Stantec has been selected to design Vancouver Community College’s (VCC) is Centre for Clean Energy and Automotive Innovation to their campus in British Columbia. The new facility will minimize environmental impact and enhance well-being while providing students with essential training in sustainable industry education.
Stantec is providing architecture, interior design, acoustics, information management and information technology, and mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering services. The firm is also designing to achieve LEED and Rick Hansen Foundation Gold certifications. Two Row Architect is the Indigenous design collaborator and RJC Engineering is providing structural engineering as well as sustainability and building performance consulting.
Creating an inclusive space
The eight-storey building will feature a cutting-edge electric/hybrid automotive shop to facilitate the servicing and maintenance of electric vehicles and clean energy training. It will also house classrooms, labs, a library and learning centre, an Indigenous gathering space, administrative offices, and various collaborative learning spaces. Special considerations were given to Indigenous consultation and involvement in the design.
“With a focus on technology and renewable resources, the new facility at VCC incorporates unique design features to enhance the learning environment for students and teaching professionals,” said Mark Travis, principal and education sector lead for British Columbia at Stantec. “We look forward to bringing a space to life that supports connection and community experience, and honors the unceded territories of the location’s First Nations.”
Supporting a sustainable and collaborative future
The facility design is focused on a more sustainable future with flexible classroom layouts, powerful HVAC systems that respond to climate change, and mass timber as the primary structural material in the atrium space.
To further support the goal of creating a space centered around green automotive innovation, the building is designed to be low carbon and meet British Columbia’s Step Code 2 and LEED Gold Certification requirements.
