Buildings Tree for Life Award and Award of Excellence
MacKimmie Tower Redevelopment Entuitive
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Efficient features One point of interest is the double-skinned façade, which greatly improves thermal performance. It features active shading systems and fully automated operable windows, both at the inner and exterior glazing line (the automation can be overridden by individuals for comfort). This system takes advantage of Calgary’s extreme diurnal temperature fluctuations and performs nighttime flushes/purges after warmer days. It has also provided a comparably safer work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a less risky fresh air distribution system compared to more traditional mechanical systems. Immediately after the existing precast panels and asbestos were removed, the interior glazing line was installed, to ensure the building was enclosed as quickly as possible. This enabled work on the interior finishes to advance in parallel with the installation of 22
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PHOTO COU RT E SY E N T U I T I V E
s part of its strategic vision for a carbon-neutral campus by 2050, the University of Calgary (U of C) commissioned a retrofit of the MacKimmie Tower—built in 1970—to transform it into a leading-edge, high-performance, net-zero carbon building. The tower is now 85% more energy-efficient and is the first building in Alberta to be certified to the Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC’s) Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) Design Standard. It serves as a model of what can be done to existing, aging building stock. In fact, at press time, the 40,000-m2 MacKimmie Tower is the largest net-zero carbon building project anywhere in Canada. The retrofit, requested by Alberta’s provincial government, has turned a 50-year-old library building into commercial space, where much of the university’s administration now works in one centralized location, freeing up space in several other buildings for future research facilities or classrooms.
The tower will be connected to the rest of the university by a series of outdoor spaces and promenades.
the exterior glazing skin. As a result, the trades were able to work on the interior and exterior façade in tandem, rapidly reducing the construction schedule. The university used a phased approach to gradually allow staff to move in and the building was half-occupied by U of C staff while exterior work continued. Reuse of the 50-year-old structural skeleton was another opportunity for innovation. Removing the weight of the heavy precast cladding—and the library books—made it possible to add two more floors, taking the tower from a 12 to 14 storeys. More efficient elevators were installed in the existing shafts, allowing the September/October 2021
2021-10-18 10:14 AM
