Mohawk College

The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation

Opportunity

With funding tied to a fast-tracked timeline and ambitious goals to be one of the first ZCB buildings certified in Canada, the vision for The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation was to become an exciting leader in sustainable design. As a space to train the Net Zero Facilities Management teams of the future, it would connect form and function of the design in innovative ways. Situated at a key entry to the campus, it also presented the College with the opportunity to create a new statement landmark on its campus.

Response

Situated within a constrained site, the award-winning facility responds to the surrounding buildings and three public amenity spaces animate the grade level, knitting the campus fabric together. Adaptable classrooms and lecture theaters are organized around a central, sunlit atrium which acts as a social activator, incorporating a café, informal lounges and private study areas. State-of-the-art labs, workshops and study spaces are flexible and modular, enabling students to cluster into groups or work independently, as needed. These versatile learning spaces are designed to evolve over time to accommodate advancing technology and the contributions of industry partnerships.

Sustainability

The first to achieve ZCB Certification for both design and performance in Canada, the design generates 100 percent of the energy needed to power itself through a year. The high-performance building envelope integrates passive design strategies which significantly reduce the building’s heating and cooling loads. Solar photovoltaic panel arrays span the length of the building and produce 721,000 kWh of clean, renewable electricity per year. 28 geothermal wells, on-site stormwater harvesting, sensor-controlled LED lighting, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and a variable refrigerant heat pump system, combined to an energy model of 73 ekWh /m2, where a typical institutional building would require 230-300 ekWh/m2. The facility provides continuous performance feedback that informs users of their personal energy usage. Through real-time data, students are empowered to adapt their behaviour and improve the operations of the building.