RC107 JulyAugust2023 - Magazine - Page 16
BUILDINGS
SUSTAINABLE
LEARNING
New U of T Scarborough residence
built to Passive House standards
by Andrew Snook
VERY FALL, universities across Canada welcome thousands
of new students excited to begin their post-secondary
education. This fall, the University of Toronto Scarborough
(UTSC) will open a new first-year Passive House student
residence.
After more than three years under construction, the
new UTSC student residence will be ready for operation. Built
to the Passive House high-performance building standard, the
new structure is designed with a variety of low-energy features
including high-efficiency insulation and triple-glazed windows,
and a building system expected to reduce energy consumption
between 40 to 60 per cent when compared to conventional
buildings.
“When we started on this journey, we knew we needed to
build more student residences. And whenever we do projects, we’re always looking for ways to highlight an element of
sustainability,” says Andrew Arifuzzaman, chief administrative
officer for UTSC.
He says the university is always looking for ways to reduce
heating and cooling costs, and implemented many sustainable
technologies into the residence that were also built into one of
the UTSC’s most recent buildings, the
Environmental Science and Chemistry
Building.
“We came up with a number of
innovations in that project, including
geothermal wells, earth tubes and air
recycling,” Arifuzzaman says. “On
the student residence it was a bit of a
unique opportunity because you have
746 new people every year living in a
building. So, we were looking at Passive
House as an option.”
The new, nine-storey, 24,620-sq.m.
student residence will house 746 firstyear students, doubling the capacity of
the current residences on campus, and
offering a combination of single, double,
and accessible suites. The residence will
feature an energy efficient cafeteria,
common area for learning workshops,
Michael Faustini,
two suites for visiting scholars, a dining
project director for Pomerleau.
room, administrative offices, and several
POMERLEAU
E
Andrew Snook is a
freelance business-tobusiness writer based
in Mississauga, Ont.
16
RENEW CANADA – JULY/AUGUST 2023
RENEWCANADA.NET
