Buildings Award of Excellence
Wii Gyemsiga Siwilaawksat Student Building Morrison Hershfield
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An integrated process The three-storey, 230,000-sf building replaces four aging student housing buildings. It features a cultural space, 108 student rooms, two visitor suites, an elder suite, two shared kitchens, two collaboration areas, a computer lab, an esports room, two shared kitchens and bike storage. The college selected a design-build team to deliver the volumetric modular and mass-timber hybrid student building in a fast-tracked 17-month schedule. The prime consultant, HCMA Architecture + Design, retained MH. The performance of the building envelope was verified by a blower door test conducted in compliance with ASTM E779, Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurizatio. The final building envelope airtightness was measured at 0.25 L/s/m2 @ 75 Pa. 26
CANADIAN CONSULTING ENGINEER
By integrating MH’s energy consulting with façade-envelope design, a larger variety of options for achieving (and exceeding) the energy-performance threshold were available. Factory-built and site-built The project involved site-built hybrid structures and volumetric modulars with wood framing and metal-skinned structurally insulated panels (SIPs) for the floors and roofs. Air, vapour and moisture control detailing improvements were needed to integrate the SIPs with the conventional envelope system and co-ordinate various high-performance assemblies, to reduce thermal bridging between the site-built and factory-built construction.
Thermal component modelling was undertaken to determine assembly performance and overall thermal bridging impact for compliance with the energy model. The building envelope of the volumetric modulars was partially completed in a factory in Edmonton, then tied-in to the site-built steel and mass timber hybrid atrium structure and finished on-site. The cladding design repeats custom metal brake-shape profiles a pattern to form a closed-joint rainscreen system. Fabrication, sequencing and flashing details were developed on-site. An unconventional, site-specific foundation was constructed as an above-grade insulated void system for the residential-wing volumetric modulars and September/October 2022
PHOTO BY B RUC E DE N I S, COU RT E SY COA ST MOU N TA I N COL L EG E
he Wii Gyemsiga Siwilaawksat Student Building at Coast Mountain College in Terrace, B.C., integrates light wood-framed modular housing units with a site-built mass-timber central atrium. Morrison Hershfield’s (MH’s) energy modelling and airtightness testing resulted in a high-performing building envelope that contributes significantly to the residence being net-zero ready. It exceeds the minimum threshold of the BC Energy Step Code 4 energy-efficiency requirements in a particularly cold, northern coastal climate (Zone 6).
