Overlooking the village of Saint Peter’s Bay (pop. 231), the Centre intertwines local Indigenous, settler, and world-class research communities within an immersive 24-hour live-learn landscape. Supporting sustainability-focused research, experiential learning, and engagement, its active learning, academic, lab, and social spaces inflect to form a wind-sheltered, south-facing courtyard that is central to the project’s social and research mission.
A ‘think global/act local’ place-making and resiliency strategy leverages local skills and materials to achieve exceptional economy and performance. Its all-electric design includes ground source heating/cooling, which, along with its solar array, achieves sustainability targets of the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC) Zero Carbon Building standard.
UPEI’s Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation is a living laboratory and educational destination that enables world-class sustainability focused research, immersive experiential learning for graduate and undergraduate students, and serves as a local hub for community engagement.
Envisioned as a gathering space through consultation with local Indigenous and settler communities, the building provides a multi-purpose community space with commanding views to Saint Peters Bay and village (population 250). Sited along the crest of a hill overlooking the village, the building inflects to form a wind sheltered, south-facing outdoor activity space that includes an outdoor classroom and social gathering area, as well as a launch pad for drones. Active-learning spaces extend across the ground floor, which include flexible classrooms and laboratories, faculty offices, collaborative meeting areas and a ‘drone port’/maker space that supports a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring and data collection related to the Centre’s climate change research. Active-living spaces extend across the upper levels of the building, which consist of 38 two-bedroom suites, student study areas, and a communal lounge and accessible terrace.
While not formally certified by the University, the project is incrementally tracking towards realizing a holistic net-zero carbon and net zero energy outcome. Independent verification of the project has been undertaken using Athena’s Impact Estimator and a 60-year life cycle analysis which confirms the Centre significantly exceeds the embodied carbon requirements of CaGBC’s ZCB-Design V3 by 59%.
Affordability was a key driver of the design approach with the building and related ground source system delivered for $295/s.f. (excludes site development and servicing costs). Designed and constructed on a fast-track 21-month schedule (during COVID), this timeline also included proactive risk and budget management recommendations from the design team to re-programme the facility from its initial 45,000 to 38,000 s.f. to address budget limitations, and recommendations to implement significant adjustments to the building location and site boundary to reduce site disturbance and development costs which included a new access roadway, parking, site servicing, on-site fire water storage and back-up emergency power system. Incremental energy modelling was undertaken to inform the design and decision-making process with the client and was evaluated from both an upfront and annual operating cost perspective.
Sustainability Features
Its all electric system design approach includes ground source heating and cooling for the building’s thermal loads, heat recovery ventilation, and on-site renewable energy production (100Kw solar array). While on-site renewable energy is currently capped due to regulatory considerations, UPEI plans to increase onsite renewable energy at a later date. The project’s carbon sequestering design approach includes the extensive use of wood, prefabricated thermally broken wood wall panels, and locally harvested wood cladding. Triple-glazed and operable Passivhaus-certified windows provide daylighting/ views and passive ventilation for regularly occupied spaces within the building. OD
Statistics
Client/Owner:
University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI)
Location:
St Peters Bay, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Total Area:
3,530 sm/38,000 sf
Project Typology:
Hybrid Research, Educational and Residential Facility
Project Start/Completion Dates:
Commenced in 2020 – Completed in 2021
Photography:
Brady McCloskey
Awards
2024 Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) – Design Excellence Award
Walter Fedy (Formerly Baird Sampson Neuert architects) + SableArc Studios worked in collaboration with BSN acting in the capacity of Prime Consultant and design lead.
Project UPEI’s Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation • Location St. Peter’s Bay, Prince Edward Island • Architecture Practices Baird Sampson Neuert Architects (now a part of the WF Group Inc.), in association with SableARC Studio