OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
The UBC Renew - Chemistry Centre Project
Suzanne Poohkay, Director, Facilities Planning, Infrastructure Development, UBC
and Henriquez Partners Architects for the UBC–Renew Chemistry Centre Project
The Chemistry Centre project has successfully preserved and significantly upgraded a unique historic building, economically and to a LEED silver standard. This renovation is a case study for every owner that wishes to revive a deteriorating heritage building.
Chemistry Centre is a major landmark at UBC, significant historically and architecturally. Completed in 1923, Chemistry Centre was UBC's first permanent building and is one of only two UBC buildings designed by Sharp and Thompson in the Collegiate Gothic style. The B.C. granite facade features rusticated and finished stone facing, smooth granite sills and quoins around leaded windows, copper rain water leaders and scuppers, crenellated parapets, decorative stone carving, and glazed oak entrance doors with custom bronze UBC-crest emblazoned hardware. Interior corridors boast detailed brick wainscoting, ceramic tile flooring, bas-relief decorative tiles, arched oak door-surrounds and glazed screens; marble staircases are detailed in the institutional Arts and Crafts style.
Eighty years later, these fine architectural details were still intact, but the building was in desperate need of safety upgrades. Building systems were practically non-functional, and the facility could not support today's advanced chemistry research. Necessary upgrades included new fume hoods, ventilation systems, lighting, power, sprinklers, and seismic restraint, along with laboratory and teaching space reconfiguration and building envelope repair.
The UBC Renew program determined that the building met the program criteria – the renewal and upgrade budget cannot exceed 67% of the cost to build a comparable replacement building - and the revitalization project was initiated.
The renewed Chemistry Centre is a showpiece for sustainable heritage building renewal. The UBC planning and project management teams and the design team led by Henriquez Partners Architects responded remarkably to the UBC directive to:
• Preserve the building's distinct architectural characteristics
• Reduce the impact of demolition by maximizing retention of building elements
• Achieve LEED silver certification, using long-term sustainable goals to inform all design decisions
• Create state-of-the-art chemistry labs, lecture theatres, classrooms, offices, administrative areas, and a high-performance computing facility, and
• Intensify use and flexibility of the building through open lab planning
Exterior heritage conservation aspects of the project included repointing of damaged joints and sealing of the stone facade to prevent further water ingress; cleaning and repair of copper scuppers, downspouts and leaded windows; new low-albedo roofing, parapet flashing and detailing to prevent water ingress; removal of fire escapes; and reinstatement of third floor skylights.
Heritage conservation measures inside the building included cleaning and repair of all interior brickwork, stonework, marble, stair guards, radiators, exposed brick, door pulls, and plaster archways; refinishing of heritage corridor millwork; re-use and refinishing of interior doors and bronze hardware; non-intrusive seismic reinforcing, including seismic support of arched wood door surrounds and glazed screens; repair of areas damaged by water ingress and addition of perimeter venting; new heritage-character light fixtures in the corridors; and re-piping and valving of free-standing radiators for continued use and greater efficiency.
The building was fitted with completely new energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems and lighting, completely upgraded to modern life safety standards, and areas beyond the heritage corridors have been upgraded to modern labs, teaching, and office spaces. The building now houses leading edge research labs of different capabilities -- from fume hood intense synthetic chemistry labs to analytical chemistry labs with computer workstations. The traditional materials create a high-quality and tactile backdrop for the clean lines and functional appearance of the laboratory equipment and modern maple casework. Occupants now feel privileged to work in a building that was once shunned as inadequate.
All this for $31.9 million – a savings of $16 million over the cost of a comparable replacement building.
