Written By David Dodge, Green Energy Futures
May 20, 2022
“Zibi is now leveraging that industrial history to build a climate-resilient, sustainable community. The buildings will be heated by a district energy system that uses waste heat from the Kruger Products’ Gatineau plant and, as the world heats up, cooling will be provided by the Ottawa River.
Sean Lawrence is with Kohn Partnership Architects. They are designing numerous buildings in Zibi and he says they are thinking out of the box as they rethink glass towers.
Kohn is designing a 25-story residential tower they call Block 206 that sits adjacent to a six-story office building.
He says traditional glass towers don’t cut it “with balconies, continuously running around the perimeter, which are effectively radiator fins sticking out as cold [thermal] bridges.”
Their design includes better insulation and yes, windows. But their design carefully manages passive solar energy, allowing them to offer views both up and down the Ottawa River.”