation except as required in washrooms and service rooms, and at copy machines. All room ventilation is by way of vents integrated into the window frames to provide fresh air, which is supplemented for cooling by opening windows. The five raised roof forms have vent louvers at the top to provide convection to draw air in through the vents below. There is no air conditioning system.
* Heat: Heat exchangers located in nearby underground steam tunnels extract surplus heat that would otherwise radiate into the ground for use in the building.
* Electricity: No new primary service from the electrical/hydro grid was provided. Service to the building is from surplus capacity in the adjacent Asian Centre.
* Cost: $4.5 million for 32,000 sq. ft., or CAD$140 per sq. ft. (1996 dollars), for "a model of environmental sustainability".
The following items compare performance against a baseline prototype.
(All information is this section, unless noted otherwise, is extracted from the 1999 post-occupancy evaluation Process Makes Perfect)
Water: Consumption for the entire building is 258 L/58 Imp.gal./297 US gal. per day. Composting toilets along save 1,000 L/224 Imp.gal/264 US gal. per day. Savings are therefore over 45%.
Energy (for heating): Consumption is 69% more than the ASHRAE 90.1
prototype building during peak heating months. This compares to an expected 79% more due to large exterior wall area/floor area, a function of the building/site configuration and large amount of glass to facilitate natural lighting. This in turn was expected to be offset by savings in electricity (for lighting).
Energy (electricity): Monthly Peak demand is 75% less than the ASHRAE 90.1 prototype building (24 kW versus 97 kW).
Total Energy: Total energy use is approximately 23% than the ASHRAE 90.1 prototype building (annual savings total about 423 GJ (401,000 Mbtu). The prototype used, per UBC policy, was not typical as it did not include air conditioning, so the prototype modeled had a lower energy consumption benchmark than would normally be expected for this type of office building, thus the savings compared to a standard office building would be greater than the 23% savings shown.
On-Site Recycling: The contract documents required an on-site materials separation and recycling program, including documentation requirements for hauling and disposal, and preparation of a waste management plan to be prepared by the contractor prior to the start of work. Despite initial resistance from the contractor, hauling costs were reduced and separating and stocking wood ends provided an alternate source of wood for small framing, and the contractor reported that less wood was required than had been originally anticipated, resulting in a savings to the contractor who then became a supporter of site separation. The local government responsible for handling waste (the Greater Vancouver Regional District
(GVRD)) analyzed the waste diversion data from the site and found that approximately 95% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill.
Recycled Materials: The project goal was to use 50% reused and recycled materials for all components of the building, a target the post-occupancy evaluation team determined had been exceeded.
by 4 years.
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
's "flagship environmental building" in what is calls its ‘living laboratory’, the campus used to showcase "innovative approaches to conserving energy, water and materials, while striving to make positive impacts on the environment."
Located in the northwest quadrant of the UBC campus, the building is named after Dr. Cheung-Kok Choi, a businessman and philanthropist in China, Hong Kong and Canada, and a major donor to UBC.
The C.K. Choi Building was purpose-built as a university office building to house UBC's Institute of Asian Research
Institute of Asian Research
The Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia is a research institute founded in 1978 and has been the foremost research centre in Canada for the inter-disciplinary study of Asia...
's five research centres. These focus on China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and India and South Asia. The "daringly innovative architecture" integrates cultural expression, interior and exterior architectural presence, together with environmental features and functions. The five identical curved roof forms reflect the Institute's Asian focus, providing an identifiable focus for each research centre without giving predominance to one culture or centre over another, and provide natural light and natural ventilation to interior spaces.
Institute of Asian Research
The Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia is a research institute founded in 1978 that has been the foremost research centre in Canada for the study of Asia. With a broad geographic reach extending to China, India and South Asia, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia, the Institute conducts research and teaching in policy-relevant issues informed by language and area studies. The Institute has played a central role in building UBC's excellence in research, teaching and community liaison in matters pertaining to Asia. The Institute has pursued a rich and productive research agenda on many aspects of the human experience in Asia.Design Team
- Architects + Sustainability: Matsuzaki Wright Architects Inc.
