MEC Head Office on Great Northern Way in Vancouver has been awarded the 2015 BC Wood WORKS! Award for excellence in Commercial Wood Design. The LEED Platinum project, designed by Proscenium Architecture + Interiors Inc. with landscape architecture by Sharp & Diamond, embodies “calm and restrained beauty appropriate for the flagship store of a large company making a strong environmental statement.” – Jury comments
The Head Office was completed in late 2014. The four-story building is designed to meet LEED Platinum standards with a target to be 70% more energy efficient than conventional Canadian office buildings. Sharp & Diamond worked closely with MEC and Proscenium Architecture + Interiors Inc. to integrate the company values of environmental responsibility, workplace culture, accountability and giving back to its members with the site landscape design.
“Each and every one of these projects is spectacular in its own right, and demonstrates how wood can be used in innovative ways as an architectural and structural building material,” explained Ms. Embury-Williams. “Wood products and systems have become the material of choice in mid-rise residential as well as for the institutional, commercial and industrial sectors. This is a paradigm shift, and it’s encouraging, as our communities and cities want more sustainable and healthier built environments. Here in BC, designers and builders are leading the way by using wood because it is cost-effective; is renewable; has a smaller carbon footprint; and because it creates beautiful and comfortable spaces where people love to live and work.” – Lynn Embury-Williams is executive director of Wood WORKS! BC.
http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2015/03/03/20150303_C5684_PDF_EN_12687.pdf
