VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre

The facility’s renewal project included a new garden pavilion to support VanDusen’s vision of providing an inspiring and enjoyable environment for visitors by constructing a living building that aims for a net-zero ecological footprint. The development is pursuing the Living Building Challenge—a certification program that addresses development in seven performance areas: Site, Water, Energy, Health, Materials, Equity, and Beauty.

Introba (formerly Integral Group) designed the mechanical and electrical services for this LEED Platinum-certified project. The strategy behind the 22,000 ft² living building involved considering the building’s natural surroundings to ensure a harmonious balance between the built and natural environment. The Net Zero Energy performance has been achieved by the first optimal passive design using heavy mass rammed earth walls providing thermal stability and comfort as well as passive ventilation and cooling driven by stack-effect generated by the central atrium’s oculus. The active, highly energy-efficient systems include radiant slab heating tied to a vertical, closed-loop geo-exchange system combined with solar thermal and photovoltaic systems and internal heat recovery, providing seasonal thermal recharge of the geo-exchange system. To meet the Living Building Challenge criteria, the project integrates technology without the use of combustion.