Situated on Simon Fraser University's Burnaby campus, the Parcel 21 energy-efficient residence will house over 80 affordable rental apartment units. It comprises a four-storey wood frame building on a concrete parkade, plus a six-storey wood frame building. Associated Engineering was retained to provide structural and electrical engineering services on this $21.5 million project.
To meet the rigorous BC Energy Step Code requirements, we applied many passive house principles in the design of the project, including:
- A super-insulated building envelope
- Continuous air barrier to minimize leakage
- High performance windows
- Engineering and detailing of connections details to minimize thermal bridging
- A heat-recovery ventilation system to improve indoor air quality
- Canopies and other structures that are thermally separated from the building envelope
- Sunshades that help prevent overheating in the summer
In addition to designing the structure for high seismicity, the structural detailing was carefully undertaken to mitigate the effects of vertical shrinkage of the wood structure and to preserve the continuity of the thermal envelope around the residential portion of the structure.