Vancouver Plans Sustainable Olympic Village

LEED Certified Athlete's Village has a Future after the Olympics

May 18, 2009 Dena Braun

Green building and recycling are all the rage today. So it's no surprise that Vancouver would jump on the bandwagon for construction of the 2010 Winter Olympic Village.

Any city that hosts the Olympics wants to reap economic rewards during the game and benefit from all the construction that occurred to prepare for the events. Vancouver has an innovative plan for the long-term with the Athletes Village.

Vancouver’s Olympic Village on Track for LEED Certifications

Lead architect Norm Hotson is pursuing LEED Gold certification for the project. This means that the project has achieved one of the highest standards set for sustainable building. The athlete’s village will consist of 16 residential buildings and a 30,000 square foot community center (going for LEED platinum certification). It will house over 3,000 athletes during the games.

The village is situated on the last strip of undeveloped waterfront in Vancouver on an abandon industrial site that was most recently used as a parking lot. Each residential building, mainly glass and steel structures is being developed by a different architect—including Arthur Erickson, Merrick Architecture, GBL Architect Group, Lawrence Doyle Young Wright Architects, Walter Francl Architect, and Nick Milkovich Architects, all based in Vancouver. The athlete’s village is expected to be completed in November 2009.

The team is implementing the following sustainable features into the project:

  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Sewer heat recovery system
  • Green roofs
  • Interiors using low VOC materials
  • Recycled interior materials
  • Maximizing the site’s Western orientation for energy purposes

2010 Olympic Village has Future Use in Vancouver

While going after LEED Gold certification is ambitious, the most innovative plan is to convert the athlete’s village to mixed-use development after the Olympics are over. The architects believe that very little changes will need to be made to the complex to transform it into livable and workable space. As is the case in many mixed-use projects, ground level space that is being used for dining, medical use and training during the games will transition to restaurants and shops. Naturally, the athlete’s accommodations will morph into 737 private residences. The village will offer a mix of low-income, market rate and luxury accommodations for sale. Over 90 percent of the 300 units that were released to the public have been sold. The village will be turned over to the city in April 2010.

Despite having a plan for reusing the facilities, thereby ensuring that it didn’t turn into abandon space after the games, the project is controversial in Vancouver because of a funding scandal. Vancouver ended investing $467 million Canadian dollars to complete the project after it ran into financial problems last year. The allocation of these funds ran contrary to laws that prohibited the city from entering these types of financial dealings and required Vancouver to amend the city charter to allow it.

The copyright of the article Vancouver Plans Sustainable Olympic Village in Olympic/Paralympic Sport is owned by Dena Braun. Permission to republish Vancouver Plans Sustainable Olympic Village in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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