Principal-in-Charge: Eva Matsuzaki, Project Architect: Joanne Perdue
- Landscape Architects: Cornelia OberlanderCornelia OberlanderCornelia Hahn Oberlander, OC is a Canadian landscape architect based in Vancouver, British Columbia. During her career she has contributed to the designs of many high-profile buildings in both Canada and the United States, including the Robson Square and Law Courts Complex in Vancouver, the...
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Elizabeth Whitelaw
- Structural Engineers: Read Jones Christoffersen
Principal-in-Charge: Gilbert Raynard, Project Engineer: Diana Klein
- Mechanical Engineers: Keen Engineering Co. Ltd.Keen EngineeringKeen Engineering Co. Ltd. was a consulting engineering firm based in Canada and the United States that operated from 1960 to 2005.In the late 1950s James Keen, in association with Jerry Yost of Toronto, formed Yost Keen and Associates. The company successfully designed many projects in Toronto...
(now Stantec)
Principal-in-Charge: Kevin Hydes, Project Engineer: Jeanette Frost
- Electrical Engineers: Robert Freundlich & Associates Ltd.
Principal-in-Charge: Robert Freundlich, Project Designer: Andy Arink
Owner: University of British Columbia, Freda Pagani, Campus Planning and Development
Owner's Sustainability Advisor: Bob Berkebile, BNIM
BNIM
BNIM is an architecture and design firm founded in 1970 in Kansas City, Missouri. With offices in Kansas City, Houston, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Los Angeles, California, and San Diego, California, the firm has nearly 100 design professionals and support staff.BNIM has completed many significant...
Sustainable Features
From the project's start, it was intended to be "an embodiment of new standards for sustainable design, construction and operations."The building received several awards, including the Earth Day 2000 Award. The building was designed with ambitious targets for minimizing energy usage but an evaluation conducted on the building's first ten years found that the performance exceeded expectations by a significant amount. The building was completed before the US and Canadian Green Building Councils' LEED Rating Systems were developed, but the building's performance compares favourably with those more recent standards.
* Site: Impact on site development was minimized by building on an existing parking lot without disturbing the large existing trees, which also provide afternoon shading, reduced heat gain, and cooling requirement.
* Building Form: The narrow form of the three storey building was derived from an early decision to minimize the site impact and to provide natural light and ventilation to each occupied space.
* Recycled Content: Approximately 50% of materials in the building are recycled or re-used, including brick cladding from early 20th century street pavers (brick "cobblestones"), approximately 65% of the heavy timber
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
structural frame was salvaged from the Armouries Building across the street, interior steel railings at stairs and balconies, sinks, toilet accessories, doors and frames, approximately 25% of the electrical conduit, as well as other components that used recycled materials in their fabrication.
* Sanitary System: The building is not connected to an offsite sanitary (sewage) system. Waste from composting toilets flows down stainless steel chutes into bins (in the basement) which allow liquids, or "composting tea", to flow out into a linear bioswayle or "greywater trench", designed by landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander
Cornelia Oberlander
Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, OC is a Canadian landscape architect based in Vancouver, British Columbia. During her career she has contributed to the designs of many high-profile buildings in both Canada and the United States, including the Robson Square and Law Courts Complex in Vancouver, the...
with mechanical engineers Keen Engineering; solids are processed by red wiggler worms into topsoil. Maintenance involves staff throwing in wood chips to aid composting and removal of topsoil for landscaping on campus. The City of Vancouver tested the discharged water and found that fecal coliform counts were less than 10 CFU per 100 milliliters (Vancouver allows swimming in water with up to 200 CFU per 100 milliliters).
* Stormwater System: Stormwater is collected in an underground vault for landscape irrigation.
Some of the key energy savings features include: retaining the large trees along the western edge of the building to reduce cooling loads; building forms to enhance internal stack effects to provide air change through natural ventilation and only localized fans; building forms that enhance daylighting to reduce electric lighting and cooling loads; daylight sensors and occupancy sensors to minimize unnecessary use of lights; high efficiency luminaries with lower ambient lighting levels and task lights where appropriate; higher than mandated insulation for walls, roof, and glazing; careful attention to detailing and construction methodology to minimize heat loss through thermal breaks; utilizing waste heat from existing adjacent steam vault.
