Completion Date: 2011
Square Footage: 27,750
LEED Platinum Targeted

Awards:
Bronze Award, 2008
Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction

The Living with Lakes Centre represents the next step in the evolution of Laurentian University's Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit (CFEU). The CFEU is an internationally recognized research center focused on restoration ecology, environmental protection and aquatic resource management and is a collaborative effort between Laurentian University, Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada. Located on the shores of Ramsey Lake, the building reflects the energy of scientific discovery and the character of the campus as a whole.

Our design team worked closely with CFEU's scientists to create a working environment conducive to creative and collaborative research, to minimize the building's ecological footprint and to assist in the restoration of Sudbury's ecosystems. The building includes basic and applied research labs, collaborative meeting spaces and a multimedia theater for teleconferencing, extending the center's outreach to the million lakes of Canada's Boreal Shield ecozone.

In keeping with the nature of the CFEU and its programs, the new facility is a regenerative building, moving forward from a facility that simply does less harm, to the notion that a building can have a positive effect on its surrounding environment. Particular attention has been paid to shoreline management and water quality protection within the site context.

The center is targeting a Platinum LEED designation for green building design, the highest level of LEED accreditation possible. In addition, the building systems are designed to address climate change models to 2050.