Vancouver Convention Centre
Julia Levitt writes about the new Vancouver Convention Centre at Worldchanging. Once completed, it will have, at six acres, the largest non-industrial green roof in North America. It will be a habitat for 400,000 native plants and grasses, birds and bugs, including 60,000 bees.
The building, designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects, in collaboration with Vancouver firms MCM and DA, is expected to achieve LEED Gold designation and incorporates significant green building technologies. Among them: natural daylighting, seawater heating and cooling, natural ventilation, and on-site blackwater treatment and desalinization systems that will reduce potable water use by as much as 60-70 percent (compared to similar-sized convention centers).
Another admirable detail: the center was designed to link visually and literally to the existing waterfront, providing usable public space instead of just swallowing it up. It adds 130,000 square feet of new waterfront promenade, and 120,000 square feet of new public plazas that flow into Stanley Park, Vancouver’s well-used waterfront gem.
More at Worldchanging.
