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Lunenburg County

Lifestyle Centre

South shore Nova Scotian building combines sustainable

design and local culture

By JarLe LovLiN

Both the land and the sea provided design inspiration for

this new lifestyle centre on the south shore of Nova Scotia.

Lunenburg County is both coastal and deeply forested with

centuries-long traditions of timber construction

and wooden boat building.

N

A

A

A

A

B

CD

E F G

H

Site plan

A Parking

B Rink

C Library

D Pool

E Administration

F Galleria

G South geothermal borehole field

H North geothermal borehole field

Both the land and the sea provided design inspira-

tion for this new lifestyle centre on the south shore of

Nova Scotia. Lunenburg County is both coastal and

deeply forested with centuries-long traditions of timber

construction and wooden boat building.

Rolling hills overlook the many bays along the

Atlantic Ocean where the Lunenburg County Lifestyle

Centre sits within an undulating forest setting. This

context informed the design approach for the project.

The $35-million facility hosts community, recreation

and cultural events while promoting individual health,

literacy and fitness. The engaging connections created

by the diverse program, visual transparency and a clear

plan create a strong sense of place and a destination

embraced by local residents.

The 10,200m2 recreation program is divided into four

main components: an NHL regulation-sized ice surface;

an aquatics facility that includes a six-lane, 25-metre

lap pool, a leisure pool, and a therapy spa pool; a

740m2 regional library, and a complement of fitness,

multi-purpose and administrative spaces.

The arena is acoustically designed to operate as

a hockey rink, concert venue and conference facility.

Raised seating in the arena provides improved specta-

tor viewing and unimpeded circulation around the rink

for conference and concert use.

Building section of passive and active systems

A Stormwater collection

B Solar thermal collection

C Passive ventilation

D Natural daylighting

E High-efficiency lighting

F Geothermal well

G Waste heat from rink

H Heat exchanger

I Stormwater cistern

J Ice plant

A B

E

F

G

H I J

C

D

D

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eAST eLevATION: vIew Of MAIN eNTRANCe AT NIGHT [1].

40 sabMag - SPRING 2016 sabMag - SPRING 2016 41

The joint venture architectural team wanted to achieve a strong architectural

expression that would be regionally and culturally appropriate, while addressing an

ambitious environmental agenda on a demanding site.

One of the challenges was to accommodate a five-metre drop in landscape running

diagonally across the site from west to east. Taking advantage of the natural slope,

the arena was nestled into the hillside, so that the upper concourse seating would be

at the facility’s entry level. The more contemplative program elements were located

at that southern end of the building, providing light, views and direct access to a

landscape of preserved trees and the stream that defines the southern boundary of

the site.

A central Galleria runs parallel to the arena and aquatic centre, with the library at

the southern end. The naturally daylit Galleria is the main street of the project, pro-

viding the strongest reference to the timber industry and maritime heritage of the

region. The upper levels are lined with linear maple hardwood slats that provide both

visual warmth and - by way of their open spacing - an acoustic dampening function.

The ceiling is a combination of 38 mm-thick tongue-and-groove wood decking and

Douglas fir glulam beams.

Tying the beams together are a series of king post trusses which gradually arc along

the length of the Galleria, emblematic of the draft of the famed Bluenose I schooner, a

cultural totem for the surrounding communities. This wood-lined Galleria is a dramatic,

unifying element, providing physical and visual links to all the activities within the facil-

ity, as well as to the forested vistas beyond.

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TD

TD

FD

TD

FD

FD FD FD

FD

FFD

FFD

FFD

FFD

UP

UP

TIMEKEEPER142

100.0 sq m

HB

HB

HB

HB

HB

HB

ACID TANK

100.0 sq m

HB

UP

LOCKERS

C

C

C

C

C

C

O

M1

SD

GB2

CH

WR

DP

STAIR 3ST3-1

35.5 sq m

2H

36"

BBF

2H

36"MILLWORK COUNTER - NIC

BBF

2H

36"

2H

36"

NOT IN CONTRACT

Ground floor plan

Rink

Library

Aquatic centre

Active living/office space

Galleria

Second floor plan

North elevation

The community expressed a strong commitment to sustainability, and LeeD Gold certifica-

tion is being pursued. A number of initiatives were implemented to reduce the environmental

impact and energy demand of the building.

Given the scale of the building enclosure, a high-performance building envelope was

employed with R25 walls and an R30 roof assembly. The building incorporates several ener-

gy-saving elements into the design of its mechanical systems including heat recovery for the

arena refrigeration plant that captures waste heat for pool water heating, dual core energy

recovery ventilators made in Manitoba, roof-mounted solar panels for heating domestic and

pool water, and variable speed drives on fans and pumps. The dehumidification system con-

trols the relative humidity in the pool area, but also recovers the heat contained in the water

vapour in the air and recycles it back to the pool water to deliver significant energy savings.

The system also uses a glycol loop to recover energy from the exhaust air to heat incoming

fresh air for ventilation purposes.

A geothermal field provides storage and a retrieval source for the waste heat, while recy-

cled grey water collected from the roof is stored in a large cistern and used for plumbing and

irrigation purposes. electric car charging stations are located in the adjacent parking area.

