UBC Okanagan’s Fipke Centre Earns Five Green Globes

The University of British Columbia/Okanagan’s new Fipke Center for Innovative Research, designed by Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd., and being built by UBC Properties Trust, has earned Five Green Globes, a designation reserved for “designs serving as national or world leaders in energy and environmental performance” by the Green Globes rating system. The 68,000-square-foot building, which houses lecture halls, classrooms, and wet and dry labs, is naturally heated and cooled by a campus-wide groundwater energy system and naturally ventilated with a wind tower that permits 100 percent fresh air all of the time. Green Globes is one of two national green building rating systems used in Canada, along with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®); it also is available for buildings in the U.S. Construction of the Fipke Center began in the fall of 2006 and is slated for completion in May 2008. To learn more about the project or the rating system, visit the Green Globes Web site.
Photo courtesy of the architect.