Merrick Architecture: Natural Elements Reduce Energy Use
Publish Date: October 2009
Leading the team designing a community that would become the Athlete’s Village for the 2010 Winter Games gave Merrick Architecture an opportunity to display its talents to the world. The chance to show people how to create a sustainable community made it priceless.
"It has been a huge challenge," said Roger Bayley, a principal of the company which is now coordinating development of the project, named Millennium Water. ‘Without the 2010 Games, we couldn’t have drawn together this number of people and designed a project like this. A lot of innovation will come out of this development."
The project on Vancouver’s southeast False Creek will be the city’s first green community with 24 buildings designed with sustainability in mind. Athletes will live there during the Games, then some of the residential units will be sold while others will become social housing.
What sets this development apart from other large-scale projects is the number of design features that reduce the environmental footprint of the buildings and their residents, Bayley said.
The community includes residences, commercial and retail space and a community centre all connected together in a dense environment close to transportation routes and jobs. The project would look more familiar to Europeans than Vancouver residents, Bayley said, with buildings set right at the edge of the streets, and internal courtyards with retail shops lining a village square.
‘It’s much more complicated than other residential projects, but we are developing a highly liveable environment that I think will be modelled by other cities," he said. "We are making a contribution to sustainable building innovations — and not just locally. The nature of the project is that is has much broader interest."
The idea is to use "passive design" techniques that take advantage of the site’s natural elements in order to reduce energy use. For example, the development includes larger balconies to provide shade to lower units and a rainwater collection system to flush toilets and irrigate the gardens.
Stairwells are placed on outer walls so glazed windows can provide natural light and encourage residents to walk to their homes rather than use the elevators.
With the site housing athletes during the 2010 Winter Games, the project will receive far more attention than a typical new development, and Bayley hopes the publicity will influence community design in other cities worldwide.
"We’ve got the eyes of the world, and huge interest in what we’re doing, and the Olympics gives it credibility," he said.
Being involved in the development has given Merrick Architecture the opportunity to showcase its skill in designing a large-scale green community that will hopefully lead to other projects.
"For us, the primary interest in the project is to effectively address the contributions buildings make to climate change," Bayley said.
"We are taking that knowledge to a broader audience and trying to effect change. This is an incredible opportunity to spread this message and to influence developments globally."
« Back to Index Next »