Located in Kitchener, Ontario, Split 02 is a mid-rise, mixed-use residential project that aims to serve the growing population of young professionals in the neighborhood. The building consists of two volumes, a 12 storey residential, and a 6 storey commercial building. Careful architectural movements were executed to develop connection between the neighboring streets, but also between the two buildings. Strong gridlines define the geometric relationship between the buildings, and create a semi-private space that draws pedestrian traffic into a community fostered by the central courtyard. This project was submitted to the Grand Valley Society of Architects design competition. In this project, my primary role is to design the mechanical and structural systems.

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A primary goal for our building is to make each occupant comfortable while being as energy efficient and sustainable as possible. This goal was accomplished with a combination of passive heating and cooling strategies.

 

The passive strategies are unique for all the major areas in both towers. The apartment units are heated and cooled with an air-to-water heat pump and an air-cooled chiller that is connected to a vertical stack heat pump (VSHP) located in every unit. To promote a constant flow of fresh air, each unit is also equipped with a fresh air intake and return exhaust, which prevents units from exchanging contaminated air. The exhausted air also runs through an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) which helps recover heat back into the unit. The air supplied into the residential corridors and other shared spaces are heated and cooled by the same heat pump and chiller. The airflow is controlled by a variable air volume system (VAV), which is energy efficient by actively changing the required loads.

 

The commercial tower has its own water heat pump and chiller (the same as the residential tower) which is connected to an air handling unit (AHU) and VAV on each floor. This means the HVAC system does not waste any unneeded air. The solar chimney on the side of the building provides warm or cool fresh air, depending on the time of year. The fresh air is pumped into the corridors to reduce the load from the rooftop fresh air ventilator.

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Software used: Revit, AutoCAD, Twinmotion

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Project Date: April 2023

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Team: Andy Xu, Joseph Jiang, Taylor Forrest, Jonathan Hellinga