Royal Roads announces ‘living building’

The centrepiece of Royal Roads University’s commitment to sustainability will have little impact on campus — which is a good thing.

The Robert Bateman Art and Environmental Education Centre, to be designed by Iredale Group Architecture, will be a “living building” RRU president Allan Cahoon announced Monday.

“I see it as playing a guiding role in the provincial climate change action plan,” he said of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 33 per cent by 2020.

A relatively new concept, the term “living building” refers to having no negative impact on the environment, explained architect Richard Iredale. Unlike Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, which brings the impact from “terrible to OK”, a living building leaves no footprint on the earth either through building or functioning thereafter, he said.

“It only uses the energy that strikes the roof and walls,” he cited as an example.

The Bateman centre will incorporate solar and thermal technology to capture energy while only using local materials for construction. A wetland will also be restored as part of the project.

True to the building’s name, a collection of Bateman’s work will be displayed in the centre for public viewing. Originals and prints, including photography by his wife Birgit, have been donated.

“It’s unbelievably thrilling to know my work will have a home,” Bateman said, noting that joy is nothing compared to the environmental benefits the building will have.

“We are at the beginning of a big (environmental) movement. It’s such a thrill to know this centre will be a part of it.”

Set to open in 2010, completing the project within two years is no small feat. Bateman himself will chair a fundraising campaign for $20 million — $5 million of which will be used for other sustainable projects on campus. The money has to be separate from tuition and government funding, Cahoon said, noting the need for private donors. Details on the campaign will be released in spring 2008.

Iredale and his staff are also generating a plan to make the rest of campus more sustainable. With a campus composed mainly of heritage buildings, the Bateman project should be a catalyst for how to adapt the existing structures, Cahoon said.

“That’s the real heart and soul of this project,” Iredale said.

Systems to incorporate wastewater treatment and collection, as well as generating energy from natural sources are all being looked at.
Cahoon confirmed the Department of National Defence, the land owner, has given permission to break ground on the Bateman centre. It would be the first new building on the property since 1991.

The dream is to remove RRU from “the grid” in terms of drawing external power and water, Cahoon said, although the university is keeping its high speed Internet.

“We are not going to lose that,” Cahoon said with a laugh.