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Medical Education Building aims for gold standard in sustainability

Environmentally friendly features in the design and construction of the Medical Education Building may help it meet the gold standard of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, says the project's architect, Caroline Spigelski of the firm Diamond and Schmitt.

"We were shooting for a silver rating, but I think we will easily earn enough points for the gold,” she added.

The building will use a number of energy-saving measures to perform 53 percent better than the model energy code, and it will include recycled materials in its construction, as well as some unusual green elements:

• A cistern to collect rainwater for use in non-potable water systems, including flush toilets;

• A bioswale in the adjoining parking lot to filter run-off;

• An indoor room to hold up to 25 bicycles, and

• A biofilter wall of plants to improve indoor air quality.

Biologist Alan Darlington designed the living wall, which will measure 12 metres high and seven metres wide in the atrium. He said it employs vertical hydroponics to host a variety of plants.

"The intention is to bridge the gap between plants as an aesthetic and plants as machines," he said. "This active living wall acts kind of like an activated charcoal filtration system, trapping air pollutants in the roots."

Unlike charcoal, though, the plants do not accumulate contaminants, but break them down through biological processes.