Centralized Growth

January 2022 - April 2022

Comprehensive Design Studio

Instructor: John Bass

Team: Remi Landry Yuan summer solstice 58° winter solstice 12° extened overhang shades from direct summer sun, allowing winter sun to permeate space. Engawa acts as a thermal bu er, with cross ventilation in the summer and heat renention in the winter.

Addressing food security in the midst of an ever changing and unstable climate was at the core of our design prompt for a community center in Fraser Lake, British Columbia. Challenged to design a large building without the use of any mechanical systems for heating and cooling, our proposal sought to interweave agriculture and harvesting into indoor program and minimize our impact on the site through different passive design strategies. Thermal strategies such as organizing active and sendentary programs along North and South facades respectively and incorporating indoor grow spaces as additional sources of heat in the winter drove the project’s design philosophy.

Design decisions were made with the goal of minimize the building’s operational and embodied carbon. Selecting efficient and local construction methods and low-emboided carbon materials made up a large portion of the project and created a feedback loop that informed the design process. An energy model was also created of the building in ClimateStudio to ensure that our ventilation strategies, building envelope, and internal heat sources could adequately maintain comfortable occupant temperatures throughout the year. The result was the centralized growth center that blurs the line between indoor and outdoor that creates a space for learning, play, and growing year-round.

Engawa Shading center growing space provides grand cross ventilation to cool in the summer, and spatially connect the north to the south.

Sliding Doors can be opened during the warmer months to increase ventilation, equiped with shading devices to reduce direct sun exposure.

Pitched Roof shading device on south skylight reduces summer sun heat gains. shading system allows for di use light and ventilation.

South Skylight Shading

Operable Skylights single gabble forced hot air to rise through building, through operable skylights.