ALOUETTE PAVILION

Description:

Inaugurated in November 2014, this sustainable building of 2,700 square meters, built at a cost of 10 million dollars, has a capacity of 400 students. Built in a wooden structure (glued laminated beams and beams and cross-laminated floors-roofs), the Alouette Pavilion is an ode to aluminum, a modern and versatile material, used here in several forms: interlocking sheets, panels of stabilized foam, perforated sheets, etc. This building incorporates multiple environmental elements, aimed at minimizing the ecological footprint. It includes a solar wall, a geothermal system and a rainwater harvesting system. The use of parabolic solar collectors to heat and cool institutional buildings is innovative on a global scale. As well, the pavilion contains a solar wall of nearly 50 m2, 15 solar collectors on the roof, an air conditioning and geothermal heating system comprising about twenty wells and a rainwater collection system with 4 reservoirs. [1]

The design team conceived Alouette-UQAC as an educational facility that would showcase aluminum’s many uses in construction, including in sustainable technologies, while also drawing parallels between the processes of refining aluminum and gaining knowledge 

To BGLA’s Pierre André Lévesque, it was important for Sept-Îles’ first university building to employ advanced sustainability techniques, demonstrating how greater knowledge can lead to greater good. Key green design attributes include glulam timber and CLT panel construction, and a solar wall that preheats fresh air before it enters the ventilation system. 

But the most compelling sustainability story involves the innovative solar collectors on the roof, manufactured by Rackam of Sherbrooke, Quebec, and making their institutional project debut at Alouette-UQAC. Installation of the geothermal system integral to the building’s hybrid technology loop is not yet complete, but when it is up and running, the combination of the collectors and an ejector-compression cooling system will not only harness the sun’s heat to warm the building in the colder months, but also use it for cooling in the warmer months. And of course, the collectors are made of aluminum. [2] 

References

[1]    Cunat, Romain. “Le Pavillon Alouette De L’UQAC, Un Bâtiment Durable Exemplaire.” Réseau Espace-bois, March 16, 2017. http://www.uqac.ca/espace-bois/le-pavillon-alouette-de-luqac-un-batiment-durable-exemplaire/.

[2]    Young, Pamela. “Aiming Higher: Ryerson Service Hub, Orchard Commons, University College of the North, Alouette UQAC University Building.” Canadian Architect, June 19, 2019. https://www.canadianarchitect.com/aiming-higher/.

Additional information

Architecture, Completed Projects, Education, Functional, Multi Use, Pavilion, Permanent, Private, QC, QUE, Quebec, Québec, University