August 20, 2008

FLEMING COLLEGE

Students in the Fleming College sustainable building program fasten trusses for the new Performing Arts Centre in Madoc, Ontario.

Fleming College students build performing arts centre in Madoc

VINCE VERSACE

staff writer

Recyclable and sustainable materials have helped Madoc’s news performing arts centre take shape under the guidance and hard work of students in Fleming College’s sustainable building program.

“This project is a step forward for us,” explains Chris Magwood, co-ordinator of the Sustainable Building Design and Construction certificate program at Fleming College. “For the first time we are building a ‘net zero’ energy building and I now do not see us changing from that. It seems backward to build a new building that will use fossil fuels.”

Twenty-five students, ranging in age from 20 to late 50s, enrolled in Fleming’s 20-week course designed and built every aspect of the new arts centre. The students have worked five days a week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to make the net zero building a reality. This same Fleming program has helped build the 4Cs Food Bank in Haliburton, the Kinark Outdoor Centre near Minden and R.D. Lawrence Place in Minden.

“About half-dozen of these students had previous trades experience — the rest accepted the challenge and the steep learning curve,” says Magwood.

The students spent a majority of their program time at the building construction site doing everything from plastering its exterior to laying down the radiant flooring. They formed teams within the categories of administration, construction, and mechanical systems.

“Each student has a specialty but they get to experience everything being built here,” says Magwood.

The arts centre is in a hexagon shape and is supported at each corner with a round, load-bearing, straw bale column. Round bales (4x4) flipped on their side and stacked give the column its shape. The round bales were load tested at Queen’s University and can hold up to 300,000 pounds.

“When we had just the eight columns up people were calling it Stonehenge,” jokes Magwood.

Square straw bales covered in a plaster mix of mud, clay and straw were used for the walls of the centre. Three different insulation types were used for the building’s three wings. One type is hempcrete which is a site-mixed combination of ground hemp, water and hydrated lime. Slip forms on the frame walls were used to pack in the hempcrete.

A second method is light clay/straw. For this material, chopped hemp straw with a small amount of clay slip was used. This material was then packed into slip forms.

The third insulation type used is cotton batt insulation. These batts are similar to fiberglass or Roxul batts, but are made from non-toxic, recycled denim fabric.

The centre’s outdoor stage is under a living roof with festival seating capacity for up to 400 people. The indoor stage area will have a seating capacity for up to 90 people. The building also includes a canteen, washrooms, a green room and a storage/utility room. A rainwater collection system provides flushing water for the toilets.

A geothermal heating and cooling system and electricity generated through a photovoltaic power system, where energy is collected through solar panels and stored in batteries, are two core fossil fuel free energy systems featured in the project, notes Magwood.

The roof trusses came from local mills and are Forestry Standard Council-certified ensuring they come from a sustainable source. The roof is made of galvanized steel and is completely recyclable.

Completion of the building is slated for August 22, 2008.

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