The Vancouver suburb of Surrey, British Columbia, got a hardworking new civic center last fall. The Clayton Community Centre combines a fitness facility, gymnasium, community kitchen, tool workshop, and recording studios, as well as offices for the city’s recreation, library, arts, and parks staff. It’s also one of the largest buildings in North America to meet the stringent Passive House green building standard, which requires buildings to limit their energy use through highly efficient insulation and ventilation systems. It is the winner in the Spaces and Places category of Fast Company‘s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards.
[Photo: courtesy Hcma]Compared with a conventionally designed building with a similar size and use, the Clayton Community Centre requires 72% less energy, and emits 98% less carbon dioxide. Despite its northern location, keeping the building warm was not a challenge. “We found out quickly that we had a cooling problem,” says Melissa Higgs, principal at Hcma, the architects of the project, citing the building’s wide uses and all the warm bodies inside. “It’s maybe five days of the year we have to turn on the heat,” she says.
[Image: courtesy Hcma]To avoid relying on an industrial air conditioner to keep things cool, the architects integrated vent-like clerestory windows on the roof that open automatically when needed, allowing hot air to flush out of the building. “We had this great opportunity to do double duty. We get natural light during the day and then through motorized actuators, those windows open up when they need to cool the building,” Higgs says.
[Photo: courtesy Hcma]And in a nod to the abundant forests of Canada, the building itself is modeled after a tree, with its upper floors extending out over the base like a canopy and creating a natural cooling effect. This passive shading solution also helps the building meet its ambitious environmental goals. “Passive House really demands that you think about everything holistically,” Higgs says.
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This article is part of Fast Company’s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards. Explore the full list of companies creating products, reimagining spaces, and working to design a better world.
