Location: St. Peter’s Bay, Prince Edward Island

Practice: Baird Sampson Neuert Architects (now a part of WF Group Inc.), in association with SableARC Studio.

 

Overlooking the village of Saint Peter’s Bay (pop. 231), the Centre intertwines local Indigenous, settler, and world-class research communities within an immersive 24-hour live-learn landscape. Supporting sustainability-focused research, experiential learning, and engagement, its active learning, academic, lab, and social spaces inflect to form a wind-sheltered, south-facing courtyard that is central to the project’s social and research mission.

A ’think global/act local’ place-making and resiliency strategy leverages local skills and materials to achieve exceptional economy and performance. Its all-electric design includes ground source heating/cooling, which, along with its solar array, achieves sustainability targets of the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC) Zero Carbon Building standard.

Jury Comments

“A great Canadian story, this sophisticated project was completed in a remote location, on a fast-track 21-month schedule during the pandemic. The project is a major catalyst in community development and environmental engagement, and it demonstrates that high-performance design and affordability can co-exist.

 

Check out our BLOAAg article for more information.

Publish Date : 2024/Jun/21