‘LEEDing’ by example: Alberta demonstrates commitment to green building
Edmonton Construction Association's Breaking Ground covers the construction of the Mosaic Centre. Read the article here
Balancing Reality and Good Design
You cannot design a net zero building without a detailed Energy Model to accompany you throughout the design process. Nor can you design a geothermal system without a detailed energy model providing a clear picture of the loads extracted and rejected from the ground. You also need an energy model for the LEED submission process. A casual observer might naturally assume that this energy model is always done by the same person. Unfortunately, this is almost never the case.
A Drink from the Fire Hose of Information
When the team agreed to capture stories and lessons learned from the Mosaic Centre project, I had no idea what we were committing to. A project of firsts in many respects; I underestimated the amount of learning required to position the team for success. The first net-zero commercial building in Alberta, the first LEED Platinum attempt for commercial north of Calgary, the first Living Building Challenge Petal Certification attempt in Alberta and the first IPD contract delivery for anyone on our team. We were creating design decision logic at an alarming rate, all the while attempting to record our “breadcrumbs”.