President-kennedy Building

ARCHITECTS Saia et Barbarese architectes
LOCATION Montréal, Canada
DATE1997
CLIENTUniversité du Québec à Montréal

DESCRIPTION

Team : James Aitken, Manon Asselin, Dino Barbarese, Annie Boisvert, Julia Bourke, Ewan Brenda, Jean-François Côté, Robert Dionne, David Griffin, Hal Ingberg, Roger Labrecque, Julie Lafrenière, Richard Létourneau, Yvan Marion, Steve Proulx, Mario Saia, Richard Savignac, David Smythe, Guy St-Arnaud, Eric Stein, Yvon Théoret, Vladimir Topouzanov As the principal element and flagship of the new UQÀM Science Campus, the streamlined 10-storey President Kennedy Building houses both teaching and research activities as well as associated private corporations including the departments of mathematics, computer science, physics, earth sciences, and electronics. It also contains the Environmental Science Institute and the micro-computing laboratory for the Faculty of Science, the 3,500 square meters Science Library, a food service facility, and is linked directly into Place des Arts metro station. A state-of-the-art facility, many of the building’s major components are made from recyclable materials. In the wall insulation, for instance, no foamed plastic was used anywhere in the building. The thermal resistance of the elements of the building envelope exceeds those required by the laws regarding energy conservation. Particular care was taken in the choice of glass which ultimately resulted in a reduction of the mechanical system capacities and thus in energy savings. The integration of mechanical and architectural concerns together with innovative mechanical design garnered this project a first prize in the institutional category of the prestigious ASHRAE Technical Awards. The innovation and execution of this project has also received distinction by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (2001 Award of Excellence for construction drawings).