Green awards success in Canada

09/05/2011

The Vancouver Convention Centre's West building has been selected as one of the Top Ten Green Projects 2011 by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE).

This prestigious award, which highlights the top ten examples of US-designed sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment, will be formally presented to the design architects LMN at the AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in New Orleans May 12–14, 2011.

“It is an honour to be recognized at the national level by what many consider to be the top award programme for sustainable design excellence,” commented the firm’s design partner Mark Reddington.

A collaboration between LMN, Vancouver-based Musson Cattell Mackey and DA Architects & Planners, the West building is also the first convention centre in the world to receive the highest possible LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. This is as a result of the architects’ commitment to examining opportunities for sustainable design at every phase of the process.

Indeed, the building boasts many innovative environmental features, including a six-acre ‘living roof’ which hosts 400,000 indigenous plants and grasses as well as four beehives, an underwater artificial reef which provides a habitat for barnacles, mussels, seaweed, starfish, crabs and various marine species, a sophisticated drainage and water recovery system, and a seawater heating and cooling system.

With the addition of the new West building, the Vancouver Convention Centre now possesses 72 meeting rooms and total meeting and exhibition space of 43,340 m².

www.vancouverconventioncentre.com

lmnarchitects.com/work/vancouver_convention_centre_west

aiatopten.org/