Andy Song
A week ago, I had the privilege to visit the headquarters/studios of numerous architecture firms and related groups as part of the Doors Open Toronto event on May 25. Among the sites I visited was the headquarters of the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA), a group in charge of registering and regulating licensed architects operating in the province of Ontario. A guided tour helped me understand more about the building itself, and what OAA does as a whole.
Sustainable Renovations
The building, constructed in the early 1990s, underwent a "Renew + Refresh" renovation in 2015 to improve the energy efficiency and working atmosphere. The goal of this was to combat North America's "disposable mindset" when it comes to older buildings; instead of tearing down the building and constructing a new one, the renovation simply made enhancements to the old, existing building. The 2015 renovation was a mix of both mechanical improvements, which happen frequently, and visual refurbishments, which can happen every few decades.
The building now mainly uses a geothermal heating system -- also known as ground source heat exchange -- and solar energy (seen in figure above) to fuel their operations. They've reduced their energy consumption from 450 equivalent kilo-watt hours, or ekWh, to 0.3 ekWh (not sure about the time frame i.e. weekly, monthly).
The geothermal system, replacing the OAA headquarters' gas furnaces, is comprised of 9 wells drilled 200 meters down into the ground. Since the ground maintains a temperature of roughly 12 degrees Celsius year-round, the pumps can extract heat from it in the winter and deposit heat into it for cooling in the summer.
A more novel (to me) feature of the building is the electrochromic glass window system. Sensors detect where the sun is, controlling these "smart windows" to adjust their transparency. For example, if the sun shines from the east in the morning, the east-facing windows will darken, the west-facing windows will be nearly transparent, and the other two sides' windows will be somewhere in between.
This adjustable glazing helps conserve energy from lighting and reduce glare (disturbing bright light from the sun) at the same time. The top section of the windows is frosted because it's too difficult to account for glare even with the electrochromic system.
The changes to the OAA HQ were nothing too revolutionary, but still interesting, because to me they reflect how the attitude of the architecture industry is gradually changing as a whole. If the group that manages all the licensed architects in a province is showing a dedication to sustainability through revamping their own headquarters, that's a clear signal for all architects to do the same.
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