Yes, it's true! It is the Rideau Valley Conservation Centre (RVCC). Named Ottawa's most environmentally-friendly building, RVCC is the headquarters of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, a watershed-based environmental organization aiming to protect water resources from contamination and misuse.
This 2,000 m2 government office building was designed by Christopher Simmonds of Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc and received the CaGBC LEED Gold Certification. Eco friendly characteristics include low VOC paints and adhesives throughout, grey and black water treatment systems reducing water consumption by 80%, passive heating, plenty of natural daylight in the offices, heat recovery units and high efficiency boilers. The energy consumption was also reduced by 42% compared to the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.
Another great aspect of this building is that it's opened to the public. It's also a visitor centre for the Beryl Gaffney Park. In fact, the public atrium, meeting and boardrooms are available for community meetings and private functions. Can you imagine hosting a cocktail party in this place? It's nice to see that not all government buildings in Ottawa are boring. This one is quite nice and modern. I'll definitely have to go visit at some point.
source : City of Ottawa | Rideau Valley Conservation Authority | Canadian Green Building Council | Christopher Simmonds Architect | SabMag | Peter Fritz Photographer
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ReplyDeleteReminds me of Calgary's Water Centre, an 800-employee Gold-certified office building, that is eco-friendly, architecturally significant, and was built at low cost to the City of Calgary.
ReplyDeleteIn 2003, Calgary enacted a policy that all new buildings would meet or exceed LEED's Silver certification. Ottawa would do good to follow Calgary's lead (which, if memory serves, is following Vancouver's lead), seeing as the gains are not only environmental but also economical and aesthetic (certainly voter-friendly!).
Thanks Eric.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Matt. It would be great if Ottawa adopted that policy. Hopefully they will sooner rather than later! Who knows, it would probably help the city with issues such as Lansdowne
Images of RVCA for Chris Simmonds were created by Peter Fritz Photographer, http://www.peterfritz.ca
ReplyDeletePlease credit accordingly.