Research Infrastructure

Dr. Maureen Connelly has been awarded CFI funding in a collaboration with Dr Rodney Vaughn, Sierra Wireless Mobile Communications Laboratory at Simon Fraser University. The funding is facilitating the development of a new sound transmission suite. The contract for construction has been awarded to Eckle Noise Control Industry. The suite will include a 200 m³ room and a 125 m³ room. The sound transmission suite and its independent rooms shall enable BCIT to perform evaluation of building system materials and assemblies. The primary tests include ASTM E90 – Standard Test Method for Laboratory Measurement of Airborne Sound Transmission Loss of Building Partitions and Elements. The sound transmission suite will be a free-standing unit; and have a frequency rang of 63 Hz to 20,000 Hz; facilitate the sound transmission classification (STC) rating of up to 80 STC of novel wall assemblies. The test specimen panel to be received can be window, doors and wall assemblies up to 12 feet width by 8 feet height. The 200 m³ room will also be used for determining absorption and scattering coefficients as per ASTM C423 Standard Test Method for Sound Absorption and Sound Absorption Coefficients by the Reverberation Room Method. Expected completion – Fall 2022, stay tuned.

The Elevated Lab has served as a collaborative catalyst within and between various departments at BCIT, including Carpentry, Steel Trades and Piping Trades, as well as Forestry and Natural Areas Management, Indigenous Services, Campus head chefs, Campus Planning and Facilities, and more!

The ‘Technologies’ section showcases a range of what is possible for extensive green roofs with limited load bearing capacity, including solar panels, a small wetland, food growing, and indigenous designs symbolizing truth and reconciliation. The ‘Ecologies’ section is used to advance our understanding of the capacities of extensive green roof systems with respect to community ecology (plants, soils, pollinators), while advancing the practice of regenerative design for healthy cities and ecosystems.

The green roof and living wall industries have ensured that this lab has the most up to date material samples and resources documents of living architecture technologies. The lab space is available and equipped for evaluation of soils and plants and their environment. Currently, a variety of living walls systems are in the lab. These living walls have been moved from the lab, into classrooms, into an air quality chamber, into the reverberation chamber and across the city to UBC CIRS building all in the name of research. And they continue to thrive!

To evaluate green roof performance in different contexts, designs, and climatic zones, the Centre for Architectural Ecology is monitoring sites within a regional infrastructure network. This network comprises projects of various sizes, slopes, exposures, components and integrated technologies.

Electronic Arts Motion Capture Studio (Burnaby)

In 2007, BCIT instrumented the 1,700 m² (18,000 ft² extensive green roof on the EA Motion-Capture Studeo to monitor and evaluate stormwater runoff and membrane temperatures. Preliminary data shows that the extensive green roof is extremely effective for these functions. A monumental rain event exceeding a 10 year storm occurred in September 2007, and the green roof delayed runoff for 3 hours and reduced peak flow by 90%. And over the course of the warm season, the temperature of the membrane under the green roof fluctuated by 5°C instead of the typical 41°C.

White Rock Operations Centre (White Rock)

The White Rock Operations Building is a low-rise office building in the City of White Rock. An extensive green roof was installed and planted in 2003 to serve as demonstration, for stormwater mitigation, and for the building’s LEED Gold certification. In 2007, the Centre for Architectural Ecology instrumented, calibrated and begun monitoring the 135 m² (1,450 ft²) extensive green roof for its effectiveness as a stormwater source control tool. For the building proper, results will translate into a post-occupancy evaluation.

Capital Region District Headquarters (Victoria)

In partnership with the Capital Regional District (CRD), the Centre will establish a field testing site to monitor an extensive green roof, an intensive green roof and a living wall on CRD Headquarters Building in Victoria, BC. The goal of this project is to assess the effectiveness of these technologies for improving water quality, to promote best practices, and to contribute to the building’s Phase 2 LEED Gold certification. Being the first pilot test centre on Vancouver Island, the data may prove useful to other communities and jurisdictions, particularly those in the south (i.e. Nanaimo, Cowichan Valley Regional District, Ladysmith).