The Galleria itself provides a source of natural ventilation, taking advantage of its height

for stack effect. Motorized windows at both the north and south end provide low-level entry

while upper level clerestory windows allow the hot air to exit, activated with temperature

sensors and monitored by the building management system.

The result is an integrated and sustainable facility, highlighting its spectacular natural loca-

tion and paying tribute to its industrial and maritime roots.

JArLE LovLIN IS A PrINCIPAL wItH DIAmoND SCHmItt ArCHItECtS INC., www. DSAI.CA

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PRoJECt PERFoRmANCE

- Energy intensity = 242eKWh/m2/year- Energy intensity reduction relative to reference building under mNECB 1997 = 63% - Potable water consumption from municipal sources = 3704m3/year- Reduction in potable water consumption relative to LEED 2009 reference building = 47%- Recycled material content = 30.65%- Regional materials = 30.54%

mAtERIALS

- Mixed concrete, steel and wood construction - Dual core energy recovery ventilators made by tempeff in Manitoba- Pool dehumidification and energy recovery unit with energy recycling indoor pool dehumidification system designed and built by Seresco technologies in Ottawa. - Arena refrigeration plant captures waste heat for pool water heating- Roof-mounted solar panels for heating domestic and pool water

PRoJECt CREDItS

CLIENt Lunenburg County Multipurpose Centre CorporationARCHItECt Lydon Lynch / Diamond Schmitt Joint VenturePRoJECt ARCHItECtS Mark Atwood, Jarle LovlinmECHANICAL/ELECtRICAL ENGINEER M&R EngineeringStRUCtURAL ENGINEER Campbell ComeauLANDSCAPE ARCHItECt/CIVIL ENGINEER Jarle Spotted Ekistics PooL CoNSULtANt Jamie LopesRINK CoNSULtANt Custom IceACoUStIC CoNSULtANt Aercoustics Engineering Ltd.ENVIRoNmENtAL CoNSULtANt Strum EngineeringGENERAL CoNtRACtoR Bird ConstructionPHotoS James Ingram, JIVE Photographic Productions

THe CONCReTe AND STeeL TRuSS AReNA IS DeSIGNeD fOR MuLTIPLe fuNCTIONS INCLuDING

CONCeRTS AND CONfeReNCeS [2]. THe AquATIC fACILITy, wITH A wOOD DeCk SuPPORTeD By

STeeL fRAMING, INCLuDeS A 25-MeTRe LAP POOL AND A THeRAPy SPA POOL [3]. THe NON-

ReCReATIONAL PROGRAM AReAS weRe LOCATeD fOR LIGHT, vIewS AND DIReCT ACCeSS TO THe

SuRROuNDING LANDSCAPe [4].

THe DeSIGN Of THe GALLeRIA wAS INSPIReD By

THe TRADITIONAL TIMBeR INDuSTRy AND MARITIMe

HeRITAGe Of THe ReGION [5]. THe GALLeRIA ACTS AS

THe CeNTRAL CIRCuLATION SPINe Of THe BuILDING,

AND ASSISTS wITH NATuRAL veNTILATION AND DAy-

LIGHTING [6]. THe exTeRIOR eNveLOPe INCLuDeS

HIGH-PeRfORMANCe GLAzING AND R-25 INSuLATION

IN THe wALLS [7].

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42 sabMag - SPRING 2016 sabMag - SPRING 2016 43

Athena’s eBDs are compliant with the european standard eN 15978,

a whole-building life cycle assessment [LCA] standard that is intended

to support decision-making and documentation around the assessment

of environmental performance of buildings. Since one of the stated pur-

poses of the standard is to guide “environmental declarations,” we’ve

adopted the name “environmental building declaration” for this kind

of report. while many people are using eN 15978 in their practice and

reporting of whole-building LCA, Athena may be the first to formalize the

documentation and apply the term “eBD.”

an introduction to environmental building declarations By Jennifer O’Connor and Matt Bowick,

Athena Sustainable Materials Institute

the Athena Sustainable materials Institute recently

began publishing a new kind of document, something

we call Environmental Building Declarations [EBDs]. An

EBD is a summary report of comprehensive environmen-

tal footprint data for a building and declares the life cycle

impacts of a building according to a standardized format.

It is a statement of performance and is typically publicly

disclosed, like a nutrition label on a food package.

the intent of the document is to present results

as transparently and concisely as possible.

the en 15978 standardeN 15978 is the most advanced consensus standard for whole-

building LCA. It includes provisions on how to calculate results for

a uniform set of environmental indicators, and how to report the

results transparently. The standard has filled a critical gap in build-

ing LCA practice and taken the guesswork out of what constitutes

a good assessment. eN 15978 is now the most widely-used stan-

dard for building LCA studies and is referenced by various green

building rating systems worldwide. Athena’s eBDs aim to advance

the emerging consensus on whole-building LCA practice.

Quantification and validation of green building Performance

Our mandate at the Athena Institute is to help bring quantifi-

cation and validation to sustainability decisions. How confident

is the design community that self-declared “green” buildings

deliver measurable environmental benefits over standard build-

ings? we believe it is time for performance assessment and

standardized transparent reporting on what the community

calls sustainable design.

1

take approved SABmag continuing education courses

for LEED AP credential maintenance.

Read this article and take the quiz at:www.SABMAGAzINe-eDuCATION.INfO

to receive 1 Core Learning Unit

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