Completion Date: 2009
Gross Square Feet: 125,600
LEED NC Gold Certified

Awards:
Excellence in Architecture
Hamilton Urban Design Award, 2009

Architectural Merit
Ontario Concrete Award, 2009

This stand-alone facility represents a major expansion of the existing Engineering Faculty at McMaster University. Its location on a prominent site fronting the city's busy Main Street west creates a new ëfront doorí to the campus as well as a public face for the Schools of Engineering Practice and Biomedical Engineering. It also houses the Bachelor of Technology program, a joint program between McMaster University and Mohawk College. As part of this project, we were engaged to write the functional program for the building. The program includes 20,000 square feet of undergraduate classrooms and labs, 45,000 square feet of graduate classrooms and labs, CFI funded research labs, workshops, faculty offices and administration space. The vision for this facility included an innovative dual duct system, integrated to occupancy sensors, latent and sensible heat recovery, highly integrated lighting and daylighting controls and a high-performance triple glazed envelope. In keeping with the university's requirement for all new facilities to achieve LEED certification, the building achieved LEED Canada Gold level certification. In addition to filling a need for a new, state-of-the-art teaching and research facility, the Schools of Engineering Practice and Biomedical Engineering demonstrate to the students and public the crucial role engineering plays in addressing our societyís needs for innovative and responsible design solutions.