* Finishes: The levels of interior finishes were reduced to minimum: exposed, polished concrete floor slabs with no carpet or linoleum; exposed roof/floor deck with no suspended ceilings; exposed or galvanized steel and metal without paint wherever technically possible.
* Indoor Air Quality: Air pollutants was reduced through sequencing of construction and material selection, such as eliminating carpet adhesives, using formaldehyde-free millwork, solvent-free finishes, and natural materials such as wool carpet. Copy machines have direct exhaust venting.
* Ventilation: There is no mechanical ventilation except as required in washrooms and service rooms, and at copy machines. All room ventilation is by way of vents integrated into the window frames to provide fresh air, which is supplemented for cooling by opening windows. The five raised roof forms have vent louvers at the top to provide convection to draw air in through the vents below. There is no air conditioning system.
* Heat: Heat exchangers located in nearby underground steam tunnels extract surplus heat that would otherwise radiate into the ground for use in the building.
* Electricity: No new primary service from the electrical/hydro grid was provided. Service to the building is from surplus capacity in the adjacent Asian Centre.
* Cost: $4.5 million for 32,000 sq. ft., or CAD$140 per sq. ft. (1996 dollars), for "a model of environmental sustainability".
Performance
At the start of the design a primary goal was for the project to "set new standards for sustainable design, construction and operation."The following items compare performance against a baseline prototype.
(All information is this section, unless noted otherwise, is extracted from the 1999 post-occupancy evaluation Process Makes Perfect)
Water: Consumption for the entire building is 258 L/58 Imp.gal./297 US gal. per day. Composting toilets along save 1,000 L/224 Imp.gal/264 US gal. per day. Savings are therefore over 45%.
Energy (for heating): Consumption is 69% more than the ASHRAE 90.1
ASHRAE 90.1
ASHRAE 90.1 is a standard that provides minimum requirements for energy efficient designs for buildings except for low-rise buildings. The original standard ASHRAE 90 was published in 1975 and had multiple editions to it in years after...
prototype building during peak heating months. This compares to an expected 79% more due to large exterior wall area/floor area, a function of the building/site configuration and large amount of glass to facilitate natural lighting. This in turn was expected to be offset by savings in electricity (for lighting).
Energy (electricity): Monthly Peak demand is 75% less than the ASHRAE 90.1 prototype building (24 kW versus 97 kW).
Total Energy: Total energy use is approximately 23% than the ASHRAE 90.1 prototype building (annual savings total about 423 GJ (401,000 Mbtu). The prototype used, per UBC policy, was not typical as it did not include air conditioning, so the prototype modeled had a lower energy consumption benchmark than would normally be expected for this type of office building, thus the savings compared to a standard office building would be greater than the 23% savings shown.
On-Site Recycling: The contract documents required an on-site materials separation and recycling program, including documentation requirements for hauling and disposal, and preparation of a waste management plan to be prepared by the contractor prior to the start of work. Despite initial resistance from the contractor, hauling costs were reduced and separating and stocking wood ends provided an alternate source of wood for small framing, and the contractor reported that less wood was required than had been originally anticipated, resulting in a savings to the contractor who then became a supporter of site separation. The local government responsible for handling waste (the Greater Vancouver Regional District
Greater Vancouver Regional District
Metro Vancouver is the brand name of the board of the inter-municipal administrative body known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District , a regional district in British Columbia, Canada...
(GVRD)) analyzed the waste diversion data from the site and found that approximately 95% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill.
Recycled Materials: The project goal was to use 50% reused and recycled materials for all components of the building, a target the post-occupancy evaluation team determined had been exceeded.
Awards
Pre-dated establishment of LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
by 4 years.
- 1996 BC Hydro Energy Smart Award
- 1996 British Columbia Earth Award, Building Owners and Managers Association
- 1997 Building Award of Excellence, Consulting Engineers of British Columbia
- 1998 Lieutenant Governor of B.C. Award of Excellence, Architectural Institute of British Columbia
- 1998 Award for Innovation Excellence, Architectural Institute of British Columbia (Matsuzaki Wright Architects Inc.)
- 2000 Earth Day Top Ten Award, American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment