University of British Columbia’s CIRS Building is a Living Eco Laboratory in Vancouver

The <a href="http://cirs.ubc.ca/" target="_blank">Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability</a> at the <a href="http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/ubc-opens-north-americas-greenest-building" target="_blank">University of British Columbia</a> opened earlier this month and it's currently working at full steam to advance research on sustainable building design. Built to exceed LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge standards, CIRS was designed through a collaboration between <a href="http://www.perkinswill.com/work/university-of-british-columbia.html" target="_blank">Perkins+Will</a> and UBC to focus on green building design and operations, environmental policy, and community engagement. The living eco laboratory is more than just <a href="http://inhabitat.com/zero-energy/">net zero</a>, it actually generates extra power for the campus and is powered by solar panels, treats its own wastewater, and features a living green roof as well as a vertical garden.

The building includes the BC Hydro Theatre, which utilizes advanced visualization and interaction technologies to engage audiences in environmental topics and climate change scenarios. It also features a 450-seat Modern Green Development Auditorium, indoor environmental quality and building simulation software labs, a building management system that shares building performance in real-time, and a café that uses no disposable packaging and serves local and organic food.

More the 200 people from a variety of academic disciplines will occupy the building, which will also be home to the <a href="http://cirs.ubc.ca/" target="_blank">UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI)</a>, which works collaboratively to focus the university’s academic and operational efforts on sustainability.

Real-time building statistics will be made available to the public, and research on performance and building use will be used to improve future projects at UBC.

The four story, 60,000 square-foot facility is built in a U-shape to promote cross ventilation and infiltration of natural daylighting.

A solar hot water heating system is situated on the roof, while photovoltaic panel window shades generate more than enough energy for the building.

The building collects rainwater and treats its own wastewater, while a green roof in the central courtyard and a living wall installation help process storm water and effectively insulate the building.

Constructed largely of certified wood and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Beetle_Kill" target="_blank">beetle-killed wood</a> (currently B.C.’s largest source of carbon emissions), the CIRS locks in more than 500 tonnes of carbon, offsetting the GHG emissions that resulted from the use of other non-renewable construction materials in the building such as cement, steel and aluminum.

The 450-seat auditorium.

A view of the green roofed courtyard.

Solar thermal evacuated tube collectors on the roof work in conjunction with pv solar shades to generate energy for the building.

Natural daylighting floods the space.

Designed to LEED Platinum and <a href="https://ilbi.org/lbc" target="_blank">Living Building standards</a>, the living eco laboratory is more than just a super efficient research center.

“The general idea of a lot of the sustainability agenda has been about doing less damage, being less bad, cutting back,” says John Robinson, CIRS director and a professor at <a href="http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/ubc-opens-north-americas-greenest-building" target="_blank">UBC</a>. “We’re interested in a slightly different approach we call regenerative sustainability. Can human activity actually make the environment better—not just less damaged, but actually better—and human life better as well?”