Public Art Reveals Output from Heating Plant

As a showpiece for the City of Vancouver’s greenhouse gas emission reduction program, the gold LEED certified False Creek Energy Centre (FCEC), designed by architects Walter Francl Architecture, Inc., has been intentionally crafted to make the invisible visible. The FCED is an innovative heating plant that produces domestic hot water and space heating for the new Southeast False Creek community. The water is heated by sewage heat recovery, with peak loads met by low-emission natural gas boilers.

Technology used in the facility is exposed to view by generous glazing and view portals placed around the building. And a set of five emissions stacks rise above road level as sculptural public art pieces to reveal the heat output of the plant.

Located under the south end of Cambie Street Bridge, the FCEC houses two facilities – a sewage pump station serving the greater neighborhood, and a sewage heat recovery and distribution system. Two thirds of the building and most of the mechanical equipment is underground to reduce its visual impact, and to minimize noise transmission to its existing and future residential neighbors. Although the building itself is invisible to bridge commuters, its presence is announced by a set of five emissions stacks that rise above road level as a sculptural public art piece.

Artist team Pechet and Robb Art and Architecture Ltd., was retained by Sandwell Engineering to design the required emissions stacks as a community amenity. The team found interest in the notion that the FCEC will be heating people by transferring existing body heat. They designed the stacks to have a “human quality.” At the top of each finger-like stack (5-6 stories high) is a fingernail-like LED light fixture, which is activated by the operations of the facility. The-stacks serve the high efficiency, low-emission gas boilers that are used to meet peak energy demands. The stacks are topped with fingernail-like LED luminaries that change color from blue through orange to red relative to the heat output of the plant.

In addition, the LEED buildings connected to the NEU further minimize energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions using high quality building envelope design and hot water radiant heating systems. Furthermore, the NEU utilizes surplus energy generated by solar thermal modules located on the roof tops of three Olympic Village buildings.

Currently, this project includes only the former Olympic Village site at Millennium Water but when the area is fully built out around 2020, the NEU will provide thermal energy services to more than 6 million square feet of buildings and 16,000 residents. This utility is the first in North America to source waste heat from untreated urban waste water.

Source: Sustainable Architecture and Building Magazine, City of Vancouver