Simon Fraser University's Vancouver campus is currently housed in four facilities in the heart of downtown: SFU Harbour Centre, Segal Graduate School, the Wosk Centre for Dialogue and the School of Contemporary Arts (opened in 2010). Each of these spaces is unique, and the campus consists of a combination of leased space and heritage buildings. The sustainability strategies employed in each facility reflect the unique circumstances of each location.
The Harbour Centre and was renovated between 1989 and 1994. Its location within an existing commercial office building offered limited opportunities for "greening" the design of the facility. However, the downtown location takes advantage of all public transit systems and has provided a significant anchor for downtown Vancouver.
The Wosk Centre for Dialogue building was added to the Simon Fraser University Vancouver campus in 1995 and required large scale modifications to meet its new program's vision to become a top tier conference facility. The primary building façade was preserved and restored. Other features required by the functional program, such as the 4-storey south-facing atrium, contributed to a high cooling load. To offset their impact, passive strategies such as operable louvers at the top of the atrium were designed for the building. The large Asia Pacific Hall in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue is one of the first large scale applications in the city of displacement ventilation.
The project was initiated in 2000 and officially opened in 2005. It was another major rehabilitation and restoration of a 100 year old Heritage bank building in the downtown core. The innovative solution was to add a new mezzanine floor level inside the original open banking hall which added both structure and program space. Many elements were carefully repaired and reinstalled, including the heritage windows and many heritage building elements such as the plaster ceilings and interior finishes in the main floor areas, bronze clad exterior doors, and the metal cornices. The Segal Graduate School is designed to use 30% less energy than comparable buildings.
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