Architect Award of Merit

December 19, 2011:  The North Vancouver School District and North Shore Credit Union are proud to announce that McFarland Marceau Architects Inc. is the recipient of an Award of Merit from the 2011 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence for the design of the North Shore Credit Union Environmental Learning Centre, currently under construction at Brackendale, near Squamish, BC. 

Canadian Architect’s annual awards are given for architectural design excellence.   The 2011 jury consisted of Diarmuid Nash of Moriyama &Teshima Architects in Toronto, Walter Francl of Walter Francl Architecture in Vancouver, and Peter Sampson of Peter Sampson Architecture Studio in Winnipeg.  In making their winning selection, the jurors considered response to the program, site, geographical and social context, and evaluated physical organization, structure, materials, and environmental features.

The NSCU Environmental Learning Centre “will be a rich learning environment for students, teachers, and parents alike,” said Peter Sampson.  Sampson was “especially drawn to the mixed foreground of columns and tree trunks that merge in such a way as to float the building into a hovering canopy.”  “This project responds to site and program with a finely proportioned sequence of spaces that invites exploration and student participation,” said Walter Francl. “The raised linear platform lifts the students into a novel and intimate relation to the forest canopy.”

“Our goal is to have a facility that models the values of environmental stewardship,” said John Lewis, North Vancouver’s Superintendent of Schools.  “We asked McFarland Marceau Architects Inc. to design a building that responded to the ecology of the site, including the cycles of the river, the eagles and the salmon, as well as the rainforest setting.  We’re very pleased with what they’ve designed.”

“The Outdoor School infrastructure project is well-aligned with British Columbia’s priorities for the environment, education, sustainability, and economic development,” said Franci Stratton, Chair of the North Vancouver Board of Education.  “The NSCU Environmental Learning Centre is designed to advance sustainability, creating an educational tool that represents the North Vancouver School District’s ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship.  The Centre will showcase British Columbia’s new and innovative green-building technologies, with a goal of attaining LEED Platinum status (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  We look forward to providing British Columbia and the world with new and exciting opportunities to address global challenges through education and dialogue.”

The North Vancouver School District is committed to establishing an international Centre of Excellence for environmental education and stewardship.  Guided by an Advisory Council of exceptional educators and prominent business and community leaders, the new North Shore Credit Union Environmental Learning Centre is well-poised to address local, regional, and global environmental challenges through education and dialogue.

Exclusive coverage of the NSCU ELC and other award-winning projects can be found in the December 2011 issue of Canadian Architect and on the Canadian Architect website at http://www.canadianarchitect.com

Click here to read Dawn Green's article in the Pique newsmagazine, February 2, 2012