BUIldINg UsE: education
wOrK: new construction
sIzE: 13,000 sqm
COmplETEd: April 2009
Manassas Park is a small city surrounded by the affluent
northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. Ten years ago,
the city began rebuilding all of its public schools.
The new Manassas Park Elementary School and PreKindergarten (MPES) are the fourth and fifth new schools, and
they join an earlier school to complete the city’s elementary
campus. MPES serves a diverse population of students – many
from immigrant families. Almost half of the children receive
free or reduced-cost lunches. The successful transformation
of the school culture testifies to the vision and leadership of
the local administration.
maNITOBa HYdrO plaCE, wINNIpEg
BUIldINg UsE: commercial office, community, assembly
wOrK: new construction
sIzE: 64,800 sqm
COmplETEd: September 2009
Manitoba Hydro, the primary energy utility in the province of
Manitoba, set ambitious goals for its new headquarters. The
22-storey office tower occupies a full block in Winnipeg, a city
that is known for its extreme climate and rundown centre.
The relocation of 2000 employees from 15 suburban offices
signified the power company’s shift to a collaborative culture
and a commitment to provide the community with a signature
architectural image. The design reinforces environmentally
responsible practices, achieving an unprecedented 64.9 per
cent energy savings by harnessing maximum passive solar,
wind and geothermal energy.
innovation
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manassas park school believes children need to understand the real world.
Environmental gains
MPES believes that people, especially children, can’t be
expected to preserve or protect something they don’t
understand. Inside and out, the school’s sustainable design is
integrated with the elementary curriculum.
Spaces throughout the school offer dramatic and
surprisingly intimate views of the neighbouring mixed oak
forest, while elementary classrooms face shady moss- and
fern-covered learning courtyards featuring “fallen” trees and
other particularities of a deciduous forest floor.
At MPES, not only are children offered exceptional views of
the forest, they are invited to explore the landscape directly.
The principal bio-retention area, for example, also serves as
an outdoor classroom, performance stage, parent pick-up
queue and a popular location for informal gatherings.
Environmental gains
Manitoba Hydro Place introduces the next generation of
sustainable, energy-efficient architecture developed under
a formal Integrated Design Process. The design fuses time-tested principles such as massing, orientation and exposed
thermal mass with computerised building management
systems. The climate-responsive building relies on passive
energy while delivering design excellence and, most
importantly, fostering the wellbeing of employees.
Every part of the building relates to the whole. The twin office
towers are set on a three-storey, street-scaled podium that
connects to the city and creates a sheltered route through a
full city block. The towers converge at the building’s north end
to minimise north-facing surface area.
One big idea
To make the most of solar and wind exposure, the towers
splay open to the south, where they are clad in low-iron
glazing to minimise the mass of the building in the urban
context. The solar chimney is essential to the passive
ventilation strategy and also creates a new urban icon.
The south-facing winter gardens feature 24m waterfalls
that, depending on the season, humidify or dehumidify
incoming air and animate the space as kinetic sculpture.
winnipeg’s civic showpiece brings hope to a community that has known hard times.
One big idea
A comprehensive signage program highlights green building
facts, demystifying sustainable building systems, and
describing flora and fauna found in the adjacent forest.
The natural setting of the
school was the stimulus
for the education program.
