June 4, 2009

PATRICK KENNEDY

The North Vancouver Outdoor School in Paradise Valley won a Holcim North America Award acknowledgement.

North Vancouver Outdoor School looks to the future with green design

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

Rebuilding a 40-year-old outdoor school in a British Columbia wilderness area with only the barest disturbance to the environment is the long-term vision of the North Vancouver Outdoor School minimal impact project.

Last fall the project received international acclaim when it received a Holcim Awards Acknowledgement in the Holcim North American Awards competition. The award came with a $20,000 (U.S.) cash prize.

While the award hasn’t generated a lot of publicity among the general public, it has raised the awareness of the project among architects and designers specializing in green design, says Ron Kato of McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd. (formerly Larry McFarland Architects).

The Vancouver-based firm is the master site planner and design architect of the Environmental Learning Centre, the first building of a series of a planned reconstruction of several structures on the 165-hectare site in Paradise Valley, just outside of Garbaldi Provincial Park.

“It’s a wilderness area complete with significant stands of old forest, wild salmon streams and amphibian ponds. The property also contains the largest recorded concentrations of wintering bald eagles in North America.”

Owned by the North Vancouver School District, the school provides overnight field studies serving approximately 5,000 students and 6,000 adults annually. It operates out of several small buildings scattered throughout the property.

“Unfortunately they were constructed haphazardly over the last 30 to 40 years ad the need arose, without a great deal of consideration for the site or overall planning strategies.”

Almost all of the buildings have suffered damage from frequent flooding, are costly to maintain, and are nearing the end of their service life, says Kato.

The goal of the architects and school officials is a complete sustainable reconstruction of the buildings while ensuring maximum preservation of the surrounding natural ecological reserve land.

“Our guiding principle was the Living Building Challenge,” says Kato, referring to the Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s challenge to the design and construction community to pursue true sustainability in the built environment.

As a result, the learning centre and the exhibition buildings will be completely self-reliant and meet net zero energy and net zero C02 requirements. The micro-hydro, wind, solar and ground-source energy which will provide all of the school’s energy needs will be incorporated into the school’s educational program.

All of the buildings will be elevated to avoid future flooding damage and will offer scenic views. Construction of the approximately $5.2-million centre will probably start next year, with the erection of the other buildings to follow over several years depending on funding, says Kato.

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