Team: Dino Barbarese, Vladimir Topouzanov, Sophie Trépanier-Laplante, Flavia Socol, Julien Deneault

Concordia University mandated us in the fall of 2019 to produce sketches of an expansion on the south site of its Loyola campus, where sports facilities and the PERFORM Center are already located, and to optimize the development potential of this site as part of a master plan to be renewed with the Côte-des-Neiges Arrondissement, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

In addition to a triple gymnasium and other works dedicated to recreational and sporting functions, the program of the expansion mainly included premises associated with health and well-being functions, the Wellness Center, the Health and Wellness Institute and the HealthyHub.

Two sketches, essentially different in terms of the implementation of the expansion, had to be produced. On the other hand, the same spirit had to guide the design, namely a biophilic approach, which, in a few words, promotes contact with nature, understood in the broad sense, and thereby, the well-being of the occupants, even their productivity.

During the mandate, the University asked to examine the possibility of the expansion meeting the criteria of the zero carbon building standard (version 2) of the Canada Green Building Council. PMA engineers then joined the design team and carried out energy simulations in order to judge the objective possibility of meeting the said criteria.