1.5 ConEd Learning Hours
1.5 AIA LU

The team will present a recently completed project as a case study on how to achieve a net-zero carbon-neutral building through an integrated design process. The Government of British Columbia retained THIBODEAU ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN to lead a group of consultants to design and oversee the transformation of a 16,000-sf retail box into offices, 75 per cent of which are occupied by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). The main project objective was to design the building to achieve carbon neutrality and net zero energy. This was accomplished through an integrated design strategy of multiple disciplines by combining Passivhaus concepts, 276 rooftop photovoltaic panels, 30 boreholes to capture geothermal energy, and sophisticated controls to operate the energy systems and monitor their performance.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the differences between building to the BCBC’s regulations versus a deep retro-fit, as well as net-zero ready building or a net-zero building in terms of energy and costing.
2. Recognize multiple energy-reduction strategies to lower the total energy demand of a building, including improving the insulation value using PassivHaus strategies, ways to capture renewable energy, and mechanical system options.
3. Understand the complexity and challenges of integrated design and its impact on sustainable architecture.
4. Learn how multiple design options can be modelled to successfully identify mechanical, envelope and lighting configurations to meet alternate project objectives using modelling software. (This includes the integration of renewable and energy conservation measures.)

Speakers:

Jean-Robert Thibodeau, FIRAC, AIBC, AAA, SAA, MAA, OAA, OAQ, AANB, NSAA, NLAA, LEED AP (architect, Thibodeau Architecture + Design)

As president of Thibodeau Architecture + Design, Jean-Robert Thibodeau heads a multidisciplinary team with a special interest in industrial and interior architecture, project management, and sustainable design. Originally from Montreal, where he founded TAD in 1978, Robert has 44 years of experience and maintains personal involvement in his projects, ensures design continuity, reviews technical aspects, and coaches staff on practice issues and oversees projects’ building envelope design. Robert taught “Energy and Environment in Buildings” as an adjunct professor at McGill, founded the Ordre des architectes du Québec’s (OAQ’s) Tuesday on the Greens, wrote several publications on sustainability, and has been invited as a speaker at professional engagements. He has also been active in the profession both at the local and national level. He is the former dean of the College of Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), the voice of architecture in Canada.

Michael Pullinger, APEGBC, M.Sc., P.Eng. (senior engineer and principal at Energy Revolution Services)

Michael Pullinger is a clean-energy specialist with 15 years of experience working on complex projects from concept to completion. Michael specializes in building and renewable energy projects with a focus on developing innovative, financially viable solutions to the biggest carbon reduction challenges. He provides energy efficiency and modelling services as FWD Engineering’s energy specialist for a variety of building projects, including MCFD Williams Lake. Michael also operates his own consulting firm, Energy Revolution Services, and is working part-time on a PhD at the University of Victoria where he focuses on clean-energy simulation methods. Michael has worked on green building, ventilation, wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and water supply projects in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States. He is a registered Professional Engineer, and a former director and past-president of the BC Sustainable Energy Association.