Earlier this year, [SABMag] announced the winners of its 12th Annual Canadian Green Building Awards. The 2019 program’s theme involved developing procedures regarding life cycle deliberations. While the full list of winners is available here, one project particularly worthy of a closer look is the Bank of Canada Head Office renewal project, which was in the “Existing Building Upgrade Award” category. Located in Ottawa, the rehabilitation and revitalization of this building allows it to display valuable public amenities to aesthetic sensitivity and limitation in construction technique. Driven by issues with obsolete infrastructure, outdated working environment, poor energy performance and related carbon impacts, innovative structural upgrades have enabled the restoration of the integrity of this 1970s office tower by Arthur Erickson, while the 1930s centre building and its immediate surroundings have been transformed into valuable new public amenities. As part of the Perkins + Will project, the building now showcases a new museum that invites and educates the public concerning the Canadian economy and financial system. In the design scheme, the pyramidal glass arrival rotunda and the improved public amenities reinvent and rejuvenate an abstraction within the landscape, functioning as an accessible, multi-faceted public realm throughout the year. In short, the Bank of Canada Renewal project links history to contemporary issues such as the diverse range of usage in social spaces. The existing infrastructure and passive design strategies allow this building to last for long time within a dynamic context with static features. For more, click here.