Sustainable Building Design & Construction
With 16 colleagues, we built a 2,200 sq.ft. sustainable structure from start to finish, showcasing green building technologies & energy-saving techniques. Each student was delegated a Lead Role, yet we all contributed to every aspect of each construction stage.
Project: Highlands East Public Library - Wilberforce, ON
Structural Lead: Exterior Wall Framing
Mechanical Lead: Electrical
Structural Secondary Lead: Fascia & Soffits
Administrative Secondary Lead: Documentation
Techniques Used: Insulated Concrete Form (ICF), Bag-Footing, FSC Certified Wood, Timber-Framing, Straw Bale, Wattle and Daub, Radiant Floor Heating, Rainwater Collection System, Green Roof, & Various Recycled Materials & more...
The Crew
The Crew
Excavation, shovelling, pouring and compacting gravel for footing and foundation walls.
Excavation, shovelling, pouring and compacting gravel for footing and foundation walls.
Framing lumber delivery, and after much effort, we were in the end able to source FSC lumber.
Our designer and contractor doing concrete calculations.
Setting the bag footing (FastFoot) and Insulated Concrete Form (ICF).
Setting the bag footing (FastFoot) and Insulated Concrete Form (ICF).
Making sure the building is square by bracing the foundation to straighten and strengthen for pouring concrete.
Rebars set in the Insulated Concrete Forms.
Laser levelling the foundation walls.
Concrete pour begins! Thousands of these tiny pieces of metal (Helix) are mixed in with the concrete to provide tensile strength in place of rebar. Three trucks of lime concrete and helix were poured all afternoon.
Putting on the home slicker in order to keep out water.
Marc being Marc.
Base layer of parting with the fiber mesh underneath. This is on the top part of the foundation wall.
We fastened on the sill gaskets (foam) and the sill/bottom plates. A group added the dimpled membrane onto the foundation, which protects the footing and foundation walls from water and water vapor.
Compacting the soil on the inside of the foundation.
Stone slinger is back to finish. Gravel placed over top of the compacted soil.
Dimple boards are put over the home slicker to give water a way to run off the foundation walls.
Framing calculations and measurements.