Portfolio | Educational | Royal roads university

Royal roads university Victoria, B.C.   The building design will support RRU’s interactive learning model and demonstrate the university’s commitment to leadership in sustainability practices. This LEED Gold target building uses high efficiency, condensing boilers for domestic hot water and building heat with a solar thermal system to provide supplementary preheat. A central air handling unit with heat recovery provides minimum ventilation to each space, which are individually controlled by occupancy and CO2 sensors. The building is heated through a perimeter radiation system and uses natural ventilation for cooling. A 4-storey atrium was designed to act as a thermal chimney to allow hot air to rise up and exit the building at high level, and thus provide natural air-conditioning. During peak cooling hours supplemental exhaust fans located at the top the atrium tower will turn on to provide cross-ventilation and cooling through the classrooms and offices. A thermal model was created in IES to simulate the cooling effect of the natural ventilation system and establish that the proposed building complies with ASHRAE-55. The preliminary energy model indicates a 48% energy reduction compared to the ASHRAE 90.1-1999 baseline, which would be eligible for 7 LEED credits.   Architect:  Jensen Chernoff Thompson Architects