44 Water Street
The existing heritage building at 44 Water Street is located in the historic district of Gastown, Vancouver.
Under the Gastown Heritage Management Program, the old facility needed to be fully renovated and upgraded while retaining the original timber-frame structure.
Introba (formerly Integral Group) provided mechanical consulting services to upgrade the existing facility. The completed building now serves as a multi-use, live-work facility with light commercial applications on the ground floor (i.e., art gallery, fashion store, and restaurant) and a single residential unit on the second floor.
The renovation included extensive upgrades to the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems and restoration of the heritage façade facing Water Street. A radiant heating and cooling slab were incorporated as the primary heating and cooling source. A geo-exchange system installed diagonally under the existing building footprint provides low-grade renewable heating and cooling energy for in-floor, low-intensity radiant conditioning for occupied spaces.
Key Features
Key project features include solutions aimed at improving indoor environmental quality. The team selected mixed-mode ventilation for the ground floor, providing mechanically supplemented natural ventilation. Outdoor air is delivered at a low level, tempered by the radiant slab, and passed through the occupied space. Natural stratification occurs when the hot air rises where it is exhausted in a once-through flow pattern.