It has been two years, but University of British Columbia architecture student Katie Theall can vividly recall theB次元官网网址漵urreal momentB次元官网网址� when their team learned it had received a site on the Vancouver campus to build a B次元官网网址渃arbon-minimalB次元官网网址� student space.
B次元官网网址淭hat was sort of a big moment being like, this is our site, this is going to happen,B次元官网网址� said Theall.
As the projectB次元官网网址檚 architecture lead, Theall guided a team of 60 university students from engineering, architecture, business and arts to fundraise $1.85 million and build the hempcrete building on campus B次元官网网址� from plans to plaster B次元官网网址� all within two years.
Construction workers are putting the final touches on the building this week.
The 222-square-metre building, called Third Space Commons, is one of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 first such institutional spaces designed to be near-zero carbon and features a seminar area, a meeting room and a kitchen.
The building is wood framed, while the thermal insulation is made of hempcrete, a mixture of hemp fibres, lime and water, which produces a much smaller carbon footprint than concrete construction, Theall said.
She said the students mixed the hempcrete in a drum, bringing it to the consistency of oatmeal. They then used buckets to pour it into the two-by-four wood frame.
The hemp fibre remains visible inside the building, creating a decorative effect on the wall, although Theall said they will be putting a layer of plaster over the lower portion for protection.
Hempcrete captures carbon from the atmosphere as it sets and eventually turns to a concrete-like material.
B次元官网网址淭he difference between concrete and hempcrete is pretty distinct. Hempcrete uses agricultural byproducts, itB次元官网网址檚 a biocomposite. So, it uses agricultural materials rather than things like aggregate,B次元官网网址� said Theall.
The University of B.C. said in a statement the foundation of the building is made of reusable steel piles and the team chose light wood framing instead of engineered wood, which is considered more carbon-intensive because of the glues used.
The choice of hempcrete as a building material was deliberate. Theall said her team has been passionate about carbon minimization since the beginning of the project, and they all shared the same mission to reduce the carbon footprint in the construction process.
B次元官网网址淭hrough our research and investigating different materials, we discovered that hempcrete is supposed to be at least carbon neutral or carbon negative, which is why we decided to try to build with it,B次元官网网址� said Theall.
Adam Rysanek, an assistant professor at the UBC school of architecture and landscape architecture, said they have had welcome reviews from the public with some calling it B次元官网网址渁mazingB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渟trange.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚 think virtually, there is no concrete in the whole project,B次元官网网址� said Rysanek, who advised the team on the build.
Hempcrete takes several weeks or months to cure compared with the curing time of days or weeks for concrete, but it comes with advantages such as being highly insulating, fireproof and zero-carbon, said Rysanek.
He said the team worked hard to account for the carbon impact of every element of the project.
The group also recently won an inaugural B.C. Embodied Carbon Award for small building construction by showing how the project will be responsible for up to 80 per cent less carbon emissions than had it been built with traditional materials and techniques.
The B.C. government said it is committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 40 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030, with one of its goals to identify opportunities in construction.
Switching to low-carbon building materials, or even looking into other alternatives, is an important step to ensure that we are heading toward the net-zero goal, said Ryanek.
B次元官网网址淭he step you have to take to get from concrete to no concrete or from high-carbon materials to low materials changes everything,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 an area of discussion that we havenB次元官网网址檛 yet started.B次元官网网址�
Ryanek said it has only been in the last few years that they have realized how much needs to change to get to a zero-carbon building.
Theall said hempcrete might not be the ideal solution for every building, but she hopes it inspires more low-carbon designs, and that industry leaders can start cultivating innovation by using more carbon-negative materials.
I think ultimately our goal is we want industry and construction and people to be really cognizant of the environmental impact of the materials they choose, she said.
B次元官网网址擭ono Shen, The Canadian Press
READ MORE:
