Eugene H. Kruger Building
Bioclimatic Design - Teaching/research complex uses natural means to produce energy savings
The covered approach to the south elevation. Much of the cladding consists of a local pre-stained wood siding.
by Paul Gautier ..Incorporating both research facilities for the wood industry and undergraduate teaching space for 200 students and faculty in an 8,000 sq.m building, the all-wood Kruger Building is located on the edge of the University of Laval’s suburban Quebec City campus, and linked to the existing buildings of the Faculty of Forestry and Geomatics.
Design Objectives
In commissioning this facility, the University of Laval had two special objectives: First, to demonstrate the potential of an all-wood construction in a large scale building, expanding the use of wood beyond the residential market to which it has been largely confined in the east of the country.
The second objective was to design the university’s first building according to the principles of sustainable development by taking advantage of bioclimatic design and concentrating on the reduction of operating costs, especially energy consumption, over the building’s lifetime.
Design Strategy
In response, the architects developed the following strategies: Firstly, to express the modern technological operation of converting eastern wood to uniform components. Due to the small size of available trees, the raw material is typically reduced to particles, chips and strips, then assembled into manufactured components. The product is therefore more uniform and stable, allowing thinner sections than unprocessed wood.
This industrial building, therefore, rationally assembles standard materials [wood joists, panels and siding] in repetitive modules within a primary glue-laminated frame. Rustic materials such as stone are avoided, and the wood is associated with other manufactured materials such as thin metal components and glass.
Secondly, sustainable development goals are achieved by using the principles and tools of bioclimatic design - the use of natural energy, sun and wind to decrease reliance on grid electricity and fossil fuels, in a manner that increases the users’ comfort and sense of well being.
The design, therefore, seeks to provide a pleasurable experience by the greatest possible exposure to natural elements such as sunlight, wind and wood. Extensive operable glazing in occupied rooms, activity and circulation spaces provides a sociable environment in contact with the wooded site. Thus, light is married with wood, and the building with the material that shapes it.
The exterior wood siding is the same grey as the predominately limestone campus, monochrome like weathered wood and tree bark. Analogous to the warmth of trees, the building interior is honey coloured, transparently-coated exposed wood.
Urban Design
The building organisation provides an alternative to the existing campus experience of isolated buildings seated on a windy plateau, connected by underground service tunnels.
The building’s two main program areas [classrooms linked to the existing Faculty buildings by a glazed connector, and heavy industry research bordering the expressway] form a semi-enclosed courtyard oriented to the south.
The building’s massing provides shelter from wind and captures the sun’s warmth thereby prolonging outdoor social activities in spring, summer and fall.
The two wings are joined by the entrance hall, the building’s crossroads, surrounded by the most intensively populated spaces, concentrating activity and promoting social interaction. Semi-protected walkways link the hall to campus avenues to the north and south.
Sustainable Design and Performance
The narrow academic wing facilitates cross ventilation with a single loaded corridor whose southerly orientation permits passive solar heat gain. The wider research wing required the use of roof monitors to achieve daylighting and cross ventilation.
Visually opaque volumes enclose the building’s functional spaces. A series of glass prisms reveal major circulation spaces showcasing the building’s activities and construction.
Using only architectural strategies [form, orientation, materials] with the addition of HVAC controls, the building achieves over 30% reduction in energy consumption relative to the MNECB standard.
Systematic use of light models and the ENERGY 10 program [which calculates orientation, occupant heat load, passive solar gain etc.] determined the building’s envelope [geometry of fenestration, roof monitors, sunshades, etc.] to at hear to bioclimatic design principles.
According to the ATHENA program, the extensive use of wood results in a 40 % overall reduction of embedded energy in the Kruger Building’s construction materials, 85 % reduction in water pollution and 25 % reduction in air pollution.
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Credits
- Client: Université Laval, Service des Immeubles
- Architect: Gauthier Gallienne Moisan Architectes, Quebec
- Structural engineers: BPR Inc., Quebec
- Electrical/Mechanical: Consortium CIMA / GENIVAR, Quebec
- Bioclimatic design: GRAP / Université Laval, Quebec
- Lighting consultant: Eclairage architectural OKHAN, Montreal
- Code: Les Consultants CSB Inc., Montreal
- Contractor: Hervé Pomerleau inc., Saint-Georges de Beauce
- Photos: Laurent Goulard architecte, Quebec
Materials
- Primary structure of post and beam glulam- Goodlam by Goodfellow Inc., infilled with wood stud walls, composite wood I beam joists or exposed T&G decking, flooring and roofing.
- Insulation types: expanded and extruded polystyrene, polyisocyanurate, spray-on polyurethane, fibreglass; modular, local pre-stained softwood siding, low-E glazing in wood windows or aluminum curtain walls, sandblasted glass sun shades.