Iredale Group to design Bateman Centre at Royal Roads University
For immediate release – Dec. 10, 2007
Victoria – Royal Roads University has selected an award-winning B.C. firm to design an environmentally-innovative new building on its heritage site campus.
Iredale Group Architecture, a practitioner of sustainable design and community collaboration, will begin work immediately on the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre; a building Royal Roads president Allan Cahoon says will be the centrepiece of an initiative to transform the university into a living laboratory for sustainability – one that will make key contributions to the province’s climate change action plan to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
“As a place of higher learning, we recognize the vital role we play in shaping tomorrow’s environmental leaders and in finding new ways to manage our planet’s natural resources,” said Cahoon. “This project is the latest manifestation of our commitment to leadership in understanding, celebrating, and protecting our natural world.”
Iredale Group Architecture, with offices in Vancouver and Victoria, was founded in 1980 as a practice focusing on civic, education, and heritage buildings. The firm has completed projects in British Columbia worth in excess of $400 million and has received more than 20 design awards.
“This will not only be a building where people will come and learn but a special place where the fabulous, moving art of Robert Bateman will be integrated in such a way that visitors will leave their day-to-day lives temporarily behind and be able to connect with the wonder of nature around them,” said architect Richard Iredale.
The Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre is envisioned as a “Living Building” – a standard that goes beyond the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards in that it will create zero greenhouse gas emissions and have a positive impact on the environment. Living buildings are usually constructed from natural local materials and include a variety of solar and thermal designs as well as on-site wastewater treatment systems. This project will also include restoration of the wetland that was on the centre’s site 100 years ago before the family of James Dunsmuir drained the land to graze livestock.
The Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre will house an extensive collection of donated originals and prints by Robert Bateman in addition to photographs by Robert and Birgit Bateman and archival material, sketch books and correspondence. It will host art exhibits and offer environmental education programming, including guest lectures and seminars led by Robert Bateman and other artists and educators.
Today’s announcement of the selection of Iredale Group Architecture is the culmination of a process that began in June 2007 when RRU issued a call for expressions of interest and then struck a committee – which included Robert Bateman – to review and assess submissions.
“The most important issue facing humankind now is wise stewardship of the natural world,” said Bateman. “Richard and his team have demonstrated to me that they hold this to be true and I am pleased Iredale Group will take on the challenge of building RRU’s first living building.”
Planning for the Bateman Centre will begin immediately with construction slated to start in fall 2008. The centre is scheduled to open in 2010. While planning and construction is underway, Robert Bateman will be honorary chair of a campaign to raise $30 million: $20 million to build and endow the Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre and $10 million for other campus sustainability projects.
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Backgrounder attached
For media queries, contact:
Communications Officer, Phil Saunders
phil.saunders@royalroads.ca (250) 391-2526, cel (250) 812-5065 or,
Community Relations Director, Stephanie Slater
stephanie.slater@royalroads.ca (250) 391-2712, cel (250) 361-5020
More news and events at Royal Roads University
BACKGROUNDER
The Architectural Team
Richard Iredale
In practice since 1989, Richard Iredale’s design work includes civic, cultural, residential, and educational buildings. Both a Registered Architect and a Professional Engineer, he has been a partner of Iredale Group since 1992. Richard became a LEED Accredited Professional in 2005 and an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) in 2006. CaGBC is a national environmental non-profit corporation.
Richard’s training in architecture and engineering provides him with a multifaceted skill set. He brings an architect’s vision and an engineer’s analysis to designing structures that are in harmony with nature and self-sustaining in energy and water use, thus conserving natural resources. Deeply committed to combating climate change, Richard’s work focuses on creating community buildings that clean, rather than pollute, our environment.
Alex Zimmerman
Alex Zimmerman, LEED Coach for the Organizing Committee of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, is the owner of a consulting practice focused on operationalizing sustainability in the buildings industry at both the project and organizational level. Alex is interested in green building technologies and approaches, and in helping teams and organizations with the mindset, tools and organizational frameworks needed to successfully apply them.
Alex’s clients include several Canadian federal government departments, the
governments of Alberta and British Columbia and a number of private sector clients in British Columbia, Alberta, the United States and Mexico. He was the first President of the Canada Green Building Council and led it through the transition from an appointed to an elected Board, solidified key partnerships with the federal government and adapted and launched LEED Canada-NC 1.0.
James Emery
James Emery is an architect and structural engineer with 15 years experience in all phases of the design and construction process, including project management. He has worked with facility assessments, project planning and programming, architectural and structural design, seismic upgrading, and construction administration.
James is a LEED Accredited Professional and is actively involved with the Canadian Green Building Council. His expertise includes facilitating interdisciplinary consultant teams in the development of innovative and sustainable building systems.
Jonathan Losee
Jonathan Losee has been working in the field of landscape architecture since graduating from university in 1975 and has been a Registered Landscape Architect in British Columbia since 1983. He set up his own landscape architectural firm – Jonathan Losee Ltd. – in 1996.
Jonathan feels that landscape design is one of the most significant unifying factors of a project, and that it plays a key role in creating a comfortable human scale. He believes in the use of familiar, natural materials, textures, and plants. Jonathan is also involved in the community. He sat on the City of Richmond Advisory Design Panel, taught residential landscape design as a continuing education course in North Vancouver, and taught third year construction studio at the University of British Columbia. He has lectured at BCIT and the University of Victoria as well as to the AIBC Architecture Candidates. This civic involvement brings vitality to his practice and keeps him current and informed.
Jason McLennan
Jason McLennan serves as CEO of the Cascadia Green Building Council, the Pacific Northwest’s leading organization in the field of green building and sustainable development. Cascadia is a chapter of both the US Green Building Council and the Canada Green Building Council. Known as an international thought leader in the green architecture movement, he has lectured on sustainability across the USA and Canada and has written three books: The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, The Dumb Architect’s Guide to Glazing Selection, and The Ecological Engineer.
Jason is a former Principal at BNIM Architects, one of the founders of the green design movement in the USA. There, he worked on many leading high performance projects in the country, including LEED Platinum and Gold projects and zero-energy projects. At BNIM, he created the building science team known as Elements which set new standards for energy and resource efficiency on many of its projects in various building types.
Patrick Lucey
Patrick Lucey is senior aquatic ecologist at Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd. His background includes 10 years in industry and 16 years with the Biology Department at the University of Victoria, followed by 13 years as a private consulting scientist.
Patrick, founding member of the Canadian and B.C. Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) stream/wetland assessment cadre, is trained in the USGBC LEED certification process and has over 150 publications to his name. He acts as a graduate studies supervisor for students in urban stream ecology and, with colleagues, worked for two decades with community groups to develop affordable, effective, locally-based programs to protect and restore urban aquatic habitats. Patrick’s most recent project has been the development of a Smart Municipal Development Program to protect public drinking water watersheds, urban freshwater habitat and to reduce the effects of stormwater on receiving environments.
