University of British Columbia
IN-2: Innovation 2

In response to the global challenge of creating a more sustainable society and the need to accelerate the adoption of urban sustainability practices, the University of British Columbia (UBC) is building the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS).

When CIRS opens its doors in the summer of 2011, it will become UBC’s first LEED® Platinum building, and one of the first living buildings in North America. Conceived as a regenerative building process and designed to be the most innovative high performance building in North America, CIRS will be the home of the UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI) and a focal point for sustainability research and partnerships, teaching and learning, and operational activities.

CIRS will demonstrate leading-edge research and sustainable design, products, systems, and decision-making in three ways: 1) A state-of-the-art “living laboratory” will allow researchers and building industry partners to undertake research on, and assessment of, current and future sustainable building systems and technologies; 2) Advanced visualization, simulation, and community engagement technologies and processes will support research on new approaches to interacting with citizens in exploring sustainable lifestyles; and 3) Partners from the private, public and NGO sectors will share the research facility, working with CIRS researchers to identify areas in which this region has a competitive edge in sustainable technologies and services and helping to implement these on the ground, as a springboard to the export market.

CIRS will harvest waste heat, renewable energy and rainwater to supply 100% of the space heating energy required, about 10% of its electricity demand and 100% of its potable water needs. Wastewater produced in the building will be treated to tertiary standards using a bio-filtration process and recycled to flush toilets and urinals and for irrigation purposes.

CIRS will make its local environment better by collecting energy and exporting it to nearby buildings, biologically treating and recycling wastewater from other campus buildings, re-directing storm-water runoff into the local aquifer, providing habitat for local species and enriching the public realm and local community. Through a high quality indoor environment CIRS will make its building inhabitants measurably healthier, happier and more productive.

All building inhabitants will have access to daylight and natural ventilation and will be able to adjust the airflow and air temperature affecting their local environment. Additionally, building inhabitants will have access to real-time building performance data and will be able to participate in the implementation of different building operation strategies with the goal of achieving improvements in energy and resource use efficiency over time.

Conceived as a dynamic process the design of CIRS will make it easier to adopt changes in space use and occupancy and to respond to advances in IT, AV and building automation and controls technologies. The interior design of CIRS includes a raised floor system with under-floor air, power and data distribution for maximum flexibility, and demountable partitions that can be easily reconfigured.

A robust building management system (BMS) coupled with a building technology software platform and energy and water management interfaces will enable the testing and demonstration of new building technologies in the future as well as the implementation of new and more efficient building operation algorithms. A stringent measurement and verification program for the continuous auditing of energy use and building performance will also be implemented.